I’m posting because I am at best a newbie to freedom oriented thought, and at worst, still stuck in the world of the state. I’m a bit different from others who post here in that I haven’t fully turned the corner many of you have, and since “how” seems to be a genuine question, I can share one woman’s perspective on how and why (at least for my own self, but I am theorizing true for others too.)

I think people generally would like to live in such a way that their basic needs are met – that is to say they don’t have to fight (literally) for food and water, that they have shelter, that they are generally not faced with life-threatening danger – that sort of thing. When you have those in place, you move up Maslow’s ladder and start finding the time for love, and what interests you personally, etc.

The state supposedly offers to handle all the basics – which is going to sound pretty good to a lot of people. Manage commerce so goos and services are readily available, enforce rules so we're all safe, set up infrastructure to pipe things like electricity and water to us. Since most people in western ‘civilized” countries don’t have a clue how to do the basics themselves (milk a cow, kill a chicken, find safe food in the forest, use a gun, build a house or a well – heck most of us can’t even garden). If you don’t know how to do it at all, it’s not going to sound very appealing to have to do it on your own. And I think Americans are way too suspicious of evil corporations to embrace privatization.

So people conclude that the very best way to have the most enriching life for themselves and others is to let some collective entity (government) handle the things that are for our basic good. That’s “how” they let it happen. And then bigger and bigger government has crept up on us just like the boiled frog parable. The gradual effect has numbed everyone to even seeing the pervasive negative effect.

As I newbie, I think I hear freedom thinkers saying – Hey government doesn’t work! We freedom lovers also want what is best for the good of people. I know, I know, you’re all supposed to be about the individual, but I think that lens shortchanges the effect. At the end of the day, freedom for individuals produces the best end result for everyone. What I’ve learned from reading here and on other blogs, seems to suggest that many of you believe that if each individual is just in charge of himself, the world would work better.

Let me take an example that I’ve thought a lot about since being introduced to freedom thinking. Let’s assume we all agree that it would be a generally good thing if you could go drive on the road with minimal risk of a traffic accident. A typical American (me included) would initially think, make rules, enforce them, watch accidents go down.

Then I started seeing the problems here. As soon as I, as a driver cede the decision making to someone else, I get complacent. I lose my edge. I lose my initiative to think for myself. I drive 55 because it’s posted, regardless of weather, traffic or my own comfort & skills. I’ve unknowingly given up more than I’ve gotten, but I “feel” secure. Too bad it’s false. Without the rule, I would be forced to figure it out myself – I’d have to think, experience, make judgments. With a critical eye to the specific factors in my individual case, and pressed by self-preservation to do a good job, I think I’d be a better driver. I can play this example out across all sorts of scenarios and I come to the same conclusion – life teaches lessons more effectively than imposed rules, and having competent, proud, thinking people making their own decisions and living well, more lives than just their own would be better. Of course thid way doesn't produce perfect results - no way would - but I've come to conclude it would be much, much better. (Although worse on the surface in the short term as people grappled with all that new responsibility).

“How” can people subscribe to statism? I think it’s inaccurate and not even helpful to ascribe motives like fear and stupidity. I think at least some people hold the political beliefs that they do out of love and respect and desire to help – the exact same things that I think motivate some freedom lovers – Sunni I know has said she has this deep respect for people. Perhaps I am only speaking for myself, but as a former fan of big government, I can honestly say that I still want the same thing I always wanted, for life to be as good and decent as it can be for most people. The only thing that I have changed in switching to freedom thinking is that the path to that desired end is entirely different.

P.S. Sunni, sorry I dropped off the planet forever; I’d love to catch up.