The Essence of Liberty, by Dr. Jimmy T. (Gunny) LaBaume

http://www.flyoverpress.com/Essence%20Part%201.htm

The Essence of Liberty Series

Preface

At the risk of sounding like a flim-flam dealer in "opportunities of a lifetime," I will begin with a question. Are you willing to devote ten to fifteen minutes a day to furthering your knowledge of liberty—how it has been taken away and how we can get it back? If so, you are at the right place and will enjoy this series. If not, you might as well hit the delete button without reading further.

My general purpose with The Essence of Liberty Series is to provide an introduction and sound basic foundation in the fundamentals of a discipline that integrates principles of economics with a natural law based ethic into a single whole—a truly universal philosophy of political economy applicable to all men at all times and in all places.

I attempt to accomplish this by "capturing the essence" of some of the classical works in the "science" of liberty in as few words as possible and in a language understandable by the reasonably intelligent person without formal education in political science or economics. In the process I hope to whet the appetite for the original and more.

My ultimate objective is to make these logically based, common sense ideas available to a wider audience and, thereby, make a small contribution to the struggle for liberty. If I succeeded, that will have been my only small claim to originality because the ideas are from the minds and the pens of the authors. The errors are mine.

I will begin with a detailed, chapter by chapter, review and summary of Our Enemy, the State: A Study of Social Power vs. State Power and of The State in Colonial America by Albert Jay Nock. My reason for beginning here is its focus on the colonial period. After reading this, you will never see the constitution the same again.

Next, will be a summary of No Treason by Lysander Spooner, the Yankee radical abolitionist who wrote concerning the war of Yankee aggression (and in defense of secession, I might add). The logic of choosing this for second place is based on his treatment of the constitution. If you see the constitution different after reading Nock, you will view it even more so after Spooner.

Part 3 will come from one of Thomas DiLorenzo's works, Lincoln Unmasked. Since Spooner brought us up to Lincoln's time, it is perhaps logical to explore just exactly how much liberty was lost at the hands of a much venerated, but arguably the most evil, president these united States has ever had.

The People's Pottage by Garet Garett will follow. Garett primarily deals with liberty lost during the WWI—WWII—New Deal era. If you are not angry by now, you will be absolutely shocked by the shenanigans and usurpations that went on virtually un-noticed.

Subsequent parts will come from more modern-recent authors like, for example, Murray Rothbard, Hans Hermann-Hoppe and others.

So, enjoy and learn as we begin with the Introduction to Our Enemy: the State.

Yours for freedom in our lifetimes.

Jimmy T. (Gunny) LaBaume

The Essence of Liberty: Part 1

Compiled and Summarized by

Dr. Jimmy T. (Gunny) LaBaume

Our Enemy, The State: A Study of Social Power vs. State Power and of The State in Colonial America by Albert Jay Nock. Available from the Mises Institute at www.mises.org

Foreword by Edmund A. Opiz (Pages 1-9)

Having been educated in the "grand old fortifying classical curriculum," Albert Jay Nock was a man of letters. He did graduate work in theology and served as an Episcopal minister for a decade before becoming a journalist.

He inspires his audience to do the best for themselves because that is the only way for anyone to do any real service for anyone else. In his own words, "There's only one way to improve society…present it with one improved unit – yourself."

The prevailing belief today is that political means can cure economic and social woes. The idea is that man has been victimized by his institutions but democracy has given him the power to improve his condition by enlarging the State for the good of all.

All Statists agree on one thing—the desirability of a centralized State with virtually unlimited authority to interfere with every aspect of life. Their problem is that they do not examine the State itself. As a result, good intentions lead to contrary results. We must come to a better understanding of the nature of the State.

There are two political institutions—Government and State. Government secures the individual's rights and maximizes his opportunity to pursue his goals. The State disadvantage some for the benefit of others. Consequently, as Mencken put it, the State is "the common enemy of all…decent men."

Government's essential function is the application of lawful force so that peaceful citizens may go freely about their business. By contrast, the State uses legal violence against peaceful citizens. Clearly oppression (the State) is the antithesis of the Rule of Law (Government).

The State's legal apparatus is perverted by its seeking of support from interest groups. Since it has economic advantages to dispense, groups are organized to take the give-aways. Thus they are able to use public power for private advantage. The losers are society's productive members.

