Carnival of Liberty XII
September 20, 2005
10:24 a.m., MT

Welcome to the Carnival of Liberty XII! This Carnival is Eric's creation, and I believe was intended to highlight some of the best writing from the Life, Liberty, and Property community. They're open to everyone, however, and I thank Eric for allowing me, a former LLP member, to host this week's Carnival.

I requested that prospective contributors focus on some aspect of personal liberty; either several folks didn't see that request or it proved more difficult than I expected, for I received a number of entries that were typical political or economic fare. Sure, politics and economics impact one's liberty, but there's much more to personal liberty. Carnival of Liberty XII provides some interesting and thought-provoking peeks into that broad subject. Links below will open a new browser window.

My good friend, co-conspirator here and on Sunni's Salon, and Endervidualism proprietor Tom Ender says it's Life, Liberty, Property -- In That Order:

Most people would not defend the idea that fictional characters or imaginary friends have rights in any normal sense. They do not possess life and cannot possess rights. So what relevance does this discussion have for affairs that matter in our actual world? In today's world are there any fictional or imaginary entities which are thought by many people to have rights? There are.

Eric Cowperthwaite asks Why?, and proceeds to share with us how he became interested in the cause of liberty:

This combination of describing where society was going and what individuals should be able to achieve was a catalyst for me. A belief that you and I can still change things. A realization that sitting and waiting for someone else to do it would mean that it would never be done.

A new acquaintance, Neo Wayland at Pagan Vigil, also shares a story of how he began Dreaming of Liberty and where it's taken him:

I've found that you can't be popular after you dismiss dogma, but sometimes people remember that you were right even as they hate your guts. I've learned some of the value of honor, even if it costs you.

Even with all that, I still believe that my best hope for freedom is to make sure that people have as many choices as possible, understanding that they will be held responsible for those choices.

Wolf DeVoon ties several ideas together in his essay What am I doing to maximize personal liberty?:

A plywood shack and hand-to-mouth subsistence ain't liberty. There is no freedom or joy in poverty.

It does not mean, however, that happiness is produced by joining the sharks and bottom feeders who seem to be everywhere, especially in the real estate business.

Greg Swann echoes this idea and expands on it, in Work hard. Make money. Live in Splendor--now, not later...:

I myself am fairly consistently frustrated with what I think of as hysterical libertarian rhetoric. The sky can only fall so many times in any given day. At the same time, I have always thought that Personal Liberty, freedom from the inside out, is the only kind that matters. It were well to be free of taxes and insane barriers to action, but it is better still to be the kind of person who can rejoice in life as it is, rather than constantly whining about all the peas under the mattresses.

The Loose Cannon Libertarian, also known as Garry Reed, pointed me to an oldie-but-goodie he wrote a while back on the the joys of being self-employed. Here's a snippet from Potboiler:

Capitalism is alive and well and living in America.

We just have to look a little harder for it than we ought to. Job-shopping delivers me from corporate politics, offers a sense of freedom and accomplishment, and pays better than the traditional nine-to-five gig.

Publicola pointed me to a piece he wrote a bit ago, on the gun-thievery in New Orleans, titled All That We Are:

I'd like to know how the culture can be so removed from itself that the local cops have no moral dilemma in stealing guns & kicking people out of their own damn houses. But in the present it doesn't matter why; it matters what.

Kirsten at Enjoy Every Sandwich focuses on personal liberty and responsibility, in one of a series of risk and emergency preparedness entries:

I am a firm believer that expanding one's personal freedom begins with getting a handle on one's personal responsibilities.

A few days ago, I talked about taking responsibility for preparing for disasters rather than waiting for someone to bail our asses out after the fact.

In future installments in this series of posts, I'll be building an emergency preparedness plan from the ground up.

