Mr Neutron
Well-Known Member
MILT BORCHERT, Liberty Ink Journal
Who Owns You?
Your real answer to this question is the root of your political philosophy, whether you know it or not. As all political power flows from the muzzle of a gun, all political thought flows from the answer to our question. There are really only two primary answerseither someone else owns you or you own yourself. If someone else owns you, there remains only quibbling over who that master is.
People like regulatory czar Cass Sunstein believe the state is your proper owner. This is the core belief that defines a statist or authoritarian. This does leave another question unanswered, who is the state that claims to be your owner? Louis XIV infamously answered, Letat? Cest moi, which translated means, The state? It's me. While no one has yet demonstrated quite that level of audacity, it causes one to wonder if that mentality is not prevalent among many in government today.
But since we cannot currently point to anyone called the state, much less justify their ownership of us, individual self-ownership would seem to be the safer assumption.
But then, we must ask, what is ownership?
If a thing is owned, it can be used at the sole discretion of the owner, provided that use does not violate the rights of another person. Thus, if I own a thing, I can use it as I please, with one exceptionI cannot use it to damage the property or person of an innocent sovereign individual against his will. If I do not want to keep it, I can destroy it, sell it, trade it, rent it, loan it, or give it to another person.
If someone else owns you, you are that entitys slave. As you are the property of that other entity, so are the proceeds of any work you perform. You have no legitimate say in the matter and must do precisely what your master desires. Your master may take as much of the fruits of your labor as he wants. At his sole discretion, your master can kill you, sell you, trade you, rent you, loan you or give you to someone else. And yes, Cass Sunstein and his followers believe that the government can do whatever it wants with you, that you owe your very existence to the state.
If you own yourself, the proceeds of any work you do are exclusively yours. Absent claims generated by your actions that involuntarily injure another, no other person or entity has a legitimate say in the disposition of that work or its proceeds; taxation is simply theft with a nicer name. No one, not even a government, may, of right, kill you (except in cases of self-defense), sell you, trade you, rent you, loan you or give you to someone else.
Conceived in Liberty
Classical liberals of the eighteenth century believed that individually sovereign people could voluntarily delegate to a mutually acceptable entity the power to act on their behalf; this was the origin of legitimate government. Logically, an individual cannot delegate powers that he does not, of right, possess to another entity, even if that entity calls itself a government.
On April, 19, 1775, an ongoing antitax rebellion in the American colonies took violent form in response to the British governments attempt to confiscate the colonists means to resist. On July 4, 1776, that rebellion officially became revolution when the Declaration of Independence was adopted. For the first time in human history, a nations founding principles were, at least in part, derived from self-ownership, including the right of revolution as a legitimate political tool.
Eleven years later, a constitution, whose stated purpose was to limit governments function to the protection of the rights of the sovereign individuals who agreed to form that government, marked another radical departure from the old statist paradigm.
Political power flows from the muzzle of a gun; the Founders tried to insure that such power would remain in the hands of the people, rather than the government. The right of armed resistance to tyranny was reserved to the people in the Bill of Rights.
Statism Triumphant
Since then, through a long series of artful dodges, the statists have taken control of the government. It now serves as a tool to violate the peoples rights and steal their property. Contrary to the letter and spirit of the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, your rights mean nothing and the government may do as it pleases, without being impeded in any meaningful way by the Constitution that George W. Bush called a goddamn scrap of paper.
Eerily reminiscent of the Declarations bill of particulars, numerous alphabet-soup federal agencies harass our people and eat out their substance. The banking system transfers what little wealth remains in the hands of the productive classes to a super-rich parasitic class. The welfare system throws a few scraps to an immense underclass that votes for a living, preventing the productive class from voting their way out of bondage.
The Third Times the Charm
Our country was founded through revolution. The colonists saw no peaceful way to free themselves from Britains tyranny and resorted to shooting agents of that government. Unfortunately, gradual erosion diminished that hard-won legacy of Liberty.
After the Norths repeated abuses of power, unable to achieve redress through peaceful means, the people of the South attempted to secede. This Second American Revolution failed, in part because the Confederacy failed to secure the moral high ground.
Todays extreme abuses of power and nearly total disregard for the rule of law have destroyed any moral authority the government once possessed. It now relies on naked force as the illusion of its legitimacy rapidly evaporates. Given the arrogance of our would-be masters and lacking a realizable political solution, the Third American Revolution seems inevitable. The Soviet Empire was the first to fall to Information Age peaceful revolution. Perhaps we can hope that, for our country, the third time really is the charm.
Liberty or its Death?
Thus, we return to our question: Who owns you?
For those of us who believe in self-ownership, the answer is clear. We must reclaim liberty by any means necessary while holding the moral high ground. It is ultimate treason to allow the flame of liberty to die on our watch and to bequeath to our children, instead of that flames bright light, the long darkness of tyranny and slavery.
Milt Borchert is a commercial photographer and graphic designer in Fort
Collins, Colorado, and has been involved in the freedom movement since the
1970s.
