The Self-Help Guide to Living in a Free Society (Super L-O-N-G)

I’ve awaited this article from The New Individualist magazine, written by Gen LaGreca, and it finally arrived. I heard about it on the Glenn Beck show, and wanted a copy of it for myself to write about. I should warn you that The New Individualist is funded by the Atlas Society (meaning Ayn Rand), but I’m not a Randian myself—I’m just an individual.

The article intro goes like this: “Too many Americans are losing the ability to take care of themselves and are looking to the government to run their lives for them, in their tax-gouging, liberty-killing system called the welfare state.”

Regardless of the fact that libraries, bookstores, and even TV and internet are crammed with self-help information, people are still willing to become dependent on the government, when they’re really helping themselves to their neighbor’s wallet.

In the article are 18 ways that people should be looking to themselves and not government to support them in their daily lives:

1. If you don’t go to school and don’t work hard to get ahead, don’t expect the same rewards as those who do. You haven’t earned them.

My take: if you can’t compete to provide for yourself, then marry someone who can and will compete and provide for the both of you.

2. Don’t expect others to pay for your foolishness. If you spill hot coffee on yourself, be more careful next time. Don’t sue the restaurant that served you or push for a law to regulate the temperature of coffee. And if you’re on a jury, don’t award people huge sums for being irresponsible.

My take: stupidity should be painful. Suck it up, move on, and learn from it.

3. If you choose to live in a hurricane zone, then buy insurance or take your chances. Don’t expect the taxpayers of Minnesota (or anywhere else) to cover your losses.

My take: you rolls the dice, you takes your chances. Don’t’ come crying to me or anyone else when your house gets destroyed—you got what you paid for. Don’t bother making an ass of yourself on TV pleading for help, either—it isn’t coming, judging by FEMA actions.

4. Drop the communal mentality that aims to force one course of action on everyone, paid for by one cosmic bank account—the taxpayers’. Don’t ask, “Should we go to Mars?” If YOU want to go to Mars, go as a private citizen in a private venture, and stake a claim when you get there.

My take: this also applies to pro-lifers, global warming, changing the Constitution to reflect the bible’s teachings, religion in general, controlling thermostats, controlling guns, etc.

5. Don’t meddle in others’ affairs. Don’t ask to ban drugs because of their side effects—consult your doctor, not the government, and let others decide for themselves how severe their arthritis is and the risks they’re willing to take. Other people’s joints are none of your business.

My take: if it works for me and is legal, leave me the hell alone.

6. Don’t expect the government to look after your health. If you think certain foods will clog your arteries, then don’t eat them. Don’t call for a battalion of bureaucrats to control other people’s blood vessels.

My take: there is enough information out there already about what we should and shouldn’t eat, drink, smoke, and do for exercise, so why bring down the hammer of legislation just because some of us choose not to do it? All it means for them is that they will die faster, and be out of your way and the way of others who choose to live a healthier lifestyle.

7. Don’t try to force your personal living standards on everyone by pushing for the government to ban harmless activities. If you don’t approve of gambling on the internet, then don’t do it. Leave others alone—if they choose to gamble, and are not causing you injury, then let them do it.

My take: just because YOU can’t handle something, don’t outlaw it for the rest of us.

8. Don’t try to get a home for free. It’s not free. Get a job and pay for it. Don’t force others to pay a premium on their homes so you can have yours at their expense. If you want affordable housing, then support the deregulation of the industry, which will lower prices for everyone.

My take: this applies to foreclosures, bankruptcy, and the whole mortgage mess we’re in today. Just because some people couldn’t stand to hear the word NO, they went and caused this calamity thinking they were going to become rich.

9. If you default on a loan, accept the consequences, lick your wounds, and avoid making the same mistake again. Don’t expect the government (through bankruptcy filing) to bail you out with money fleeced from taxpayers who made more prudent lending and borrowing decisions.

My take: see #8.

10. Don’t try to get ahead by forcing people to give you special privileges. Your race or sex doesn’t qualify you for a degree or a job—only MERIT does.

My take: this is what “diversity policies” and Affirmative Action have done to our country—the bar was lowered to the ground and we STILL have people unable to clear it!

11. Don’t look for a risk-free life, because there is no such thing. If you buy a malfunctioning toaster, return it for a refund. If it is TRULY harmful, then seek redress in court. But don’t unleash a squadron of inspectors to regulate every toaster on the planet just to protect you from one defective cord.

