Posted by wgreen on 07/05/09 6:42 PM [Newer: The Trees: Rock Legend Rush on Socialism] [Older: It is time for satyagraha-a peaceful revolution of noncooperation.]

I set up a table for C4L at the Norwich, CT July 4th Tea Party.  The Norwich Bulletin reported 500 attendees to the rally.  We gained 31 new contacts.  Here is the text of my speech: 

I don't know about you, but I feel oppressed.  I feel oppressed by my government.  I feel oppressed by a government that every day takes away a little more of my freedom. 

Louis Carabini says there are two kinds of people in the world:  "There are those inclined to liberty-freedom of the individual to live his or her life in any peaceful way.  And there are those who are inclined to mastery-permitting others to live their lives only as another sees fit." 

Our current government, and those who support it, appear to be the second type.  They are inclined to mastery.  They believe that they can and should be ruled over and rule over others.  These are the Statists, who believe in the power of the state to provide for them and take care of them and run their lives.  And, as Etienne de la Boetie wrote, "they tend to enslave themselves." 

Why do they do this?  Perhaps it is because, as Frederic Bastiat said, "there is a tendency that is common among people.  When they can, they wish to live at the expense of others... Man can live and satisfy his wants only by ceaseless labor; by the ceaseless application of his faculties to natural resources.  This process is the origin of property.  But it is also true that man may live and satisfy his wants by seizing and consuming the products of the labor of others.  This process is the origin of plunder. "

What we are seeing today is what Bastiat called "legal plunder", when the people plunder each other through legislation.  The law should be a tool for the protection of life, liberty, and property, but it has been perverted into a tool for theft.  Maybe this is why some people favor mastery-because they think it will get them what they want. 

Or maybe it is because they know that freedom brings responsibility.  George Bernard Shaw said, "Liberty means responsibility.  That is why most men dread it."  You see, as Robert Welch wrote, "The real freedom of any individual can always be measured by the amount of responsibility which he must assume for his own welfare and security."  And as the author of Dreams Come Due explained, "Any time we seek to avoid the painful parts of responsibility by shifting them to someone else, we automatically surrender, by default, our freedom and thus any chance for rewards."

Folks, this is where we are today.  America is full of people who are running from responsibility and looking to make their living off of other peoples labor.

But there is another type of person.  This is the kind of person who is here today-a remnant among the stupefied and subdued masses.  This person knows he is free.  He knows he is responsible.  And he loves it.  He knows that true fulfillment can only be found in free action and self-determination.  He knows there is no value in forced charity or stolen labor.   As Boetie wrote, "Even if liberty had entirely perished from the earth, such men would invent it.  For them, slavery has no satisfactions, no matter how well disguised."

These are true men and women.  This is what makes man different from beast:  reasoned self-determination.  He is the thinking, acting, individual.  The willing slave has sacrificed his own will and existence and become part of the swarm, a cog in a machine, an unthinking beast.

These are dark times, when the masses seem to be plunging headlong into this abyss of slavery.  And what can be done?  We can educate ourselves and those we know in the principles of liberty-advance the cause of liberty one mind at a time.  This is the goal of the Campaign for Liberty.  You can sign up at our table to get on our mailing list.  We will be holding regular meetings to watch and discuss films, learn and strengthen ourselves and each other.  As Brian Summers wrote:

"When the ideal goal is far from the everyday reality-as in the case of the freedom ideal-the student of liberty doesn't despair. His ultimate goal isn't tomorrow's Congressional vote or next year's election. He is striving to work on the highest possible plane-his own understanding and exposition of the freedom philosophy. Self-improvement along these lines is a full-time job. There is no time to be disheartened when the political winds seem to blow against us. Self- improvement is enormously satisfying. And it is fun!"

And the "Truth will out!"  Truth has a way of revealing itself.  It will not be suppressed forever.

Who knows, maybe we can succeed in cleaning out Washington, voting out every Statist and voting in freedom-loving folks who value the rights of the individual over their own political careers.  And if not, we can still fight.  Mohandas Gandhi led India to independence with peaceful noncooperation and civil disobedience.  He called it satyagraha.  I am afraid it may come to this, this slide toward socialism has gained such momentum.  It may require that the John Galts, the Atlases on whose labor and ingenuity our society rests, withdraw their support, so that the sham of socialism, which cannot support itself, comes crumbling down.   

Whichever path lies before us, a scene from the final movie of the Lord of the Rings trilogy is appropriate.  The men of Gondor and Rohan are assembled before the Black Gate of Mordor, and the dark hordes are pouring out the gate.  They are ridiculously outnumbered.  Aragorn, their leader, stands before them and encourages them with a short speech which I have adapted to our circumstances:

Men and women of Norwich, my brothers and sisters, I can see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me.  A day may come when the courage of men fails, when all men lay down and resign to servitude under the yoke of socialism-but it is not this day.  A day may come when all surrender their arms and submit, like the beasts they have become, to their government masters.  A day may come when man as man is dead, when man is fully and finally reduced to beast, when the age of men comes crashing down, but it is not this day.  And we are not those men!  This day we fight!  By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand Sons of Liberty!

(Thanks to Jen Ezzell for coordinating the Tea Party and allowing me to come and speak.)

Posted 07/06/09 08:50 AM mastiff Clinton, CT

Excellent speech, sorry we missed the event!

Posted 07/08/09 8:40 PM Andrew Sica Woodbury, CT

Great job! How was this received by the audience?

Posted 08/03/09 08:18 AM wgreen Brooklyn, CT

I got some great feedback by individuals afterword, but they were pretty quiet during the speech.