Who Owns You?
Your real answer to this question is the root of your political philosophy, whether you know it or not. As all political power flows from the muzzle of a gun, all political thought flows from the answer to our question. There are really only two primary answerseither someone else owns you or you own yourself. If someone else owns you, there remains only quibbling over who that master is.
People like regulatory czar Cass Sunstein believe the state is your proper owner. This is the core belief that defines a statist or authoritarian. This does leave another question unanswered, who is the state that claims to be your owner? Louis XIV infamously answered, Letat? Cest moi, which translated means, The state? It's me. While no one has yet demonstrated quite that level of audacity, it causes one to wonder if that mentality is not prevalent among many in government today.
But since we cannot currently point to anyone called the state, much less justify their ownership of us, individual self-ownership would seem to be the safer assumption.
But then, we must ask, what is ownership?
If a thing is owned, it can be used at the sole discretion of the owner, provided that use does not violate the rights of another person. Thus, if I own a thing, I can use it as I please, with one exceptionI cannot use it to damage the property or person of an innocent sovereign individual against his will. If I do not want to keep it, I can destroy it, sell it, trade it, rent it, loan it, or give it to another person.
If someone else owns you, you are that entitys slave. As you are the property of that other entity, so are the proceeds of any work you perform. You have no legitimate say in the matter and must do precisely what your master desires. Your master may take as much of the fruits of your labor as he wants. At his sole discretion, your master can kill you, sell you, trade you, rent you, loan you or give you to someone else. And yes, Cass Sunstein and his followers believe that the government can do whatever it wants with you, that you owe your very existence to the state.
If you own yourself, the proceeds of any work you do are exclusively yours. Absent claims generated by your actions that involuntarily injure another, no other person or entity has a legitimate say in the disposition of that work or its proceeds; taxation is simply theft with a nicer name. No one, not even a government, may, of right, kill you (except in cases of self-defense), sell you, trade you, rent you, loan you or give you to someone else.
Conceived in Liberty
Classical liberals of the eighteenth century believed that individually sovereign people could voluntarily delegate to a mutually acceptable entity the power to act on their behalf; this was the origin of legitimate government. Logically, an individual cannot delegate powers that he does not, of right, possess to another entity, even if that entity calls itself a government.
On April, 19, 1775, an ongoing antitax rebellion in the American colonies took violent form in response to the British governments attempt to confiscate the colonists means to resist. On July 4, 1776, that rebellion officially became revolution when the Declaration of Independence was adopted. For the first time in human history, a nations founding principles were, at least in part, derived from self-ownership, including the right of revolution as a legitimate political tool.
Eleven years later, a constitution, whose stated purpose was to limit governments function to the protection of the rights of the sovereign individuals who agreed to form that government, marked another radical departure from the old statist paradigm.
Political power flows from the muzzle of a gun; the Founders tried to insure that such power would remain in the hands of the people, rather than the government. The right of armed resistance to tyranny was reserved to the people in the Bill of Rights.
Statism Triumphant
Since then, through a long series of artful dodges, the statists have taken control of the government. It now serves as a tool to violate the peoples rights and steal their property. Contrary to the letter and spirit of the Ninth and Tenth Amendments, your rights mean nothing and the government may do as it pleases, without being impeded in any meaningful way by the Constitution that George W. Bush called a goddamn scrap of paper.
Eerily reminiscent of the Declarations bill of particulars, numerous alphabet-soup federal agencies harass our people and eat out their substance. The banking system transfers what little wealth remains in the hands of the productive classes to a super-rich parasitic class. The welfare system throws a few scraps to an immense underclass that votes for a living, preventing the productive class from voting their way out of bondage.
The Third Times the Charm
Our country was founded through revolution. The colonists saw no peaceful way to free themselves from Britains tyranny and resorted to shooting agents of that government. Unfortunately, gradual erosion diminished that hard-won legacy of Liberty.
After the Norths repeated abuses of power, unable to achieve redress through peaceful means, the people of the South attempted to secede. This Second American Revolution failed, in part because the Confederacy failed to secure the moral high ground.
Todays extreme abuses of power and nearly total disregard for the rule of law have destroyed any moral authority the government once possessed. It now relies on naked force as the illusion of its legitimacy rapidly evaporates. Given the arrogance of our would-be masters and lacking a realizable political solution, the Third American Revolution seems inevitable. The Soviet Empire was the first to fall to Information Age peaceful revolution. Perhaps we can hope that, for our country, the third time really is the charm.
Liberty or its Death?
Thus, we return to our question: Who owns you?
For those of us who believe in self-ownership, the answer is clear. We must reclaim liberty by any means necessary while holding the moral high ground. It is ultimate treason to allow the flame of liberty to die on our watch and to bequeath to our children, instead of that flames bright light, the long darkness of tyranny and slavery.
Milt Borchert is a commercial photographer and graphic designer in Fort
Collins, Colorado, and has been involved in the freedom movement since the
1970s.
