Posts Tagged ‘liberty’

Principle 5: Democracy is only a Means to an End

Thursday, April 30th, 2009
This is the fourth in a series of 5 posts in which I am trying to illustrate the basic principles of liberty.

During my 2 years in the Air Force ROTC I noticed the common justification for America’s war in Iraq was “to spread democracy.” Sounds great, right? Only on the surface. Democracy in and of itself says nothing about a people’s freedom or level of justice.

Democracy is nothing more than *majority rule.* It can be just as coercive, monopolistic, and exclusive as any dictatorship. It’s not hard to imagine majorities exploiting minorities.

Democracy must be founded on guiding principles. These principles provide limits to what a majority can do. In the case of our country, The Constitution was intended to provide those limits. This *limited democracy* is known as a *republic* or *rule of law.*

Democracy is not an end goal; living peacefully and free from coercion is. Principle based democracy is a means for getting there (certainly not the only means.) One of my motivations for this blog is to convince you that principles of liberty are the foundation that made this country great but they are not an inherent part of democracy. If we don’t carefully abide by and protect our liberties we lose them. The irony, though, is that liberties are rarely taken from us. More often than not we use our democracy to give them away—think Patriot Act.

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Principle 3: Pride Leads to Captivity

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009
This is the third in a series of 5 posts in which I am trying to illustrate the basic principles of liberty.

Pride Kills Freedom

I’m not referring to the pride you have after a job well done or the pride of a *proud* parent, teacher, or coach. I’m talking about the sinful pride that keeps us from acknowledging others when things are going well. Ironically, it’s the same pride that causes us to blame others when things are going bad.

Liberty and Responsibility

Liberty is forever tied to responsibility. You can’t have one without the other. If a man is truly free then he will merit praise for his good actions but no more so than he will deserve blame for his bad actions.

Liberty is Lost in 2 Ways

  1. It is taken away.
    By whom? By prideful people (usually well connected politicians) who either seek power or think that people need to be governed and regulated into doing right, or by prideful people (usually very educated) who think they know best.
  2. It is given away.
    By whom? By people (usually average Joes like you and me) who pridefully blame others when things go wrong. We refuse to accept the responsibility that comes with freedom.

Education Example

A relatively small group of politicians, bureaucrats, and educators are busy *reforming* America’s education system while a relatively large group of American parents are saying, “I’m not responsible for my child’s education. The government is.”

The result? A piss-poor public school system that all but the most priveledged children are forced into (think opposite of freedom).

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Principle 1: Stealing is Bad—Even for Barack Obama & Terrell Owens

Thursday, March 5th, 2009
This is the first in a series of 5 posts in which I am trying to illustrate the basic principles of liberty.

I want a Ferrari like Terrell Owens

I’m poor. Terrell Owens is rich (despite being unemployed). Even so, it would be wrong of me to steal from him. And, of course, it would be REALLY wrong for him to steal from me. ;-) Neither of us would ever think of taking from the other (I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt here).

What if, however, a policeman came along and said, “It really isn’t fair that T.O. gets to cruise in a Ferrari while Benton rolls in a beat up Camry.” Terrell would, of course, have a fit if the policeman took his Ferrari, so instead the officer takes Terrell’s Audi and gives it to me. Sounds great right? T.O. is still rich, and now I’m better off too. That policeman just made the world a better place.

Okay, I’ve never seen a policeman do such a thing, but what about a mayor? A governor? President of The United States?

Government

How often does the government take money from one group and give it to another? The reasons are countless: help the poor, bailout big companies, stimulate the economy, support “green” technology, etc. etc. The good intentions of these programs do not change the fact that they all rely on force. What is the difference between being forced to give and being stolen from?

Liberty is tossed out the door whenever force enters the room.

No one illustrates this principle better than Frederic Bastiat. I highly recommend his short book (it was orginally a pamphlet) The Law. Read it on pdf , or buy it for $2.49 from Amazon.

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Why I Left the Air Force ROTC

Monday, February 23rd, 2009

I left the Air Force ROTC because internal threats to America’s freedom are far greater than external threats. I can contribute more to America’s freedom by being a liberty maven/missionary than I ever could have as a fighter pilot.

Why I joined in the first place:

I joined BYU’s Air Force ROTC in 2005 with high hopes of fulfilling 3 dreams (in order of priority):

  1. Protect the liberties that make America great.
  2. Show my appreciation for the founding fathers and everyone else who helped make America great.
  3. Fly jets.

It wasn’t what I expected:

Within a year, I knew there were better ways to fulfill goals 1 and 2. The Air Force places high focus on leadership, camaraderie, and discipline; but liberty is rarely discussed and never defined. The general attitude I observed had more to do with “spreading democracy.” No one seemed particularly interested in justifying the war we had just embarked on—questioning it was certainly outside the social norm.

My big dilemma:

Despite all this, I couldn’t leave. I had a great shot at landing a pilot slot. The slots are not determined until your third year so I still had a long way to go, but in my second year I was doing very well in many of the categories by which pilot candidates are judged:

  • High test scores and grades.
  • No medical issues.
  • Perfect vision.
  • Perfect physical fitness test scores.

I had quite an internal battle knowing that the Air Force wasn’t the place for me to fulfill my main goals; but if I left, the window of opportunity to fly would slam shut. It wasn’t until my backseat flight in an F16 that I was able to walk away with some closure. I’ve never regretted it.

Going Forward:

I see the internal fight for America’s freedom being fought on 2 fronts:

  1. Education/general awarness.
  2. Legislative/political.

I love teaching but I hate politics. I am working to become an influential writer/speaker/teacher (I know, I have a long way to go). Hopefully this blog is helping me refine my skills, network with others like me, and maybe even convince those within my circle of influence to stand by principles of liberty.

Speaking of which, stay tuned for the 5 principles of liberty, Benton style.

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Don’t Blame Freedom for this Mess

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

The popular explanation for the world’s economic crisis seems to be that our free markets were left completely uncontrolled and unmanaged. As a result, greedy men on Wall Street and incompetent CEOs ransacked our entire economy by earning asinine wages and making irresponsible decisions. I think this explanation sucks!

First, our free markets are more regulated and managed than at any other point in the history of our country. It’s rare that you ever hear about a rule or regulation being scrapped. New ones come all the time; they rarely ever go.

Second, the dishonesty of a bunch of Wall Street high-rollers can, AT MOST, have an effect on our economy measured in billions of dollars. Stated otherwise, it’s a drop in the bucket! Remember how the $700B bailout package is doing almost nothing? Our economy’s magnitude is measured in trillions. Bernie Madoff sinking our economy is the equivalent of me taking on a US Navy Destroyer with my BB gun.

Third, those incompetent CEOs are the world’s highest achieving business men and women. They only reached their positions after years of continued success (okay, except for Larry and Sergey). The politicians calling the CEOs incompetent, on the other hand, rarely have a track record of anything but politicking, finger pointing, baby kissing and hypocrisy. Allow me a small illustration: Everyone freaked out when the automotive CEOs flew to Washington in corporate jets. Meanwhile, Obama and McCain had been criss-crossing the nation on personal jets . . . much larger personal jets:

Does anyone else sense a double standard?

So then, what really caused all this?

I’ve read some explanations that actually make sense (not in the news of course). I will share what I’ve learned—stay posted.

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