To illustrate, a manufacturer enjoys a legal advantage from tariff protection. But a businessman on the free market has no such leverage. He cannot force any private citizen to do anything, unless the law grants him a license. Then, in that case he becomes a component of the State.

Furthermore, unions are a component of the State. National legislation grants them a monopoly on the power to exact an above market wage in certain industries. Consequently, unions devote enormous amounts of money and labor to get their favored politicians elected.

It boils down to power concerning which there are three fundamental questions:

1) Who shall posses the power? The answers to that on have ranged from Monarchy backed by divine right to Democracy based on "majority rule."

2) For whose benefit shall the economic advantage accrue? The royal family lived well strictly because of their privileged position. They got something for nothing. Their wealth was not obtained from anything they produced and offered in voluntary exchanges. They lived off of the fruits of others' labor.

3) At whose expense? A society structured along State lines must have victims—people whose interests are deliberately sacrificed.

Nock's anti-Statist philosophy emphasizes social power vs. State based power. Social power requires liberty.

According to Franz Oppenheimer, States, throughout all of history, have originated in war and conquest. Some lean and hungry nomadic group moves in on a soft, sedentary group and sets itself up as a ruling class. They quell discontent, maintain order and, of course, extract tribute. Robbery is the primary labor saving device. The State is a second (and safer) way.

Nock adopts Oppenheimer's terminology for explaining the two ways to satisfy human needs. The first is to produce by applying energy to raw materials in nature. He calls this the "economic means." This, of course, involves work. Since man will do just about anything to avoid work, he has a natural tendency toward the "political means"—e.g. the State.

After one reads this book, his political perceptions will never be the same because he will understand the true nature of the State as "an institution distinct from society and not the same as Government." He will realize that "the State is the institutionalization of the sinful desire to live off others…(It) exists because a significant number of people want a respectable arrangement which enables them to get what they want without offering anything commensurate in exchange." Furthermore, the State seduces its victims with the idea that it is possible for them to someday operate their own racket and, thereby, converts victims into accomplices.

Many (most, actually) want something for nothing so the State is created in our own image. That image can only be changed by a moral transformation. Nothing short of this will bring the State down. A larcenous people will eventually write theft into their statutes. People who covet their neighbor's property are certain to find legal ways to steal it. This is how "The Welfare State" was invented.

When life, liberty and property are secure, people acquire their economic needs through production and voluntary exchange in response to consumer demands and within the Rule of Law. There is only one way to help "the poor." Unleash the incredible power of the market by getting off their backs. "The poor" are not the reason for the Welfare State. They are the excuse.

In reality the Welfare Stat hurts the poor by reducing productivity and, therefore, prosperity. It actually handicaps and erects obstacles to those on the bottom rung of the economic ladder. The State has no other function but as an instrument for siphoning goods from those who produce to ruling elite.

Today social power is intermingled with State power. The manufacturer is subsidized by the State (but) is forced to pay above market wages by the State protected union which, in turn, has its advantage taxed away to bail out industry. The doctor is enriched by Medicare but forced to subsidize price support programs for farmers who, in turn, underwrite "urban renewal." The welfare recipient pays taxes to support the welfare bureaucracy while the bureaucrat pays ever higher process due to State generated inflation.

Everyone looses in this entangled web of Statism.

Next

Copyright ©2004, FlyoverPress.com

Jimmy T. LaBaume, PhD, ChFC is a full professor teaching economics and statistics in the School of Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, TX. He does not speak for Sul Ross State University. Sul Ross State University does not think for him.

Dr. LaBaume has lived in Mexico and spent extended periods of time in South and Central America as a researcher, consultant and educator.

"Gunny" LaBaume is a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War and Desert Storm. His Marine Corps career spanned some 35 years intermittently from 1962 until 1997 when he refused to re-enlist with less than 2 years to go to a good retirement. In his own words, he "simply got tired of being guilty of treason."

He is also currently the publisher and managing editor of FlyoverPress.com, a daily e-source of news not seen or heard anywhere on the mainstream media. He can be reached at jlabaume@sulross.edu .

Permission is granted to forward as you wish, circulate among individuals or groups, post on all Internet sites and publish in the print media as long as the article is published in full, including the author's name and contact information and the URL www.flyoverpress.com .

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