Posted by madmikee on 01/11/09

Hello, friends of liberty. My name is Mikael, 16-year old swede and this is my first blog post on the c4l website. Here are some thoughts about our cause, how it has affected my life.

I was talking to a friend over the internet a few days back about how the swedish system of taxation and giving grants and loans to people who wish to study at university-level is a system of weakening individuals and making needful reliance on the state, and as such, an enemy of liberty. An interesting thing about this conversation was how I came up with much of what I was saying while I was actually saying it, realizing as I discussed, how so many things in my society are really designed to make people dependent on big government. Often it is done under the pretense of helping those in need, those who, we are told, cannot take care of themselves, and if you should say that you would like to keep the fruits of your labour, you risk being looked upon as someone greedy, heartless and cold, lacking solidarity (a favourite word of the political left), instead of as the individual merely asking to live his life as he wishes, sharing the fruits of his labour if, and with whom, he pleases.

This very notion, that I would somehow be heartless and uncaring for the plights of the poor and homeless simply because I wish to do with my life as I please, is very unpleasant indeed. Just as unpleasant, however, is the fact that I have lived and accepted this as the proper order of things for most of my still young life. Indeed, before I by accident found the VisionVictory (check him out if you haven't already) channel on youtube I had never heard about Ron Paul nor Peter Schiff, and I certainly didn't question how the government had to have its finger in everything, or how the fraudulent system of money and government keeps people indebted, poorer and less free. Indeed I was not far from socialist. Today though, I fail to see how I reasoned either the justice, desirability or effectivity of it.

Today I can say, Ron Paul has changed my life. I am what you could call a convert. A ray of the light of liberty has broken through the dark clouds of silent oppression and status quo, and I will walk towards that light, no matter what what hinders may be put in my way, I will not falter but walk resolutely, because I know now that the only thing I truly want is to be free.

Sadly, I do not see the transition to a truly free society happening so easily here in Sweden, and what would otherwise have been my great hope - America - seems to have lost its way as well. But I am not alone in craving liberty. There are many would stand with me. I sometimes try to imagine, what I would have done had I lived in America in 1776, as the war for independence had begun, and the Declaration of Independence signed. Had I picked up arms? Had I joined the militia, and fought with the unwavering conviction that the world deserves and needs a free America? Or had I been too afraid to act? I would like to believe the former.

As bad as things may get though, I sincerely hope all bloodshed can be avoided, and that our revolution can be absolutely peaceful. And someday, when it is successful, I hope that I, and others craving liberty, will find a home in America. That someday, however, will not come without our continued effort to educate, inform and inspire people wherever we may go. It will not come without some failures and difficulties, and it will certainly not come without our belief that it can and must. Always remember, that justice is on our side, and that liberty comes only to those who deserve it. We must deserve it.

Thank you for all that you do.
//Mikael S

Posted 01/11/09 Mike in Virginia Fredericksburg, VA

Mikael, that was an excellent post. Welcome to the C4L.

Posted 01/11/09 Fu Manchu Belleville, MI

Truly excellent first post! I share your feelings, and with posts like this one, I think you should continue to post your thoughts.

Posted 01/11/09 Kelly Toon Louisville, KY

Bravo! Thank you for sharing your moving essay. To know that young people are moved of their own accord to write such stirring essays gives me hope. I'm sure everyone who read this felt the same way. Please write more as you discover Liberty further :)

Posted 01/11/09 patriotfilms North Bergen, NJ

Thanks madmike. I hope someday I can convey my feelings as eloquent as you.

Posted 02/21/09 Remember Jefferson Pelion, SC

Welcome to the group! An excellent post, and representative to many people "awakening", so to speak, to the ideas of true freedom. We're glad to have you here! (and congrats on reading Atlas Shrugged! :D. A true eye opener, isn't it?)

Posted 03/25/10 bujin00 Shawnee, KS

Nice post... For the good of the people is a Tyrant's favorite excuse...

Posted by madmikee on 01/25/09
Last updated 01/25/09

Earlier this week, I was having a conversation with a friend over the Internet, and I started challenging him on the illegality of marijuana. As you may imagine, his arguments consisted of “Otherwise people would screw themselves up” and “It would be much worse for society”. Trying to make him elaborate, I repeatedly answered “And?”, as to show how little any of our business it was that people screw themselves up. Unluckily, I didn’t get very far with that. He simply couldn’t reason beyond the notion that it’s a responsibility of government to protect individuals from themselves and their own stupid decisions.

I then posed him with the statement that “Having government tell me what I may and may not do with my own body implies that my body is not mine alone, but that I share it with government.” As abhorrent as this statement was to me, it surprisingly had little effect on him. “Well, I don’t see it that way.” he said. “I don’t feel as if they own my body.” He even said he would vote against legal marijuana in a referendum, if he could be bothered to vote, that is.  

