I am not.
We have all read the vast literature and articulations on the disastrous effects of government regulation. We have all seen the common pattern of the goal of any policy being different from the actual effect of the policy. We have all seen the results of interventionism and statism even in current and still ongoing affairs, whether it's the ruin that has come to Mexico due to its unionized oil monopoly or the systematic destruction of India's economy over 40 years by the most heavily regulated, bureaucratic and centralized non-communist state ever known. We all know of nations made poorer by protectionist policies.
The point is - do you really want to use your knowledge, arguments, and examples so as to channel them towards convincing your fellow people and decision-makers into realizing the benefits of minimal state and free market?
I don't. The test of the ideals of liberty is not in the ability of its proponents to convince and change things for the better. The test is the integrity of the message.
For me, I don't think there has been anybody who needed to be convinced, other than myself. Reading books of Henry Hazlitt, Thomas Sowell, Robert Nozick and then the many articles of Mises and Hayek on this web site has served the purpose of continuously enlightening me, and rewarding me for my effort in seeking out and learning. And that's where it ends. I don't want to convince anybody else; let them go out and read and learn. I don't want a bring a revolution or start effecting or persuading a change in public policy.
What I can do, with all this learning that I keep doing from this website and others who come to this website, is to simply go out, and see, and experience what men of free nations do, and get the best out of them, and the environment that those people create, in places like Hong Kong, Australia, Switzerland, or Luxembourg. And then, I could just go on and channel my energies better in simply working in those places, or starting my own enterprise in those places, and just focus on making my own life better. That's what liberty and individual initiative is about.
Prateek Sanjay:The point is - do you really want to use your knowledge, arguments, and examples so as to channel them towards convincing your fellow people and decision-makers into realizing the benefits of minimal state and free market?
If Sowell, Mises, Hayek and Hazlitt et al did not want to use their knowledge for this purpose, where would you be now?
From Socialism,
No one can find a safe way out for himself if society is sweeping towards destruction. Therefore everyone, in his own interests, must thrust himself vigorously into the intellectual battle. None can stand aside with unconcern; the interests of everyone hang on the result.
If you find something evil that wobbles, push it. - Gary North
As for me? I haven't read all of the classic works with austrian-theory yet. I have quite a few books on my reading list that I want to still read. What I've been doing is essentially researching history so I can better understand principles of economics and what it has to do with history. I've also been arguing with modern day liberals about the qualities of their statism and how it doesn't always lead to what they say it would lead to.
I've also been trying to expose how much government manipulation of market practices that we have today. I've done my independent thinking. I watch the statist MSM to see what the conforming views in society are. But yes, I actually have tried to open some people's minds with austrian thought. I wish more people would take this school of thought seriously. It isn't the only perspective of history that you can take but the austrian school of thought does make a great case for the free market.
I am trying.
For me, I think it's a moral responsibility to do what is right. Allowing people to believe the lies surrounding interventionism, political action, collectivism, and socialism is just plain wrong, to me. I've spent the past year or so reading articles and learning more. Lately, I've been watching videos, getting more news, more views. And the latest thing for me is actually getting the books and reading them so I can understand this stuff inside-out.
I like the idea of the NAP. I think it fights nicely in my moral framework. I found it very, very pleasing and even calming to learn that a society with private property rights where all interactions and exchanges with people were voluntary could thrive, and be a better option than any alternative.
Lately I've been posting notes to my facebook. Soon, I'll be writing letters to the editors of some local papers from time to time. I'm also considering running as a libertarian candidate when the next general election comes up.
After all, "do not give in to evil but proceed ever more boldly against it"
The appeal to "charity" is a truly ironic one. First, it is hardly "charity" to take wealth by force and hand it over to someone else. -Rothbard
I do make efforts to turn the people around me onto the path of liberty.
While I'm currently absorbing the information that makes up the Austrian school, I do try my best to make people realize that they're the only force equipped properly to control their destinies. I try to make them realize that the state is incurable. I don't want them to try and change the system, but emancipate themselves from the system entirely. I think it is especially valuable for me to do this while the people around me are young (16-17) and still open to new ideas. I don't think the State can be stopped, it can only destroy itself. Which I'm fairly certain it will, one day. And once that day comes, individuals will be there to act-- like they always have been.
That's an interesting point Prateek.
For me the situation is different. I believe that there are many, many persons out there just waiting for the right idea to "pop up" since they are failing to buy into all the Collectivist garbage they are fed daily. Discussing Human Action with them right away is a good way to make them think you are some kind of psychopath, albeit an harmless one: remember that most people, as intelligent as they are, do not go beyond the mandatory school/mass media education. The Internet is helping changing this for the better though it's a slow progress and most do not go beyond searching for free porn...
But most people will respond very positively when you retell them Bastiat's Broken Window or Candlemakers' Petition. The usual reaction is "hey, that's exactly what they are doing right now!". Most shop-owners, self employed persons, artisans etc are extremely open to Austrian economics and Classic Liberalism because they have been lied to for a lifetime and they are just waiting for somebody to come along and say in a coherent manner what they have been thinking for a lifetime. Of course resistance is very strong: many people are in denial and other fear to lose the few bread crumbs the "masters" allow them to pick up from under the table. Others simply still believe the old tired mantra "vote for us or the Commies/Nazis will take over the country".
That's a mammoth of a task but let's give it our best shot...
Yes, it's time for the Dr Goebbels show!
In my High school AP Government/Econ class, out of thirty students there was one market anachist (me), and one communist. Both the communist and I had a group of about three or four people who seemed sympathetic to what we were saying. The rest didn'tseem to really have any political opinions of their own. This group voted overwhealmingly for Obama on the grounds that he wasn't Bush, but I doubt they really understand what he stands for, and in eight years will probably vote for whoever the non-democrat candidate is on the grounds that "he's not Obama."
This class was also offered at a different time. I don't know much about the make up of this class, but I know there was at least one explicit market anachist in it, and don't have any reasons to believe that it was any different from the one I was in.
Make of this data what you will.
You can't take the sky from me.
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