I reckon the Oba-lefties and Oba-Czars will put a lot of us right there agin!
How to distinguish Liberty from Tryanny:
| Liberty | "Soft" Tyranny | |
| 1 | Rights are inherent in, and unalienable from, individuals | Rights are granted/rescinded by the majority through the government |
| 2 | Fundamental rights are life, liberty, and property (absence of coercion) | Fundamental rights are food, housing, and healthcare (absence of necessity) |
| 3 | Property is owned by individuals who make decisions as to its use, improvement, and transfer | Property is owned by 'the public' with government officials making decisions as to its use, improvement, and transfer |
| 4 | Government exists to protect the rights of individuals | Government exists to plan and direct the resources of society |
| 5 | Government authority is decentralized in a federal system with limited and enumerated powers | Government authority is centralized in a national system with broad and necessarily intrusive powers |
| 6 | Government action is prescribed by rules fixed and announced beforehand | Government action is arbitrary and at the descretion of "czars" and planning boards |
| 7 | Economic activity is driven by a large number of small entities interacting according to simple rules | Economic activity is driven by a small number of large entities operating within the constraints of complex regulations |
| 8 | Effective innovation results from contrarian thinking, individual initiative, and the voluntary exchange of property | Efficient implementation of government planning requires conformity of opinion, collective action, and the coerced transfer of property |
| 9 | Standards of living for the many increase permanently as they utilize improved products and services conceived by the few | Standards of living for the many increase temporarily as they utilize property redistributed from the few |
| 10 | Altruism is using one's own resources in concrete acts to help specific individuals | Altruism is obligating the resources of others for broad-brush programs to help mankind in the abstract |
Rights exists solely as a way to fairly decide whose will shall prevail in cases where two or more people disagree. They do not exist for the purpose of enslaving one person for the benefit of another (e.g., the "right" to free medical care.)
Liberty is the right to do whatever does not infringe the rights of others. Rights empower you to help yourself, free from interference by others.
Tyranny makes you a serf to be used by the elite to further their own power. Once upon a time, the nobility used religion to convince the serfs they had to serve the nobility. Modernly, the elite use good people's feelings of altruism to convince them to enslave both themselves and their neighbors. It's basically the same con game, just using a more sophisticated hook.
Nice list. Yours?
I reckon the Oba-lefties and Oba-Czars will put a lot of us right there agin!
Bump
Self-ping for later printing.