Hi, I\u2019m Ben. I\u2019m a junior political science and philosophy double major and I love freedom, and figured this blog would be just one more way to express that love, so I\u2019ll be posting on here every so often. I hope you will not only read, but comment. I\u2019d love to take the issues I raise on here further.
\nSo, what do I mean by saying I love freedom? I\u2019m guessing my saying that probably either intrigues you or scares you. Why do I want freedom so bad? I\u2019m probably sick and tired of the stupid government getting all up in my face and violating my rights, right? WRONG.
\nMy call for freedom stems not from a demand for my rights as one who is governed, but from an acknowledgement of the limits of my rights as one who governs.<\/i>
\nOr, for another way of looking at it:
\nI\u2019m not your daddy. God is.<\/i><\/p>\n
A great deal of democratic enthusiasm descends from the ideas of people like Rousseau, who believed in democracy because they thought mankind was so wise and good that everyone deserved a share in the government. The danger of defending democracy on those grounds is that they\u2019re not true\u2026 I find that they\u2019re not true without looking further than myself. I don\u2019t deserve a share in governing a hen-roost, much less a nation\u2026 The real reason for democracy is just the reverse. Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows. Aristotle said that some people were only fit to be slaves. I do not contradict him. But I reject slavery because I see no men fit to be masters.<\/i><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hi, I\u2019m Ben. I\u2019m a junior political science and philosophy double major and I love freedom, and figured this blog would be just one more way to express that love, so I\u2019ll be posting on here every so often. I … Continue reading
\nI am not one of those angry libertarians who wants freedom because he\u2019s tired of \u201cbig government,\u201d or \u201cthe man,\u201d or whoever, pushing him around. I want freedom because I recognize that I don\u2019t have the authority to make anyone do anything except keep his hands off someone else. And if I don\u2019t have that authority and if you don\u2019t either, then getting together with a whole bunch of people and making a majority won\u2019t magically give us that authority. I don\u2019t have the right to be your boss, whether on my own, or with a bunch of people. I can protect others from you, but it\u2019s not my job to tell you how to live. That\u2019s your job. And when I say that\u2019s your job, I mean it. It\u2019s not so much that you have a right<\/i> to be your own boss, but that you have a responsibility<\/i> to be your own boss. It\u2019s your JOB. It\u2019s not my place to do it for you, even if I really do know how to do it better, because you<\/i> are morally accountable for your<\/i> actions, not me. The only thing I can do to you is make sure you don\u2019t interfere with anyone else\u2019s job. And since that\u2019s the only thing I\u2019m able to do to you, that\u2019s the only thing the government, which is just a bunch of everyday people like me, can do to you. THAT is why I demand freedom.
\nI\u2019ll leave you this bit from \u201cEquality\u201d by C.S. Lewis:<\/p>\n