12. Don’t instigate laws to stifle your competition or give your business special government favors. If you can’t win customers by offering them the best products and services in a free market, then close up shop and get a job working for a competitor who can.

13. Don’t force people to support your pet causes. They are entitled to use their money to support their causes of choice. Look for private funding—NOT GOVERNMENT GRANTS—to find a cure for a disease, produce a play, or to preserve an old mansion. The government has no business giving you charity with money that is uncharitably seized from other taxpayers.

My take: see #4.

14. Don’t support laws that control your employers—they’re covered by the Constitution too. They have the right to decide whom to hire, what to pay, and how long a lunch break should be in the business they own. If you don’t like the terms, go elsewhere—and work to loosen the regulatory noose around business’s neck so you can find better job opportunities.

My take: regulation and red tape are the BIGGEST barriers to success and opportunity, and they only exist because someone got to the well before you, and wanted to prevent you from getting there.

15. Don’t expect any guarantees in life, because there are none. You can lose your job, your investments can fail, and your fiancé can leave you. You have the right to PURSUE happiness, but nobody ensures you’ll attain it. Stop using the government to shield you from life’s risks.

My take: Uncle Sam is neither your mother nor your father, and is not responsible for your mere existence, let alone your survival and success.

16. Stop shouting “TAX THE RICH!” The rich are also citizens whose rights are protected by the Constitution, and also have the right to PURSUE their own happiness, not yours. They are entitled to the fruits of THEIR OWN labor as you are to yours. Instead of chipping away at the rights of the rich, why not redirect your energy to creating wealth and joining their ranks?

My take: see #14.

17. Don’t campaign for the government to give you things for free—if it pays your medical bills, then it controls the treatment and care you receive. There is no such thing as a free lunch, but there is such a thing as being swallowed by a shark.

My take: the only free lunch I’ve ever seen is the one they give out through food samples at Sam’s Club—if you’re really clever, you can wander around that place all day eating samples and getting full. Granted, it’s all junk food, but hey—it’s free, and you get what you pay for.

18. Recognize that every person has a right to HIS OR HER OWN life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness. Being a good citizen is like being a good neighbor—you live your life privately, and you respect others’ rights to do the same. You keep what you make, you don’t force your opinions/causes/needs/problems on your neighbors, and they don’t force theirs on you.

My take: whatever burr is in your shorts, keep it to yourself—by sharing it, you might not get the response you were looking for.

Beautiful article, wasn’t it? Thank you, Gen and The New Individualist.

People go to work each day to buy freedom, and the more they pay in total taxes, the more power they’re giving away to Uncle Sam and his state-level cronies. The more social programs people use, the more power Uncle Sam takes away (through increased taxes) to pay for it. Stop voting for increased social program spending, and it will stop tax increases. We made that money, so why can’t we choose who to share it with? That’s what charitable donations are for.

If given a choice, many people turn down the chance to choose (as we see in Social Security reform and Medicare), and many more willingly shackle themselves to the notion of perceived security--giving the keys away in exchange. Sound familiar? It describes most liberal Democrat ideals, Social Security, Marxism, Socialism, and Hillary’s campaign slogan of “shared prosperity.” Personally, I’d love to trade in the welfare, Medicare, and Social Security programs for a decent border fence and I.D. authentication program.

Those who vote for and actively pursue social causes and other liberal ideals are actually seeking to LIMIT freedoms—encouraging Uncle Sam’s oversight into personal lives. In truth, Uncle Sam could care less about us as he throws up roadblock after roadblock. I guess some people would rather do without personal choice just to avoid doing (or thinking) for themselves. This is what is meant by “Uncle Sam’s plantation.”

We saw firsthand what abdicating power means after Hurricane Katrina, and what exists in other “New Orleans-style” political areas today—areas overrun with generations of helpless individuals who would die without Uncle Sam’s constant support, which decades of power-ceding created, ushered in by Democrat politicians. My, how we’ve come so far since the days of slavery! This is what started Uncle Sam’s plantation, and only the recognition, acceptance, and participation in true freedom will shut it down.

This is what colonists went to war with England to prevent, and what July 4th, 1776 is all about: personal independence, the freedom FROM the belief that a king or god can make better decisions about your life than you can, and freedom TO make your own way without the yoke of oppression. Now it’s just another day off work, thanks to the smothering of commercialism. And we wonder why immigrants come to this country and do so well…probably because of a healthy respect for freedom of choice and personal responsibility.