The other day, my dog was in our backyard hooked up to a dog chain (more of a cable really). The problem was that the other end of the chain, which is usually attached to a chair outside, was not hooked up.
I probably discovered this about five or ten minutes after being outside with him. We were not paying much attention to the dog. By the time I figured out that the other end of the chain wasn’t hooked up to anything, he was grazing in the grass about 10 feet from the back patio where he was supposed to be. In other words, he didn’t go far.
Luckily he didn’t see any ducks or any other dogs to chase, or maybe he would have taken off. I don’t think my dog realized that he wasn’t hooked up to anything and could have run off with the chain attached to him. He isn’t one to run away, but he probably would have run to the backdoor of our neighbor’s house looking for their dog if he knew he wasn’t attached to anything.
Even when he is attached to the chair via the chain, it isn’t a particularly heavy chair. He would easily be strong enough to drag the chair somewhere.
But he knows the symbolism of the chain. It restrains him. When you hook the chain up to him, he basically restrains himself at that point.
Unfortunately, we humans often restrain ourselves, even though there is technically nothing restraining us. Just look at the corrupt government we live under. People think that they desperately need the government or else they wouldn’t be able to live their lives.
I am one who frequently points out the nature of government (i.e., the state). It is an entity that relies on a monopoly over the legal use of force. Only the government can legally use force against others that is not in self-defense.
There are 535 people in Congress. There is one president. There are 9 Supreme Court justices. Yet these people rule over 325 million people (or more if you count the foreign intervention). It is quite obvious that these people are ruling with the consent of those they rule over. There are a few of us who don’t consent, but the vast majority consent to the system.
Sure, half the country hates Trump. Almost just as many despise Nancy Pelosi. But most of these people consent to the system that the politicians use to rule over them.
Even when you count the bureaucrats in Washington DC, the numbers are completely lopsided. There are far more people being ruled than ruling. That is virtually always the case. The only way this can exist in the long run is for those being ruled to consent to being ruled.
Finding Personal Freedom
For those of us who truly cherish liberty, we can only do so much to change the world around us. The best we can do is to try to educate others around us. Our goal is to convince others that they are unnecessarily enslaving themselves.
At some point, we have to not depend on changing the hearts and minds of those around us. We have some degree of freedom, and we should make the most of maximizing that freedom in our own personal lives.
Harry Browne wrote the book titled How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World. I have seen people’s accounts on how it changed their life after they read the book. It basically tells you to think outside of the box and to not box yourself in. You aren’t always confined to a limited number of choices that society seems to put in front of you.
In other words, don’t enslave yourself. You can’t help it if others enslave themselves. You can control your own life and how you live it.
If you have a chain attached to your neck, it doesn’t necessarily mean you are restrained. Maybe the other end of the chain isn’t tied to anything, just as was the case with my dog. Maybe you can take the chain off without anyone noticing. Maybe the chain is a lot longer than you thought. You won’t really know unless you test it out.
I find that one area that really restrains people is social pressure. Society puts us in this box. It may be different for different people, and also dependent on the social circles that surround you. Some may feel they have to drive a nice car. Some may feel that having granite countertops in the kitchen is a basic necessity. Some may feel that they have to have kids, or that they shouldn’t have kids, or that they should have a certain number of kids. Some may feel pressure to buy Christmas presents for the whole family. Some may feel pressure to go out with friends on the weekend. Some may feel pressure to get married or to not get married.
It can be any number of things. We all have our own boxes. Some are worse than others.
I find that a lot of it goes back to money. There is pressure to keep up with the Joneses. This is part of the reason that savings rates are low. (Another part of this is simply that people are struggling because of the cost of government.)
When you are able to save some money and put it aside, then I find that gives people a certain degree of freedom. You don’t necessarily need an amount that will last you for a lifetime of retirement. You just need some flexibility. Some have referred to this as FU money.
If you are in a tough place, having some extra money can often alleviate some of the pain. If you are in a bad job and told to do something unethical, do you feel comfortable reporting the incident knowing that it may cost you your job? If you have a year’s worth of expenses set aside, your decision all of a sudden becomes clearer.
It is a good idea to have money set aside for the unknowns in life. The unknowns can come about in many ways. And since they are unknowns, they are usually surprises.
Freedom from Inflation
One objection I hear to saving money is that people simply don’t know what to do with it. They hate putting it in the bank, which may earn .02% in a savings account. Actually, with inflation, they will lose money with it sitting there.
Still, I would rather have money sitting in the bank and losing 2% per year than wasting it on something that will not bring much pleasure in the long run.
I would rather have $10,000 sitting in the bank earning nothing than having nothing in the bank that also earns nothing. With the $10,000, at least you aren’t on pins and needles about your car breaking down, or your child getting sick, or worse, losing your job. That $10,000 can relieve a lot of anxiety.
Some people are worried about inflation, and rightly so. You don’t want your savings to be continually eroded because of the policies of a few people running the Federal Reserve (again, enslavement). And many people – rightly so – do not want to dump all of their savings in the stock market where it could evaporate quickly.
Harry Browne, in addition to his advice of finding freedom in an unfree world, also gave investment advice. He came up with the permanent portfolio, which I highly recommend.
He presented it in his short book titled Fail-Safe Investing. The permanent portfolio will not make you rich. What it will do is give you peace of mind. You don’t have to worry about high inflation or stock market crashes. You can protect your portfolio from virtually any economic environment, while still making a decent return over the long run.
I have written a short e-book on how to set up a permanent portfolio and possible ways to tweak it to fit your personal situation. It is available on Amazon for just $7.99. If you take away one piece of advice from this book, it could save you thousands of dollars or more over the years. Better yet, it can save you from a lot of anxiety. That is why I sometimes refer to it as the “Sleep-at-night Portfolio”.
I just released this e-book late in 2018, but I have not promoted it up until now. From January 26, 2019 to January 31, 2019, I am running a discount where you can get this book for just $2.99. Again, this is a miniscule price to pay for less anxiety and possibly saving your portfolio many thousands of dollars over the years. It will probably save you a ton of time too, as setting up a permanent portfolio is not difficult. You don’t have to study the financial markets to implement the portfolio.
Pick up this e-book while this discount lasts and take one step closer to achieving your own personal freedom. You don’t have to be a slave to the system. You don’t have to box yourself in according to what the financial gurus on CNBC are saying. You can choose your own course.