By Justin Williams
The very word that makes up the title of our headquarters has been used and abused. What does it mean? If you look for definitions at dictionary.com you will find:
- freedom from arbitrary or despotic government or control
- freedom or right to frequent or use a place
- unwarranted or impertinent freedom in action or speech
Let’s start with the first one. This is the purpose of this group, in my mind, to prevent arbitrary control by government over our private lives. Arbitrary in that they are based without any facts and are discriminatory. F.A. Hayek spent his life writing books denouncing arbitrary rules made by governing bodies. This is because the government changes its from role of providing helpful means towards various ends to a singular collective end.
The second and third definitions are the root causes of the abuse of the word liberty. A person may be granted a freedom to use a place or to speak, but they do not de facto have this right. In other words, some people have paired rights with liberty and believe they have a right and liberty to your property. This is false. The liberty of one’s property is entirely the owners, not “the peoples”. The owner may give you the liberty to step upon his property or to speak up in his house, but it is his right to give. There are many people who get used to the tragedy of the commons and speak up in public places. This harks back to the old saying, “If everyone owns it, nobody owns it.” The very reason you have the liberty to speak or use things in the public is because nobody owns the public. Obviously, different with private property.
Liberty is the tool of a free society. It is what allows free people to organize themselves, in so that they can protect their property. Not a tool used to infringe upon your property. The Bill of Rights applies to government, not private places. The correct understanding of liberty is critical in the fight for liberty.
