Archive for free society
Freedoms I Wish the Military Were Defending
Posted by: |"Freedom itself was attacked this morning by a faceless coward, and freedom will be defended." ~ George W. Bush, September 11, 2001
We have heard it repeated loudly and continuously since 9/11 – the troops are defending our freedoms. This claim is made so often and by so many different segments of society that it has become another meaningless national dictum – like "God Bless America" or "In God We Trust."
This cliché is actually quite insidious. It is used as a mantra to justify or excuse anything the U.S. military does.
U.S. troops are engaged in unconstitutional, undeclared wars – but the troops are defending our freedoms. U.S. drone strikes killed civilians in Pakistan – but the troops are defending our freedoms. U.S. bombs landed on a wedding party in Afghanistan – but the troops are defending our freedoms. U.S. soldiers murdered Afghan civilians and kept some of their body parts – but the troops are defending our freedoms. U.S. helicopter pilots gunned down Iraqi civilians – but the troops are defending our freedoms. U.S. soldiers killed civilians for sport – but the troops are defending our freedoms. U.S. troops carelessly killed civilians and then covered it up – but the troops are defending our freedoms.
But as I have pointed out many times in my articles on the military, and others like Jacob Hornberger of the Future of Freedom Foundation have been arguing for years (see here and here), the troops are doing everything but defending our freedoms. In fact, the more the troops defend our freedoms by bombing, invading, and occupying other countries, the more enemies they make of the United States and the more our freedoms get taken away in the name of "fighting terrorism" or "national security."
Tags: free market, free society, freedom, libertarianism, militarism, statism
This fantastic video reminds us of how amazing the free market truly is. We should never forget how people working freely together will help lift all boats in ways no one can anticipate. Don’t let anyone tell you that God wants a socialist economy, EVER. Such thoughts are completely fallacious, and completely antithetical to how God intends for us to live together.
Freedom is the default.
(Great job Students for Liberty friend Michelle Fields as well. If I recall correctly, she is a student at Church of Christ-based Pepperdine University as well! Michelle, if you’re an LCC reader please comment so we can all brag on you a bit…)
Tags: economics, free market, free society, internet, poverty, wealth
Two Concepts of Equality
Posted by: |By Edmund Opitz, author of The Libertarian Theology of Freedom and Religion and Capitalism: Allies, Not Enemies.
The great political battles of the modern world have been fought around certain key words, one of which is Equality. The watchwords of the French Revolution, you recall, were “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.” Talleyrand got fed up with this slogan and once remarked that he’d heard so much talk about fraternity that if he had a brother he’d call him cousin!
There’s a sound reason for Talleyrand’s adverse reaction to the idea of brotherhood. The human capacity for affection is limited and it is selective. The demand for unlimited brotherliness puts human nature under a strain; it generates a backlash in the form of the either/or mood of the revolutionary who puts a gun to your head and says: “Be my brother, or I’ll kill you!” Sane social living forbids murder; it strives after justice; and it reserves brotherliness and love for family and friends. Read More→
Tags: Edmund Opitz, equality, free market, free society, liberty
By Edmund Opitz, author of The Libertarian Theology of Freedom and Religion and Capitalism: Allies, Not Enemies.
Benedict of Nursia pictured the ideal monastery as “a little state, which could serve as a model for the new Christian society.” Those who respond to the call of monasticism and draw apart from secular society are to undertake a new community based upon the bond of fellowship set forth in The Rule of St. Benedict. The discipline of the Order was so rigorous as to make the Spartans appear hedonists by comparison. “The life of a monk,” Benedict writes, “should be always as if Lent were being kept. But few have virtue enough for this,” he adds sadly, “and so we urge that during Lent he shall utterly purify his life, and wipe out, in that holy season, the negligence of other times.”
The “negligence” to which Benedict referred might crop up any time, for example, when it came a monk’s turn to do kitchen work. Servers are urged to “wait on their brethren without grumbling or undue fatigue.” As an inducement to good behavior they are awarded an extra portion of food. But what about wine? “God gives the ability to endure abstinence” to some; the others are rationed to a pint a day. Benedict yields this point reluctantly. “Indeed we read that wine is not suitable for monks at all,” he writes. “But because, in our day, it is not possible to persuade the monks of this, let us agree at least as to the fact that we should not drink to excess, but sparingly.” Read More→
Tags: Edmund Opitz, free society, history, theology
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