You may want to ignore politics, but politics isn’t going to ignore you. This statement should ring more true than ever for people in the year 2020.
People have different thoughts when the word “politics” is mentioned. Really though, it all comes down to violence and the threat of violence. It is usually a question of what degree of threats the state should impose.
For anyone who says that they aren’t interested in politics, you have to wonder if they realize that politics has dominated their life in 2020. It certainly did in April when most people couldn’t go to the store unless it was a store that sold “essential” things (as deemed by governors and mayors).
It wasn’t a virus that caused all this. It was politics. People were fearful, so they granted their consent to be ruled over in a more heavy-handed way. They were willing to give up liberty for the prospect of more safety.
If you thought it was bad as a consumer, imagine a small business owner who was shut down (by threats of violence) because the business was deemed non-essential. It was probably essential for the business owner to put food on the family table. But, according to the powers-that-be, the business owner’s hopes and dreams don’t matter. His family’s well being doesn’t matter. We have to protect people from a virus for their own good. They are not allowed to decide for themselves how much risk they are willing to take.
Consent of the People
It was Ettiene de la Boetie in the 16thcentury who said that all government ultimately rests on the consent of the people. It does not mean you have to explicitly state your consent, but tacit consent in accepting conditions is enough.
In order to be free, people just need to withdraw that consent.
When you look at states within the United States, you can see some differences in approaching the virus. A few states like Florida and South Dakota are fully open, with the exception of some local mandates/ regulations such as mask wearing. Then you have states like New York and California where the governors and local politicians are trying to make life as miserable as humanly possible.
This is coming from the more authoritarian politicians. The Democrat politicians are generally favoring harder lockdowns and restrictions, but most Republican politicians have been bad too. It’s just that they have generally been less bad.
So your instinct, regardless of where you stand on the issue, is to naturally think that it is really important to elect the right people to office.
I have long-thought this not to be the case, although my mind has been slightly swayed in 2020. I live in Florida where Ron DeSantis has opened up the state. Of course, he never should have shut anything down in the first place, and I was critical of him for this back in April. But now that Florida is mostly open for business, I am quite thankful for living here. A politician from the more socialist wing of the Democratic Party almost won the office back in 2018, and I’m glad he didn’t. If he had won, I’m sure we would be more resembling Michigan or Illinois right now.
With that said, I still maintain that all power with politicians relies on the consent of the people. Of course, if you are a lone individual in a sea of statists, you are going to be subject to their whims. However, if you have a large portion of the population not willing to go along with these edicts, then it will be hard for any governor to enforce them.
It probably doesn’t even take a majority. Anyway, there is a large percentage of the population that just kind of goes along with whatever society is doing. Maybe they’ll talk to their family members or close friends about it, but they won’t have much of an opinion. If everyone else is wearing a mask, they’ll wear a mask. If everyone else accepts shutdowns, they’ll accept shutdowns as long as they can survive. If everyone else is coming out to socialize again, they’ll come out and socialize.
So you really only need a minority of people to resist peacefully. It has to be a substantial enough minority though to overwhelm the other minority that is vocal about hard lockdowns (or whatever political issue it is).
Let’s circle back to the lockdown states. Are California and New York residents under hard restrictions because they have Democratic governors who are quite authoritarian? To some degree, yes, but it may be more correlation than causation.
The reason that these people are in office in the first place is because there is a large segment of the population in those places who are statists. They demand government action in most areas of their life. So they get it good and hard.
As Frederick Douglass said, “Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.”
In other words, it isn’t the governors of California, New York, and other lockdown states who are enslaving the people in those states. It is the people themselves. They are enslaving themselves.
Now I understand this does no good for someone who lives in one of these places who wants liberty. But even here, the issue isn’t electing the right person to office. The issue is convincing enough of the people around you to oppose lockdowns and other restrictions on liberty.
This is obviously frustrating, to say the least, for libertarians. But we also do have to look in the mirror and make sure we are doing what we can reasonably do to inform others.
Liberty Classroom
There are limitless resources available thanks to the Internet. Still, if you are looking for ways to expand your knowledge about liberty and find out the things they didn’t teach you in school, one great resource is Tom Woods’ program called Liberty Classroom.
I have to say, Tom was a little wishy-washy on the issue of the virus back in March. He wasn’t clear on how serious it would be and if any of the panic was warranted. But this is why it is important to have libertarian principles.
Even if you thought the virus was as bad as the media made it out to be (or you still think that), it should be clear to any libertarian that the state is not the solution.
By the end of April, Tom had become one of the leading voices of reason with regard to the virus. He has pointed out the misleading statistics. More importantly, he has become a voice for those who have suffered greatly from the lockdowns and restrictions. He has pointed out that living life is not just about avoiding death.
Tom has done a few speeches on this topic. Combined, a couple of his YouTube videos have reached well over a million people.
Staying on top of the virus debate is important because reactions to the virus have impacted our lives so greatly in 2020. At the same time, we shouldn’t neglect the overall cause of liberty. While the center stage issue now is the virus and the lockdowns, we don’t know what will take center stage next. It could be another war. It could be massive inflation in reaction to all of the economic wreckage that has been brought to us.
No matter what it is, it is important to have a good knowledge of history, economics, and other topics that provide a good foundation for libertarian principles.
If you are interesting in becoming a subscriber to Liberty Classroom, Tom offers really great discounts during Black Friday weekend.
If you order through my affiliate link, you can get a bonus from me in the form of financial education. Just send me your receipt (geoff@libertarianinvestments.com) after purchasing through my link, and you can ask me for financial advice, as long as it is not legal advice. We can have an email conversation about your financial worries or anything else.
You can ask general questions or personal questions with as much detail of your own financial picture as you care to divulge. Questions can range from investment choices, to handling debt, to preparing for future economic uncertainties. I will give you thorough responses to your questions as my bonus for ordering through my link. It doesn’t matter what level of membership you order through Liberty Classroom.
While people around you float by in a sea of ignorance, you can be sure that you aren’t part of the problem. You deserve the education that you surely didn’t receive in school.