Well, as flawed as his thinking may be, I thought, how he feels about his body and its relationship to government is his business. As I couldn’t tell him how to feel about that, I finally posed him with this; “Well, I think their forbidding me to smoke marijuana implies ownership of my body and I don’t want it that way.” “You have the right to give up ownership of your own body, but not the ownership of mine and hence, your saying that you would vote against legal marijuana, and thus take the ownership of my body from me and give it to government, implies that you have ownership of my body. You do not.”

If this doesn’t work, I thought, I don’t know what else I can tell him. It didn’t. And why is this important, one might ask? It is important because, if I can’t convince a smart, young man that it is only right that I own my own body, what hope can there be for liberty?

Sadly, there is no hopeful, uplifting answer to this question. I realize of course, that it takes more than an hour of conversation over a controversial matter, to convince someone, who all his life has been taught to believe that we need government to protect us from ourselves, that liberty is the only righteous and fair system. It was certainly a gradual process for me, and I shouldn’t expect more of others. It is still depressing, though, to see how entrenched the common man is in the idea that liberty is dangerous and that we need government to keep us safe and in check. I became so angry with him that we slung a few harsh words and indeed, I haven’t spoken to him for some days. It is a hard thing for me to forgive, this complacency. It is hard for me to understand how others aren’t upset when I tell them how unfree they are. How they aren’t outright furious.

But as hopeless as it may seem at times, we must remember a great quote of Samuel Adams’; “It does not take a majority to prevail… but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.” Another great one, going nicely together with the former, is, and I believe it’s Gandhi’s, “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” Just because not everyone is ready to accept freedom yet, doesn’t mean we can give up. We can never give up, no matter how annoyed with people we may get at times. We must win. For our own sake, for our children’s sake and for the sake of our children to be, we must stride tirelessly, and continue our work to inform and educate the whole mass of the people. They are, indeed, the only sure reliance for our liberty, and its preservation.

In liberty,

//Mikael S

Posted 01/25/09 Fu Manchu Belleville, MI

The marijuana issue is a tough sell friend. People, especially the elderly, instantly think OH THAT STUFFS BAD, society will be all crazy and out of control with that stuff being legal! They never seem to see the giving up free will part. Sad thing is what a joke it's all turning out to be. Look at all the states where medical marijuana is legal, yet to be in possession of it, is still illegal at the federal level and you will still be punished for it! How screwed up is that!?

Posted by madmikee on 01/18/09
Last updated 01/25/09

Government oppression, and how it makes me fear the future.

I was at my aunt’s with my parents for dinner last night, it being her 64^th birthday. She’s a fantastic cook by the way, and if we weren’t family I’d gladly have payed for the meal. Towards the end of the main course, I got into a discussion with my other aunt’s husband and he told me it is illegal (and I wasn’t fully aware of this) to sell home-made food without government permission, meaning that even if she had wanted to, my aunt could not legally have asked payment for the meal. I gaped in awe at his words.

Apparently, this is to keep us safe. “What if your aunt accidentally poisons you!? What if the meat has salmonella?” So, to get this straight… She can invite me for dinner and offer me that food, but she’s not allowed to sell it to me? Talk about killing small business! Let’s say that an old woman loves to bake and needs some extra money, well, she’s not allowed to sell her pastries to me! I don’t feel safe. I feel sick. I feel as if I’m being told by my country that I’m incapable of taking care of myself, and that I need government to keep me safe and run my life.

I suppose I could have guessed it, but it still struck me as the most absurd thing. Sadly, America doesn’t seem much better. From what I gather, an American farmer isn’t allowed to sell his fresh milk without permission either. How can such basic freedoms have slipped away from us? This must be seen for what it is, and opposed. As I sat there listening to my uncle I remembered one of the reasons given for the secession of the colonies from Great Britain, as listed in the Declaration of Independence, and it sounds eerily reminiscent of our current situation.

“He [King George III] has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.” Indeed, people have rebelled for this.

Around half of Swedish GDP is tax revenue over here (pick your chin up from the floor). Our people is paying the second highest tax rate(second only to Denmark) in the world for bureaucrats, pencil-pushers and government inspectors going around making sure ol’ grandma has a permit to sell her pastries. This is not just morally questionable, it is unsound economics. It merely weakens the people, and perpetuates a cycle in which we are dependent on the government.

I can tell you I am afraid of growing up. I truly am. I am afraid of borrowing money from the government to pay for my education, pay enormous taxes on my income and everything I buy, because I know that with all this money they’re taking from me I won’t be able to afford an independent retirement. I’ll have to depend on the government for my living. Well, I never want to depend on government! Ron Paul has got it absolutely right; young people, wherever they may be, deserve to get out of crippling social security systems; they need to be given a chance to take care of themselves! This is my life we’re talking about!

I deserve to do what I want with my life. I am a strong, independent young man and I am not afraid to take care of myself! I want to keep what I earn! I want to be able to buy ol grandma’s cakes and the farmers fresh milk without being a criminal! I want to save for my retirement, take care of my own health- and dental care. I know I can do it! I just need to get that chance!

Won’t somebody please give me that chance!?

In liberty (I wish…),

//Mikael S, 16 years, Sweden

Posted 01/18/09 crashnct Round Rock, TX

I wish for all of that too.