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Commentary: The war of the 'we' against the 'me'
Union Leader ^ | August 19 2002 | P.J. O’ROURKE

Posted on 08/19/2002 4:26:29 AM PDT by 2Trievers

FREEDOM IS MOSTLY about responsibility. My house, my car, my family may be a lot of responsibility, but I would rather take that responsibility than have any of you dating my wife or backing my car into phone poles or leaving your dirty socks on my bedroom floor.

There is a certain selfishness in libertarianism. But it’s common sense, really, more than common selfishness, that drives the libertarian philosophy. We are not ants or bees. We do not reason or love or live or die collectively. When Elizabeth Hurley has a torrid love affair, I don’t get the pleasure. So why should I get the bill for child support?

In libertarianism there is, frankly, an element of despair, because we know that people aren’t good. We know that people are sneaky, people are greedy, people are cruel. Yet we, as Libertarians, want to turn people loose to do whatever they want. We want that because we also know that no matter what bad things individuals do, they are better than the things that get done to individuals by the collective will.

And I don’t even mean the really gross manifestations of the collective will such as totalitarianism or public television. I mean, imagine a rich farmer going door to door in your suburb, trying to get huge subsidies from you, out of your grocery money. Imagine a steel tycoon down at the docks in Long Beach trying to impose a one-man tariff on cheap foreign steel. Imagine Enron trying to cheat the whole nation without the help of an impenetrable tax code, obscurantist accounting principles, and the dark powers of the Securities and Exchange Commission. It couldn’t be done.

Real evil is coercive, and an individual does not have the power of coercion that a government has. Voluntary good is done by individuals, for the benefit of individuals. Some of that voluntary good is going to be tasteless and dumb and shortsighted. But the ugliest strip mall is better than the most beautiful gulag.

Libertarians have a lot of things to fight. Libertarians must fight the herd instinct. Libertarians must fight not only instinct but ideas. And two of the most ingrained ideas in the human mind are the idea of collective entitlement and the idea of zero-sum outcomes.

Collective entitlement is the notion that I am owed something, not because of what I made or did, but because I belong to a category. I am owed something because I’m a member of the proletariat who deserves the fruits of capital, a member of the female sex who deserves affirmative action, an African American who deserves slavery-reparations, an American Indian who deserves the whole darn country. Notice how the idea of collective entitlement is much more popular than the idea of collective forfeiture. Very, very rarely does somebody volunteer to go to jail because the other members of his ethnic group have been running the protection rackets in Brooklyn for decades.

And then there are zero-sum outcomes — the notion that whatever it is you’ve got, you’ve got it because you took it from me. It’s easy enough to see where zero-sum thinking comes from, but the era that it came from is over. Libertarianism comes from a different place — a place that most people don’t understand and other people don’t believe in.

Libertarianism comes from the place that is in between taking and being given. And hardly anybody wants to go to that place. It’s full of work and worry. And yet, I feel hope. I do think there is a future for the free individual, whether he wants it or not. And the reason that I say so is because of something that’s right outside — America.

Hardly anyone wanted to come to America. Even the original inhabitants were just following a mammoth farther than they meant to. The rest of us were dragged here as slaves and bondservants. We were exiled here as heretics and criminals. We were chased here by poverty and oppression. And we came here because no place else would take us. We’re a bunch of losers and bums, the off-scourings of the planet. And now we are the richest and most powerful nation in the world. Why? Is it because we’re collectively good? No. It’s because we’re individually free.

— P.J. O’Rourke is an author and humorist who lives in southern New Hampshire. This column was excerpted from a speech he gave in Washington in May.



TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
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1 posted on 08/19/2002 4:26:29 AM PDT by 2Trievers
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To: weikel
Have you seen this speech? &;-)
2 posted on 08/19/2002 4:29:53 AM PDT by 2Trievers
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To: 2Trievers
We’re a bunch of losers and bums, the off-scourings of the planet.

That's hitting a little too close to home. Quit holding that mirror in front of me, P.J.!

