A Personal Plea for Liberty

Posted on January 5th, 2009 by Pete Eyre in Bureaucrash HQ

Since you’re on Bureaucrash.com odds are that you’re a good person, or someone you know believes that’s the case and therefore has invited you to check out us and the ideas we advocate. Basically, we work to bring about a freer world - where individuals can act, so long as they don’t harm anybody else. We want to live in a world where rights are respected, where prosperity is created so people’s standards of living can increase, and where there is peace among individuals and nations.

The key question then becomes: What are the best means to achieve such a world? I’d like to share a perspective which I believe offers the best chance of accomplishing these goals. You may not entirely agree with it, and that’s OK, but please take a moment to read this post with an open mind.

It starts with a simple yet powerful concept: We each own ourselves. We - not some bureaucrat or politician or other member of the political class - each know best how to live our lives, spend our money, and raise our families.

Yet, today the scope of government is so pervasive that it touches virtually every aspect of our lives, coddling us from cradle to grave. Laws and regulations - inefficient at best, counterproductive at worst - increasingly stifle innovation and entrepreneurship, and more than that, they strip us of our individual freedom and responsibility, harming those least-well off.

This is not because the person elected has a “D” or “R” in front of his or her name, but because of the structure of the system. Those in the political class grow their spheres of influence by increasing their budgets and staff. Workers in the productive sector attempt to do the same, but the difference is that those in the productive sector have to respond to consumers: if they don’t, they’ll fail, whereas those in the political sector are sheltered from competition and their budgets come from taxpayer money. The result: Government grows, becoming larger and more authoritarian, and compounding it’s inefficiencies, without check.

“What about the bailout and companies that lobby the government?” you ask. Companies today seek favors from the government only because it has such a large scope and can dole out protectionism and handouts. If the scope of government were smaller, companies would have to actually provide you with something of value to stay afloat.

Electing different, forward-thinking people to government will not change its structure. The solution is to lessen the scope of government in our lives, so that we can live more free.

A lot of us have ancestors that fled oppressive governments. Fled war. Fled intolerance. Today, many of the same threats are reappearing. Under the auspices of fighting a war on terrorism, a war on drugs, or a war on poverty, government has shredded the Constitution and usurped our rights. It comes down to this: When government grows, the freedom to live your life as you see fit shrinks. It’s an inverse relationship.

Fortunately, many people are starting to recognize this and are pushing back against the current unjust and absurd arrangement that favors government power at the expense of your individual rights. I hope you are one of them, because people’s lives and liberties are at stake. If so, I encourage you to check out the links below and share this message with those in your sphere.

We can make a difference, one person at a time. Join us!

This is a fight worth having.

-Pete

P.S. And if you have thoughts, feedback, or questions about any of this, please let me know.

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