Is Your "freedom" On A Leash?

[suijurisfreeman]

Anyone read the essay "Freedom On A Leash" by Anonymous? Please check it out at: http://www.hevanet.com/kort/LEASH1.HTM

Do you wear a leash on your freedom? How long or short is it? Perhaps you're going leashless?

I removed my leash back in 1993 and have been leashless ever since! On June 4, 1993 I quit asking others to grant me "rights", I seized my liberty over 10 years ago. I exercise my natural, inherent and inalienable rights each and every day and have done so without harming another Human Being, their rights or property. Long live individualist-anarchism!

[tusaki]

I've read your article, but could you tell me what the advantage of individualist-anarchism is? If I feel free, how does that not make me free? I am bound by laws and that's ok with me since I have no reason to break them. So far I can see I have no reason to think I would become happier or free-er if I turned my back on the rest of society and lived in a cottage in the wood somewhere.

[suijurisfreeman]

</span><blockquote><span class="smallfont">Quote:</span><hr size="1" />Originally Posted by (tusaki,)
I've read your article, but could you tell me what the advantage of individualist-anarchism is? If I feel free, how does that not make me free? I am bound by laws and that's ok with me since I have no reason to break them. So far I can see I have no reason to think I would become happier or free-er if I turned my back on the rest of society and lived in a cottage in the wood somewhere.<hr size="1" /></blockquote><span class='postcolor'>

tusaki,
The essay "Freedom on a Leash" wasn't written by me, the author is listed as Anonymous. If you've consented to "be bound by laws", then you've exercised your freedom of choice. You have acknowledged that you are under the authority of another. If that position works for you, if it's your choice then hey, I don't see any problem. I own 20 wooded acres in southcentral Kentucky and I just happen to like "living in a cottage in the woods somewhere"! In my opinion "society" has gone mad, the greed, the consumerism that grips this country is insane!
As far as "the advantage of individualist-anarchism" for me personally, by exercising my freedom of choice, not consenting to be governed I don't ask permission to do anything that I have a natural, inherent and inalienable right to do. I don't ask permission to travel (no driver's license), I don't ask permission to build a shelter (don't get building permits), I don't ask permission to carry weapons (don't have a CCW permit), etc. As I have posted, I have exercised the rights of a free Human Being for over 10 years now and have not harmed another Human Being, their rights or property. I attempt to conduct my affairs as a responsibile Human Being. I'm not a child (I'm 55 years of age), I don't feel the need to play the "mother may I game", I don't need to ask the nanny state what I may or may not do. I don't ask for "my rights", I have seize them, I exercise them, and I damn well will defend them!

[TheColdTruth]

I obey laws only as long as they don't get in my wayy. ;D

[Anarchist]

I scribbled my own laws on a piece of paper and asked some of my internet buddies to vote on them. Tomorrow, I'm going to visit the neighbors with my AK-47 demanding a portion of their income to pay for the road maintenence and my cigarette habit. If they didn't vote, they can't complain...

[The Black Flag]

More power to people like suijurisfreeman and anarchist!

[The Dunedan]

I make an occaisional show of "obeying" laws, to keep the JBTs off my back. However, a more complete examination of my "papers" reveals that;
1: None of my "papers" date any later than 2001;
2: "My" SSN corresponds to that of one John Edgar Hoover;
3: Since I have no "paper trail" anyway ( no credit-cards, Bail Bond Certificates, etc ) most of the "papers" are meaningless to begin with, even if they do use my actual name.

Furthermore, I carry my weapons, drive my car, and distill my Mead without asking anyone's permission. I don't flaunt it, but I'm honest about it to anyone who asks. I don't bother "them," and ( for the moment, at least ) "they" don't bother me.

Let's hear it for living free below the radar.

[Gorgo]

You don't own property, don't use the internet, don't use the roads, don't listen to the radio, don't have an education. Cool.

[Vee]

libertarianism leads to anarchy, anarchy leads to chaos, chaos leads to disorder, disorder leads to lawlessness, lawlessness leads to war.

[Livemike]

Quote by: Vee libertarianism leads to anarchy, anarchy leads to chaos,

Such as when? It is far more common that State action leads to choas, disorder, lawlessness and war.

Quote by: Vee chaos leads to disorder, disorder leads to lawlessness, lawlessness leads to war.

[Vee]

Show me a completely Libertarian society and I'll tell you.

[JamesMcBride]

"libertarianism leads to anarchy, anarchy leads to chaos, chaos leads to disorder, disorder leads to lawlessness, lawlessness leads to war."

Those are grand assumptions... It's all very well saying that this all happens but we can't really take what you're saying seriously unless you provide practical / real-world examples of libertarian states turning to war.

"Show me a completely Libertarian society and I'll tell you."

If you've yet to see a completely LIbertarian society then how can you make a statment like you did originally - where the libertarian state somehow = war?????????

[SVMc]

I have some issues with the polling questions. I don't think of freedom in the same way that the anon. author does.... I think his/her perspective on freedom is somewhat one dimentional and lacks a real analysis. This is not to say that I don't agree with points, and I do in fact think it is generally going in the right direction however the general conclusions strike me as oversimplifed. So I can't choose options one since I disagree with the premise.

Option two and three also require you to accept the authors premise and analysis.... and if I did that wouldn't I be letting him/her dictate the terms to me... hence in his analysis wearing a theoretical leash?

I'm proudly not American, and while I do think that the citizens of the United States are relatively free when compared with a number of less developed and developing nations, I would have a significant problem viewing the United States as a "free" population.

So that leaves me with the last option of asking why you are asking such a stupid question. But even this is not satisfactory since I don't think the question is stupid. I think the polling selections could be refined and I think the general article provided could use some analysis, but the question itself isn't stupid.... simply because if we fail to ask questions about the nature of freedom how will we know when we are free?

[Starboy]

Quote by: SVMc I don't think the question is stupid. I think the polling selections could be refined and I think the general article provided could use some analysis, but the question itself isn't stupid.... simply because if we fail to ask questions about the nature of freedom how will we know when we are free?

And when you have answered that question answer this one:

Free from what?

Starboy

[SVMc]

Quote by: Starboy Free from what?

Very good point, I think too often we consider the obstacle to freedom to be the rules and regulations of the state and our submission to them. There are many other things that limit our personal freedom - personal philosophy, ability, social moores, religioius beliefs, lack of religious beliefs, etc.. etc...

[The Dunedan]

In this context, what is meant is freedom from forcible, coerced obediance. Nobody holds a gun to my head and forces me to be a Catholic, or a libertarian, or a university student. I agree to follow the rules and precepts of those institutions because I believe it to be in my best interests to do so; I can stop obeying those rules, at any time, without being shot or locked up for it. However, the State arbitrarily imposes rules which it then enforces with violence ( or the threat thereof ). This is, to my mind, totally unacceptable.

[Vee]

I can provide a fictitious example however, one that you should be familiar with.

MAD MAX

[JamesMcBride]

All well and good. But, like you said - It's fiction. I could make any assumption that I like and back it up with fictitious examples - however, their relevance to this debate or the real-world is debateable.

[Rave7pt0]

I went through an activist fuck-the-man phase, and it's stuck with me to some extent, but I've chosen to affect the system by being a part of it. I am not law abiding, but I do not violate the rights of others.