The Daily Fight for Liberty

By Paul Gessing

In defeating Jimmy Carter in the 1980 Presidential contest, Ronald Reagan famously once said “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” During Carter’s four years in office, Americans were faced with stagflation, the Iran Hostage Crisis, high unemployment, and a general crisis of confidence about themselves, their country, and their role in the world.

Libertarians often discuss a similar but equally important question. Are we freer today than we were 4 years ago, 40 years ago, or even 400 years ago? In Libertarian circles, such rhetorical discussion tends to generate intense debate even among those who possess similar political views.

The fact is that we live in a world in which freedom is constantly advancing and retreating on a many fronts all at once. In my talk today, I hope to briefly lay out my vision of freedom, what it means, and how libertarians can most effectively contribute to increasing their own freedoms.

First, I would like to postulate that freedom is similar to the global economy in that there is no fixed amount of freedom. Libertarians already understand that freedom is not fixed in the sense that we can have a great deal of it as long as we don’t initiate force on others or do things that infringe on the freedom of others. That is simple. But, something many libertarians often overlook in their philosophical debates is that technology has exponentially increased the “pie” that is human freedom. In other words, just as free market capitalism increases the size of the economic “pie,” so to do free markets allow us to experience new freedoms that were not even possible just a few years ago.

My point is that too often libertarians allow themselves to get caught up in the “conservative” mindset that things were better in the past. This is most apparent in the often idealized discussions of the Founding Fathers and the fact that upon achieving independence from England, these men faced no IRS, no income taxes, and they certainly didn’t have national ID cards or need to show them before boarding an airplane.

True, I wish the IRS didn’t exist, that we could dramatically reduce the amount of money our government takes from us, and that we were all anonymous to the federal government. What I am saying is that The Constitution and human liberty do mean something, but to growing numbers of people, the ever expanding economic freedom brought about by technology has produced such bounty that the tendency is to not worry as much about individual freedom.

This can be a problem for libertarians. In fact, Libertarians often say that they are selling liberty and who wouldn’t want to have freedom? Very true, but in an age in which new freedoms keep emerging (like the freedom to surf the Internet), some people have justifiably come to believe that technology will keep naturally produce more freedom for them over time. Many of these people are generally appreciative of the fruits of human freedom, but they are oblivious to the blood, sweat, and tears that so many of us invest in the cause of freedom. Thus, we have tremendous free rider effects as some citizens do all the work of preserving freedom while the vast majority reap the benefits of the free market system and the technology it produces (and that reinforces it).

The development of political freedom in tandem with technological freedom throughout human history is striking. More than 500 years ago in 1436, Gutenberg developed the printing press and democratized the written word. It is no surprise that within 100 years the Protestant Reformation – the first truly revolutionary mass movement in world history – occurred. Thus, the printing press quickly transformed an individual’s relationship with political power and information. No longer would the church and a few educated and well-connected members of society have a monopoly on new ideas and political thought. Rather, anyone that could purchase or even had access to a printing press could engage in the debate.

Moving forward to just 50 years ago in this country, the government had a cozy and simple relationship with the so-called “big media.” There were three television networks and one or two newspapers in most cities and to get your ideas out into the mainstream, you had to have access to one or more of these outlets. Thus, although getting your message out was much easier than it was during the early days of the printing press, the powerful and well-connected still had something of a monopoly over what ideas entered the public debate. Since they all had close relationships with the government, these organizations and individuals tended to reflexively favor the viewpoints set forth by those who also controlled government.

Now, we have smaller publications like The Free Liberal and dozens of alternative newspapers and news outlets both on the web and in hard copy publication that are read by millions worldwide. The development of cable and satellite television has also expanded the number of cultures and ideas we are exposed to and has allowed not just Americans, but people all over the world to access information from the outside world.

Unfortunately, although the menu keeps expanding, governments too have recognized the importance of media control. Thus, despite less ability to outright censor, governments have been rather adept at cajoling and incentivizing the largest media outlets to be more favorable to government’s interests. But pressure is building and new technologies and resources continue to develop that will break through or circumvent these barriers. Although growth of the web and genuine alternatives to the mainstream, filtered press are happening at a rapid pace, given that “mainstream” outlets like the Washington Post, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal still have a tremendous ability to set the agenda and they have huge resources to keep this control information, change will not come overnight. I do believe that people will continue to use new technologies to expand the debate and to break through the disinformation we receive every day.

Who knows what the future holds? I do think that freedom lovers should be optimistic and forward-thinking. The simple fact is that using a Blackberry, you can communicate with anyone in the world on a machine the size of a calculator. Try as it may, once those technologies are out of the bag, to an extent, they are beyond the control of government.

Antiwar.com, blogs, and grassroots organizations all use new technology to empower people and to create new freedoms. Although it may seem frustrating that we, as informed, freedom-loving individuals cannot have a greater impact on the politics of the day, rapid change doesn’t happen overnight.

We all know that President Bush and Congress led us into an undeclared, unconstitutional, and immoral war in Iraq. But the fact is that the criticism and revelations both before and after that war have – at least to date – kept our militaristic President and his hawkish advisers from attacking Syria or Iran. And, as sad as it is that more than 1,600 American troops have needlessly died, that number pales in comparison to the 58,000 dead in Vietnam and 53,000 dead in World War I. Surely, the fact that we have the ability to look on the Internet and find objective data – including casualties – every day from outside the mainstream media is a tremendous check on the government’s power to mislead us.

Politicians will always remain self-interested creatures at heart and for that reason government will always try to expand its own power. That is just human nature. But technology is enabling more people to become educated and engaged in the political process, rather than being mere lever pullers. By keeping them under the microscope, we are forcing politicians to take heed and to be more honest in their dealings. Technology is leveling the playing field. The battles will continue and we will win some and lose some, but by continuing to look forward to brighter days for liberty, our chances of making the 22ne century the most “libertarian” ever are very good.

This speech was given at the Libertarian Party of Henrico County (VA) convention on May 26th, 2005. Paul J. Gessing is a Senior Editor of the Free Liberal.