Friday, December 9, 2011

The Greatest Libertarian Ever



When one considers what it means to believe in liberty we are left with a pretty simple, but powerful, idea that people are born with the right to do anything peaceful. That is to say that as long as our actions do not violate the life, liberty or property rights of another, we are free, or should be free to pursue those acts that we believe will make us happy, prosperous, content, fulfilled, or whatever other word we choose to use.


When Republicans ask me why I am a Libertarian I tell them because Republicans only believe in economic liberty (Goldwater/Reagan/Ron Paul/Paul Ryan Republicans I should say...), but do not seem too thrilled with the idea of social liberty - the rights we have to do things to ourselves, or do things with other consenting adults that do not create negative externalities that are clear and measurable.


Democrats say, "Well, we believe in social liberty, so why not become a Democrat?" That is easy to answer. Democrats, by and large, do not believe in economic liberty. They are mistrustful of mankind's ability to pursue our self interest in a productive manner. They believe in taking from one to provide a living for another. They advocate rules and regulations that prevent people from entering into consensual contracts and on and on and on....


So, as a Libertarian I choose to advocate social and economic liberty - even when people use their liberty to do things of which I disapprove. That is the hard part - and it is why so few people are Libertarians. If I, for example, find it to be morally reprehensible for people to engage in homosexual relationships, I must - if I truly believe in freedom - never support any law restricting the non-violent, consensual acts of homosexuals. In essence, gay people have the same rights I have to marry and have lasting relationships without the tyranny of the majority trampling their rights.


That is why, if we seriously consider which person was the greatest advocate of Libertarian philosophy, we are left with only one true choice....


Jesus.


When you pour through the New Testament you will find multitudinous verses and parables where Jesus supports economic liberty. He never once said government should take away the earnings of one person to give to another. Rather, he clearly said that we have "free will" to give or not give to those in need.


He supported the idea of property, contracts, compensation based on the agreements between labor demanders and labor suppliers, and working for a living.


In the realm of social liberty we are told that "all things are permissible, but not all things are wise." We see in his teachings that people should "pull the plank out of your own eye before you pull a splinter out of a brother's eye" and that people who are without sin should feel free to stone those who do sin.


He never supported homosexuality, drug use or prostitution. He led people by his teachings to repent for our sins and stay away from sin. He warns us about what will happen if we use our free will to keep sinning but he never supports manmade laws to regulate the lives of sinners.


Christians should pray for people who engage in economic greed or moral depravity, but as long as greed and depravity does not involve a forced taking or some other violation of our rights, Christians cannot turn to government to make rich people give or make drug users put down the needle.


Thus, as Christmas approaches, I would like to invite all of you to consider the difference between forced will and free will - and consider what our world would be like if Jesus had never arrived to show us how to use our free will for good.


Merry Christmas.

Friday, December 2, 2011

The Tenacity of Hope

Over the past few days I have had the incredible opportunity to talk with hundreds of Americans via email and telephone in response to my interviews on Fox & Friends, The Neal Boortz Show and other programs. For those of you who are new to my blog I want to thank you for your heartfelt support in the fight to restore liberty in our struggling nation.

As any liberty-lover who has clear vision can see, it is 11PM in our nation's history. World economic history is quite clear as it pertains to the destiny of all nations who have allowed government to gain ground and liberty to yield. That destiny is one of poverty and an arrival at the doorstep of inconsequence as a nation. No country can continue to be ignorant and expect to be free. No country can allow half the populace to plunder the other half without destroying incentives to work, save and produce.

A Cuban refugee once told Ronald Reagan that America must remain a beacon of liberty because if we go away, refugees will have no other place to go.

Think about that. Can we all fit in Hong Kong or Estonia or New Zealand? No, we can't.

Every other empire that died under the weight of bloated government failed to have the one thing we have going for us. When other nations have begun to die, the people in those nations could not look back in their history and see the word "liberty" on their reset button. They all had a history of kings, czars, dictators and emperors so they did not know how to restore what was being lost.

America's reset button has the word liberty on it. We invented the recognition of the concept that all people have a God-given right to life, liberty and property. Therefore, it is possible that we can become the first nation in the history of the world to ascend to the top, begin to die and then prevent that death. All we have to do is continue to teach people about liberty, what it looks like, what the consequences of lost-liberty must mean and we will have a shot to turn this government-led Titanic around before we hit the iceberg of entrenched socialism.

So, to all of you joining my blog, welcome!! I look forward to hearing from you in the future.

Sincerely,
Jack Chambless
http://www.jackchambless.com/