The Pubcrawler shares a bit about how he took a day off to attend a Maryland Senate hearing on more gun-grabbing legislation, in How I spent my day off:

One by one, the anti-gun arguments went down in flames. In the end, the gun grabbers resorted to their old tricks of emotionalism and rhetoric during a heated exchange between a Baltimore gun dealer and a Baltimore Senator. The Senator angrily hurled bigoted slurs, calling gun dealers "merchants of death" and blaming them for gun violence in Maryland. The gun dealer calmly replied that he was engaged in legal commerce. I wondered quietly if the Senator holds General Motors responsible for drunk driving fatalities.

Dave Gross at The Picket Line offers a very thoughtful piece on the role of honesty in achieving liberty:

If you’re fighting for power, dishonesty has its place. If you’re fighting against power and not to seize it for yourself, the means contain the ends and honesty may indeed be the best policy — or, at the least, one that has its place. The moral high ground is undefended and almost abandoned. Could it really be that it has no strategic advantage at all?

I didn't have time to properly write up anything for my own Carnival, but a recent item is somewhat suitable. It's Is Your Character Part of the Problem, or Helping You Find Solutions?:

I'm a firm believer in creating your own reality -- or self-fulfilling prophecy, if you prefer to think of it that way. Not in any mystical sense, but in the very real sense of reaping what one sows. I've seen it at work in my own life, and others' lives: negativity breeds more despair, less inclination to try a different solution or re-frame the problem; a can-do, positive attitude opens up vistas of possibility, and typically one feels a sense of accomplishment for overcoming challenges and obstacles and a willingness to tackle another one.

And finally, I'll close with one of my favorites, from co-conspirator Jorge -- What if they want beer for breakfast?, taking on raising children to understand freedom:

As with all human relationships, it comes down to "Freedom is the answer, what is the question?" Unfortunately, when we interact with others, especially those who work for the State, or who work for large bureaucratic organizations, Freedom is usually not the answer. However, in our personal relationships, those with our friends, with our spouses, and especially those with our children, we have a choice. When we are the ones supplying the answers we can insure that they are consistent with Freedom.

As I mentioned previously, several other individuals suggested items that didn't seem to fit my theme well. They include (in no particular order, and my apologies if I forget anyone): TF Stern's Rantings; Resistance is Futile!; Searchlight Crusade; TFS Magnum; Ogre's Politics and Views; The Unrepentant Individual;Tom Rants; Wayne's World 2005; Shiloh Musings; Common Folk Using Common Sense; Mr. Completely; and TMH's Bacon Bits.

Thanks again to everyone who contributed, and to Eric for allowing me to bring you this Carnival of (Personal) Liberty. Next week's Carnival will be hosted by Obi-Wan at Forward Biased.

Sunni

Comments: 6 people have contributed to the conversation

On Tuesday, September 20th, at approximately 11:09 a.m. Mountain time, muse said:

Well done. Thanks for including me!

On Tuesday, September 20th, at approximately 8:01 p.m. Mountain time, NeoWayland said:

A great collection.

And thanks for including me too.

On Tuesday, September 20th, at approximately 10:05 p.m. Mountain time, Jorge said:

Great collection, I enjoyed all of them. I am flattered that you closed with mine.

On Tuesday, September 20th, at approximately 11:22 p.m. Mountain time, Eric said:

Sunni, great theme. I enjoyed reading every entry and found them all thought provoking.

Just to clarify, the Carnival is, in no way, intended just to highlight the LLP community's writing. It is intended as a virtual place to discuss liberty and try, at the same time, to avoid the various -isms that often plague such discussions. Quoting from the Carnival's inaugural announcement:

"The Carnival of Liberty’s goal is to promote blogging and thinking about liberty and freedom. How to advance the cause, where there are problems, what we can do, who’s saying what, historical trends and ideas, liberty in the news, and more."

Thanks once again!

On Wednesday, September 21st, at approximately 9:00 a.m. Mountain time, Sunni said:

Thanks to all of you who helped make it happen.

On Thursday, September 22nd, at approximately 9:18 a.m. Mountain time, Billy Beck said:

(ahem)

"Life as it is", does not mean what it's implying in the quote pulled here.

"Life as it is" is something categorically different from what some evil people make it for others.

Everyone here is smart enough to know the difference, which is why this sort of thing ought no be tolerated.

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