Alan Cook's Blog - Posts Tagged "personal-freedom"
Authoritarianism
I published my book, Freedom’s Light: Quotations from History’s Champions of Freedom, many years ago, but it is, if anything, more relevant today than it ever was. (E-book version available free at Smashwords, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo.)
The leaders of our two main political parties have one thing in common. Most of them are authoritarians. Authoritarians are people who want to tell us what to do—and what not to do. We must not take a step without their permission. They are happiest when they are creating executive orders, taxes, laws and regulations that limit our ability to do as we wish.
Authoritarianism is the opposite of personal freedom, which is the right to do what we want to as long as it doesn’t hurt somebody else. The United States was conceived with the idea that its citizens have unalienable rights that can’t be taken away from them. Unfortunately, these rights have been eroded to the point where, instead of being the freest country in the world we are now well down the list.
People who support authoritarians are looking for a strong leader who can wave a magic sword and fix everything that’s wrong, but authoritarians see everything in black and white. They have no flexibility and want everybody to bow to them. Leaders like this end up making our world a whole lot worse. Lord Acton said, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Big government promotes authoritarianism. George Washington, who was our first president but declined to be king, said, “Government is not reason. It is not eloquence. It is force. Like fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearsome master.” How many of today’s leaders would decline a crown? How many act as if they already have one?
Authoritarians keep us in a constant panic by hammering us about “threats”—which may be from other countries, our own people or natural forces—and which must be countered with drastic measures, including unending warfare, higher taxes and the right for government organizations to spy on us. All of these reduce our personal freedom. Should we give in? Benjamin Franklin said it best: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
Authoritarians don’t like aspects of our Constitution. They don’t like free speech when it means that people can criticize them. They don’t like other parts of the Bill of Rights if these rights limit their powers. They wish they could alter the Constitution to suit their own view of the world—and to give them more power.
We owe it to our descendants to fight against those who would grab unlimited power and reduce our personal freedom. If we don’t, our children and grandchildren will live in a world of confining walls instead of unlimited horizons.
The leaders of our two main political parties have one thing in common. Most of them are authoritarians. Authoritarians are people who want to tell us what to do—and what not to do. We must not take a step without their permission. They are happiest when they are creating executive orders, taxes, laws and regulations that limit our ability to do as we wish.
Authoritarianism is the opposite of personal freedom, which is the right to do what we want to as long as it doesn’t hurt somebody else. The United States was conceived with the idea that its citizens have unalienable rights that can’t be taken away from them. Unfortunately, these rights have been eroded to the point where, instead of being the freest country in the world we are now well down the list.
People who support authoritarians are looking for a strong leader who can wave a magic sword and fix everything that’s wrong, but authoritarians see everything in black and white. They have no flexibility and want everybody to bow to them. Leaders like this end up making our world a whole lot worse. Lord Acton said, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
Big government promotes authoritarianism. George Washington, who was our first president but declined to be king, said, “Government is not reason. It is not eloquence. It is force. Like fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearsome master.” How many of today’s leaders would decline a crown? How many act as if they already have one?
Authoritarians keep us in a constant panic by hammering us about “threats”—which may be from other countries, our own people or natural forces—and which must be countered with drastic measures, including unending warfare, higher taxes and the right for government organizations to spy on us. All of these reduce our personal freedom. Should we give in? Benjamin Franklin said it best: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
Authoritarians don’t like aspects of our Constitution. They don’t like free speech when it means that people can criticize them. They don’t like other parts of the Bill of Rights if these rights limit their powers. They wish they could alter the Constitution to suit their own view of the world—and to give them more power.
We owe it to our descendants to fight against those who would grab unlimited power and reduce our personal freedom. If we don’t, our children and grandchildren will live in a world of confining walls instead of unlimited horizons.
Notes on Socialism
Although my novel, Trust Me if You Dare, is not intended to be about Socialism, a picture is painted about what a socialistic country is like because the book takes place in 1962 and one of the locations is Cuba. Castro was in power and people were feeling the effects of his rule.
Many people left Cuba by boat when they weren’t permitted to leave voluntarily. For the most part they were trying to get to Florida, but the boats were overcrowded and flimsy, and many lives were lost in the attempt. You don’t risk your life to leave a country where the living is good.
One aspect of Socialism is that the government owns everything and tells everybody what to do. Personal freedom is a meaningless term. Pay is low and food is often scarce. One joke is that the first thing that happens in a socialistic country is a scarcity of toilet paper. Central planning doesn’t work like the free market.
Huell Howser, who broadcast on public television in California, made a video in Cuba in the 1990s. One of the things that struck me was when he visited a farmers’ market that had recently been allowed to open. Food was sold by private citizens who had grown it themselves. A wide variety was available. Then Huell visited a government-owned market. Only a few items were being sold and those didn’t look good enough to eat.
One problem that is alluded to in my book is that doctors are paid so little that female doctors often resort to prostitution to make ends meet. Medical care is supposed to be good, but there are three levels of care: one for Castro and his buddies, one for tourists, and a third for everyone else. Abortions are allowed for any suspected problems in unborn babies, and sometimes done by force, thus ensuring a better survival rate at birth, which looks good in statistics.
After the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts, they had a very high death rate. Everybody was supposed to farm the common land together, but it didn’t work. When Governor Bradford and some of the wiser colonists realized what was happening they changed the system so that every family owned their own land and everything that was produced from it. That’s when the colony started to flourish.
A current example of socialistic failure is Venezuela, where there are no jobs, no money and no food. The local currency is worthless due to hyperinflation. Socialism was successful in zero of many attempts in the twentieth century, and it’s not starting out well in the twenty-first.
Many people left Cuba by boat when they weren’t permitted to leave voluntarily. For the most part they were trying to get to Florida, but the boats were overcrowded and flimsy, and many lives were lost in the attempt. You don’t risk your life to leave a country where the living is good.
One aspect of Socialism is that the government owns everything and tells everybody what to do. Personal freedom is a meaningless term. Pay is low and food is often scarce. One joke is that the first thing that happens in a socialistic country is a scarcity of toilet paper. Central planning doesn’t work like the free market.
Huell Howser, who broadcast on public television in California, made a video in Cuba in the 1990s. One of the things that struck me was when he visited a farmers’ market that had recently been allowed to open. Food was sold by private citizens who had grown it themselves. A wide variety was available. Then Huell visited a government-owned market. Only a few items were being sold and those didn’t look good enough to eat.
One problem that is alluded to in my book is that doctors are paid so little that female doctors often resort to prostitution to make ends meet. Medical care is supposed to be good, but there are three levels of care: one for Castro and his buddies, one for tourists, and a third for everyone else. Abortions are allowed for any suspected problems in unborn babies, and sometimes done by force, thus ensuring a better survival rate at birth, which looks good in statistics.
After the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts, they had a very high death rate. Everybody was supposed to farm the common land together, but it didn’t work. When Governor Bradford and some of the wiser colonists realized what was happening they changed the system so that every family owned their own land and everything that was produced from it. That’s when the colony started to flourish.
A current example of socialistic failure is Venezuela, where there are no jobs, no money and no food. The local currency is worthless due to hyperinflation. Socialism was successful in zero of many attempts in the twentieth century, and it’s not starting out well in the twenty-first.
