Although I was heavily influenced by Harry Browne in terms of political thought and investing, I also read his book How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World. You could call it a self-help book. It pointed out the many traps that people put themselves in and the ways to escape them.

I enjoyed the book when I read it (probably almost 2 decades ago), and it was interesting to see where he changed his views on certain things from when he first wrote the book. Overall, the book points out the many choices we have to make in life, and sometimes that is a choice of not falling into conventional wisdom or accepting cultural norms.

I remember in his discussion of going around government interventions, he was surprised decades later how intrusive government had become and how difficult it was to get around many government taxes and regulations.

It is important to not box ourselves in. It is important to not fall into false choices, or to think we have no choice at all in certain matters. Sometimes it is a matter of choosing the least bad option.

Over the last year, I have seen countless times people describe how they were forced into getting the COVID “vaccine”. There certainly were (and still are) elements of government force. The government was telling employers that they had to have their employees vaccinated. They were (and still are) restricting certain people from traveling.

There was never a time that the government actually went to anybody’s house (that I know of) and pinned them down and put a needle in their arm. Sure, the government was using its preferred method of violence in threatening people, but nobody was technically forced to get jabbed.

Even Elon Musk recently was complaining about the COVID shots, and he said that he had to take the injections because of his business dealings overseas. But the guy is a billionaire. He didn’t have to get jabbed. He could have not visited his Tesla factory overseas. He had a number of options, even if none of them were particularly good.

If someone had to choose between their job and getting jabbed, it was a terribly unfortunate choice, and it was probably directly put on the person by government force. Again, it’s a bad choice that shouldn’t have to be made, but it is still a choice.

Harry Browne on Rights

I remember a radio show Harry Browne did one time where a caller asked him about his thoughts on rights. I wish I could find the clip. It was a quite interesting response. I can only paraphrase based on my memory.

Browne said he certainly sympathized with those who argue based on rights. Those people are generally fighting for the same thing, which is liberty. “I have the right to own a gun. I have the right to free speech. I have the right to my property.”

The problem is that rights only extend as far as others are willing to recognize them. Browne used an example. Maybe it was Iraq or some other war-torn country at the time. He said that it doesn’t do much good for some kid born in Iraq (or wherever) to say that he has natural rights.

You can tell someone they have natural or God-given rights, but it really does them no good if others around them don’t recognize those rights. It won’t get you very far.

I can say I have the right to my property, but if I deliberately don’t pay my taxes, I am likely to go to jail.

I can say that I have a right to freely associate with any other person or business, but it doesn’t do me much good if the state is making threats against others with whom I want to associate. At the very least, it severely limits my choices.

Imagine living in primitive times. Imagine that there was absolutely no respect for people’s lives or their property. I’m sure this is a false assumption, as there has always been human cooperation to some degree since humans have existed, but just go with me here.

Let’s say you build a shelter and catch some food. Some other guy comes along and tries to take your food and take over your shelter. Are you going to sit there and declare that you have a right to your property? It doesn’t do you much good.

Meaningless Freedom Chants

I read this or hear this from many people in the liberty camp. I hear that you just have to choose your own freedom. They falsely say that if you ignore the state, then the state doesn’t exist.

This is different from Harry’s Browne’s message in his book and elsewhere. Browne wanted you to live in reality. He just pointed out that you had choices. You had the freedom to make your own decisions, even if those decisions were bad because of state interference.

It is also different from Étienne de La Boétie, who, many hundreds of years ago, wrote about withdrawing consent. He said that if people withdraw their consent, then the state’s power collapses. But this was collectively speaking. If you, just one person, withdraw your consent, it doesn’t mean that the state collapses and Joe Biden’s proclamations no longer mean anything.

It is rather stupid to say that you just have to not obey the state and they will go away. This may be collectively true, but it does no good for any one individual.

You can try to just ignore the state, but you will pay a heavy price. Eventually, that price will be your entire livelihood.

It is also a stupid message in trying to sell liberty because it is obvious to most people. It doesn’t convince any non-libertarians of being more libertarian because they know that it is not true. They cannot just ignore all state edicts. They can’t just not obey when they feel like it.

It is beneficial to point out the use of state violence wherever it is happening (which is almost everywhere). But to say that you should just ignore it and choose your own freedom is naive at best. It is also hypocritical because anyone writing these words does not follow their own advice. If they did, they would be dead or in jail.

Conclusion

It is important to distinguish between have choices and having liberty. You can have your liberty restricted but still have choices.

In places like the Soviet Union, some people did make the choice to die because it seemed like the least bad choice. It is a choice to die instead of living as a slave.

But let’s be clear that your rights only go as far as those around you are willing to recognize. If nobody around you values liberty, then you will not have liberty.

The only way for us to have long-term liberty is to convince those around us that it is the moral thing to do, and that human cooperation provides for the greatest prosperity and happiness. Most people aren’t going to enjoy a world filled with violence or violent threats. Most people value liberty at least to some extent.