Friday, July 22, 2005

An inside job

In the name of nationalism, religion, ideology,
tradition or "the common good," the governments
of the world suppress individual liberty and
individuals' control of their own communities.
Special interest- corporate- state- bureaucratic-
military elites worldwide tax, regulate, bully,
beat, prosecute, jail and execute citizens into
submission. They discriminate against, rob,
ethnically cleanse and genocide members of
oppressed racial/ethnic/religious/regional
groups. Without government control, these elites
would have little real power over individuals and
communities.
The concept of individual liberty is simple:
individuals should be free to do whatever they
please as long as they don't harm others by using
force or fraud. This is the basic ethical tenet
or "golden rule" of all religions, one corrupted
by layers of theology and ritual and centuries of
kowtowing to political authority. Individual
consent–not some nationalist, racial, religious,
tribal or, ideological construct or “social
contract”–is the only legitimate basis of any
social, economic and political organization.

So far so good and then this...
However, supporting the idea and value of
individual liberty is not enough to obtain
liberty.

Why not? If you can't sell it, it won't work simply
because either you're doing a bad job or no one
is buying because they like what they have. Besides
freedom is an "inside" job.
We must support institutional structures that
make it impossible for public or private entities
to crush individual liberty.

Flat-assed wrong, a recipe for more structure.

Since when is Empire brought down by more Empire
or its trappings, playing their institutional game?

Can you organize freedom?

How is your freedom obtained by a membership card
or a protest movement?

You wanna be free?

You're on your own.

Get to work if you've a mind to.

Why would you want to fight 'em when it's easier
to ignore 'em?

To be fair, there is value there if you know what
to look for.