Skip to main content

The False Choice of Liberty vs. Security



Benjamin Franklin is said to have declared: "They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty nor security."

The Early American sage was certainly seeing clearly when he recognized that security can only be fleeting if liberty is given up. He might better have said: "They who give up liberty for security end up losing both."

But it is interesting that even in Benjamin Franklin's day a false political question must have been arising which during the 20th Century proved to be agonizingly hurtful as the world views hurt. The question was whether people should give up some degree of their liberty in order to enjoy a greater degree of security ... as if the two were contradictory experiences.

Communist countries experimented: "We'll find out the answer! We'll attempt giving away all liberty in exchange for the hope of total security. We'll see what happens." Each such experiment became a disaster as the world sees things. Both liberty and security were equally and inevitably lost in political tidal waves of pain, suffering, and death. These wrong-minded experiments did, of course, give a clue to the answer: liberty and security are indivisible.

Christians pray in gratitude, "You give us this day our daily bread." But one doesn't have to be a Christian to understand the feeling of gratitude. Even atheists can hear inside the voice of their life force and inner reason guiding them, and atheists who enjoy liberty can follow such guidance until all their needs are provided. Liberty is the only state of being that allows people to find true security, security that is not an illusion. 

But some human beings are slow learners, wouldn't you say? For example, so many political activists in America continue to try to elect their loyal party comrades so they can continue experimenting with legislatively taking away liberty and offering "security," "insurance," and "safety-net" programs. American politicians say, "We are not Communists! Our methods are different." Big difference! Both liberty and security are lost, but at a slower pace. Pain and suffering continue to increase, but more gradually.

As with all foolish human mistakes, the history-making misery caused by Communists in the 20th Century could have been avoided. Likewise, future disasters already set in motion by American politicians in the 21st Century can be avoided. It is only necessary to teach that liberty and security are two sides of the same coin. True security cannot be experienced by tossing liberty in a wishing well.



fas-cism
noun
a socialist governmental system led by a dominant elite which seeks to control industry and commerce, and uses legislation and governmental decree to force Utopian programs on people.


free-dom
noun
one's natural state of being; a governmental system reflecting one's natural state, including voluntary funding and voluntary willingness to join and cooperate with minimal intrinsic rules, but with no programs of "good intention" forced on people "for their own good."



If you are newly waking up to your innate libertarian core and want to investigate deeper the underlying nonsense of the liberal-progressive religion of government worship, give yourself the pleasure of reading Ayn Rand's epic and masterful novel, Atlas Shrugged.



"God's laws will keep your minds at peace, because peace IS His Will, and His laws are established to uphold it. His are the laws of freedom, but yours are the laws of bondage. Since freedom and bondage are irreconcilable, their laws CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD TOGETHER. The laws of God work only for your good, and there ARE no other laws beside His. Everything else is merely lawLESS, and therefore chaotic." -Jesus Christ in A Course in Miracles


Interesting factoid: for the last election year studied (1998) some of the highest percentage of votes for Libertarian Party candidates were for candidates who had been studying free of charge the lessons of: Course in Political Miracles

For a great discussion on Christianity vs. State Socialism see: Christianity vs. State Socialism



“I did not understand what made me free, nor what my freedom is, nor where to look to find it. Father, I have searched in vain until I heard Your Voice directing me. Now I would guide myself no more. For I have neither made nor understood the way to find my freedom. But I trust in You. You Who endowed me with my freedom as Your holy Son will not be lost to me. Your Voice directs me." (Prayer from A Course in Miracles)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Libertarian Mantra Exposes Obama Cruelty

President Obama has no choice but to offer you up as a sacrifice to his god.  His worship of the illusion that there can be a "common good" for society which transcends the good of individuals in the society demands your sacrifice. Yet libertarians fiddle. Are you amazed that libertarians blab about marijuana while the economy of the entire world is crashing?  Are you astounded that libertarians nit-pick about bedroom issues while the entire populace is being reduced to slavery?   Many libertarians spend their time forever addressing puny little issues which (a) make them look to the public like petty teenagers, and (b) serve only to side-track the public’s thought from an infinitely more important underlying truth. Okay, let's suppose you want to do some real good for the libertarian cause.  How about addressing  the one and only truly meaningful issue?  Maybe a little story would illustrate what libertarians should be talking about. One upon a time there was a

Ayn Rand and Jesus Christ: Deep Similarities

Ayn Rand's intellectual genius was great, but far greater still was her willingness to tune in to her spirit, feel her spirit, live by her spirit, and write from her spirit. Her spirit has moved millions. "When I studied Atlas Shrugged I was inspired to change the direction of my life totally. I literally owe my life to Ayn Rand." How many times have we heard a statement such as this? The quality in a fictional work which can change someone's life so dramatically is not the intellectualism of the work, but the spiritual foundation on which the intellectualism is built. Intellectualism without a spiritual base is a painful torture which ultimately leads to terror and death, as Ayn Rand so perfectly illustrated with her fictional characters. But intellectualism which arises out of being in touch with one's spirit is a very different story, as those of us know who have read Atlas Shrugged . Ayn Rand's heroes are fond of saying their antagonists are "mindles

Libertarianism Coming On Strong?

"Americans are increasingly opposed to activist government programs. The most significant social movement of 2009, the Tea Party protests, grew out of that opposition. Libertarian heroine Ayn Rand is as popular today as ever. Rand's brilliant and radical laissez faire novel "Atlas Shrugged," sold roughly 300,000 copies last year, according to BookScan, twice its sales in 2008 and roughly triple annual sales in recent decades." - Conservative Libertarianism's Comeback by David Paul Kuhn The above article would have us believe that a growing resurgence in libertarian sentiment is a "backlash" reaction to the Democratic Party's move into full-fledged fascism. Certainly there is some truth to this, but it cannot be the whole story. Franklin Roosevelt's fascism was far more inclusive. FDR's brain trust had almost to a man visited Joseph Stalin in the Soviet Union and liked what they saw . In the Roosevelt Administration there was a