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Over the course of a summer class I teach, we discussed a wide range of topics: addiction, the Drug War, privacy, affirmative action, torture, genetic engineering, national identification cards, globalism, jury nullification, censorship, and media violence. As frequently happens in core college courses, most of the students in my composition class did not participate much in the give-and-take. Though I acted as devil's-advocate regardless of whether I agreed with the student or not, only a handful cared enough to demonstrate any degree of passion.
One of my best students, though, bucked the current and consistently declared herself unafraid of anything the government might do. Government prying into all aspects of our lives? "No problem. If you've done nothing wrong, what do you have to worry about?" Restrictions on what you can place in your body? "They're doing it for our own good." Restricting people in they say or write? "Better to maintain peace than to upset others."
Near the end of the semester, I thought I'd try the direct approach. I looked at her and said, "So, do you believe that part of my life and my money belong to you?"
She gazed into my eyes, clearly annoyed and defiant. "Yes," she said confidently, "I do."
I blinked. Rarely is a statist and collectivist so blatant in her declaration that she views me as (at least in part) a slave -- chattel -- whose existence and production are hers to distribute as she sees fit.
Given the constraints of the classroom, I didn't pursue her line of reasoning and its implications. But I often marvel 'at those who view me and/or my ideas as horrid, asinine, sick, stupid, callous, or disgusting. I sometimes wish I could sit face-to-face with some of critics and ask them a few questions.
"What is so wrong with me declaring that my life belongs to me?"
I thought we made involuntary servitude unconstitutional in this country?
"Why is it so depraved of me to claim that your life belongs to you?"
I don't want to control you or force you to act as I would like you to. I've got enough trouble running my own life.
"How does my belief that I should be the one to decide how to use the property that I earn qualify as evil?"
The little bit of money I bring in represents a segment from my finite life. I just want to enjoy whatever unknown amount of time I have in this world, and to do that today requires money.
"When did it become vicious for me to think you should keep your money for your own purposes?"
I have no desire to become a thief by sticking a gun in your face or voting in a bunch of politicians to hire police officers to stick their guns in your face if you refuse to hand over your salary.
"Who first pushed the notion that I should be thought of as a criminal for owning a gun or being willing to use it if I am attacked?"
Without the right and the ability to defend my life, no other rights will be honored. I cannot do anything for anybody if I am dead.
"Where is it written that acknowledging that each person is responsible for his own choices is unjust?"
I honor the moral autonomy of every individual when I recognize that we each must be the primary ones to deal with the consequences of what we do and say.
"What is sacrilegious about objecting to laws and regulations and licensing that make it more difficult for poor people to start businesses of their own?"
Unlike most individuals who want to pursue a private dream, corporations can afford to hire lawyers and make changes in their operations that comply with State rules restricting the entry of new competitors. Big businesses rarely object to such laws since the legal constraints help to maintain artificially high profit levels.
"How is stating that adults should be the one's to determine what they will or will not put into their bodies blameworthy?"
State nannies who outlaw a substance or a medicine or a food merely harm those who -- correctly or incorrectly -- think ingesting that thing will make their lives better, more pleasant, or easier to handle.
"When should it be labeled as vicious to accept the proposition that when people experience the rewards of good choices and the punishments of bad choices, they learn to improve their lives rather than wallow in messes that others are forced to clean up?"
Protecting fools from their foolish actions simply guarantees we will have more fools than we will confident and productive citizens in our society.
"Where should indecent people like me go when we dare to criticize a government that has mushroomed beyond its proper role of protecting our rights?"
The government was created to be our servant but has managed to convince us that the State is our benefactor rather than a body of rulers that managed to slaughter 160,000,000 of their own citizens around the world in the past century.
"Who can explain how wanting private gold as our only money is reprehensible?"
For the first century of this country's history, gold-backed money kept or increased its purchasing value as people became more productive. In the last century since we abandoned gold and the State began to completely control the money supply, the government has stolen trillions of dollars from its citizens via an inflation that has robbed a dollar of 95% of its purchasing power.
"Why is it considered oppressive to view values as objective, individuals as more important than groups, and the little guy as better off without the government's 'help'?"
The worst abuses against human beings in the history of the world have occurred when "anything goes," when racism and collectivism treat people as interchangeable and insignificant cogs, when the State declares no one can survive without its minute direction of everyone's smallest actions.
My student implicitly saw my beliefs as wrong, depraved, evil, vicious, criminal, unjust, sacrilegious, blameworthy, vicious, indecent, reprehensible, and oppressive. I was and am saddened by such outlandish judgments and accusations against someone who seeks only to be left alone to live my life in peace.
When she and the myriad of others who share her world view condemn me and reject the positions I advocate, I sometimes wish it were feasible to look each of them squarely in the eye and make one simple, heartfelt plea:
Please. Let me be free.