3 posted on 08/19/2002 4:32:24 AM PDT by NoControllingLegalAuthority
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To: 2Trievers
Thank you for posting this.... Very powerful piece, very powerful! I am a stanch Republican, but this still all rings TRUE to me!
4 posted on 08/19/2002 4:37:57 AM PDT by Apple Pan Dowdy
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Comment #5 Removed by Moderator

To: 2Trievers
FREEDOM IS MOSTLY about responsibility

Freedom is the individual struggle against the clan, group, party, union, race, religion, state or any other gaggle of collectivists. In the hierarchy of values there is life and there is FREEDOM. The individual that understands FREEDOM understands the responsibilities.

6 posted on 08/19/2002 4:46:00 AM PDT by PGalt
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To: 2Trievers
No. It’s because we’re individually free.

Freedom BUMP

7 posted on 08/19/2002 5:11:53 AM PDT by TightSqueeze
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To: PGalt
"There is only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences." ~ PJ O'Rourke &;-)
8 posted on 08/19/2002 5:41:04 AM PDT by 2Trievers
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To: 2Trievers
This is a fine statement by P.J. O'Rourke. He writes it straight, with only a few touches of his trademark humor. And he hits the nail on the head.

If we want America to survive, with the principles intact that made it great, we have to get off our couches and out of our Barcaloungers, click off the remotes, and take back America from all the collectivists of whatever stripe.

For some pragmatic steps in restoring freedom to America, click the second link, below.

Congressman Billybob

Click for latest column: "The Truth of a Gravel Road."

Click for latest book: "to Restore Trust in America"

9 posted on 08/19/2002 5:55:15 AM PDT by Congressman Billybob
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To: 2Trievers
bravo....let the kool aid bushies shut their fascist holes.
10 posted on 08/19/2002 5:56:51 AM PDT by galt-jw
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To: Congressman Billybob
As always ... THANKS Patriot! &;-)


11 posted on 08/19/2002 5:59:07 AM PDT by 2Trievers
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To: 2Trievers
Every now and then, we are blessed with a voice of both power and wit, a voice that drives home the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, with irresistible blows, exquisitely placed, from a velvet hammer.

Fifty years ago, America had H. L. Mencken. Today it has Mark Steyn and P. J. O'Rourke. We are doubly blessed.

Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
Visit The Palace Of Reason: http://palaceofreason.com

12 posted on 08/19/2002 6:40:57 AM PDT by fporretto
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To: 2Trievers
LOL no. Thanks for the ping.
13 posted on 08/19/2002 7:04:04 AM PDT by weikel
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To: 2Trievers
*Bump-etty*

Now.... how do we get those knot-heads on Capitol Hill to understand this? I'm thinking tar-n-feathers.

14 posted on 08/19/2002 7:09:14 AM PDT by Dead Corpse
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To: Dead Corpse
A New Revolution? &;-)
15 posted on 08/19/2002 7:17:38 AM PDT by 2Trievers
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To: 2Trievers
Ya' think? That is what it would take, despite the protestations of whimps to "try and work from the inside". Has "working from the inside" ever worked? The Founding Fathers gave it a shot and look what they had to go through in the end.

The Power Mongers are entrenched. They aren't going anywhere no matter how many times we try to vote them out or to file lawsuits in an attempt to get our greivences redressed.

16 posted on 08/19/2002 7:32:20 AM PDT by Dead Corpse
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To: Dead Corpse
It might, especially if you follow any of the bushbot threads. &;-)
17 posted on 08/19/2002 7:57:52 AM PDT by 2Trievers
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To: 2Trievers
Yeah, I've seen 'em. They disgust me almost as much as the Klinton Apologists do.
18 posted on 08/19/2002 8:03:00 AM PDT by Dead Corpse
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To: 2Trievers
we also know that no matter what bad things individuals do, they are better than the things that get done to individuals by the collective will.

Nice post. Thanks.

19 posted on 08/19/2002 8:06:05 AM PDT by serinde
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To: serinde
Great post and sentiments! No kool aid here!
20 posted on 08/19/2002 9:27:56 AM PDT by sleavelessinseattle
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