I use the term “liberal” without irony or contempt, for the liberal tradition in the true sense was devoted to freeing people from the shackles of the state. FULL ARTICLE by Ron Paul
Source link: http://archive.mises.org/16634/the-blessed-institution-liberty/
The Blessed Institution: Liberty
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Dr. Paul just earned himself a sale. It’s just too bad his speeches aren’t up to the quality of his writing. Oh well, he’s got my vote in 2012 whether he runs or not.
Well, he’s got my vote too. Nevertheless, I feel that he is in desperate need of either a ghost writer or a very aggressive editor. His prose, like his speeches, is haphazard, meandering, inconclusive, disorganized, and confusing to the uninitiated.
Of all the things the Mises Institute could do, I think that securing Jeff Riggenbach a position as Ron Paul’s chief speech writer would be the most beneficial.
Oppression is an institution, not liberty. Liberty is a constant individual struggle. Liberty lacks the organizational dynamics to become an institution. It is something that exists when there is lack of oppressive institutions and something that vanishes when there are oppressive institutions.
Liberty cannot organize itself into an institution because it cannot use force to spread and maintain it’s stronghold and command resources etc.
It’s something fragile, delicate that exists absent tyrannical dangers and that rapidly collapses when there is too much tyranny.
You cannot make liberty, you can be free or not. You cannot coerce into liberty, therefore it cannot be an institution.
“Freedom belongs to nations flourishing, not to nations unripe or decaying. How do you determine it? By the presence of moral qualities. A nation that does not respect oaths unfit for juries, without education, that does not condemn dishonesty. Does not all this amount to conscience? Where there is an enlightened conscience, there shall be freedom. Where not, not. Mere enjoyment of material pleasures makes men indifferent.”
“Liberty is the condition of duty, the guardian of conscience. It grows as conscience grows. The domains of both grow together. Liberty is safety from all hinderances, even sin. So that liberty ends by being Free Will.” Selected writings of Lord Acton.
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