The Difference Between Liberty and License

I don't think that many people give it much thought, the difference between liberty and license.  Who cares?  Who has any time or interest to think about that stuff anyway?  Could it even be important?  There is so much Instagramming and FaceBooking to do.  

What we are in the midst of like never before in these United States is the exchanging of our liberties for licenses.  Notice the word "license" is completely absent from both the preamble of the Constitution of the United States and the Declaration of Independence:

We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.

Do you suppose that is just a coincidence or is there any reason it was written specifically this way?  I'll give you a clue, the Revolutionary War was not fought for the privileges license conditionally give us.  We rebelled against England for liberty.

The key is in the preamble to the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable Rights...

A liberty is an "unalienable right".  Liberty is a right given by our Creator, not a license issued by a government.  Is the light beginning to come on?

We go to the state to get a license to drive a car.  We have been told that driving is a privilege not a right.  So, if we pay the fees, obey the rules we can have a license to drive a vehicle.  If we don't pay the fees, or break the rules of driving, our license gets revoked.  That is the way license works.  The state has authority to grant or un-grant a privilege with license.  

If our Creator gave us a right to liberty that means a government cannot take it away.  A government has no say in our liberty.  Liberties like, freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom of the press, and all of our liberties, we have heretofore enjoyed without much government interference.

Governments want us to willingly exchange our liberties for their licenses so they may control our ability to do the things we now have freedom to do.  Many things that once were truly liberties are really no longer liberties but licenses.  We barely notice the difference because at present, we continue to do many of the same things we have always done.

Over time, the "frog in the kettle" effect takes place.  Because we don't recognize the difference between liberty and license the "heat" in the form of increased restrictions, compliance, regulation over what was once unrestricted and unregulated is increased.  We accept this as it is done so slowly and incrementally that we do not rebel while our liberty has been taken away and in its place a license has been issued.

A license says "you cannot do what you want to do unless you have permission from government."  Remember what the state giveth, the state can take away.  If liberty is given by the Creator, the state can't take it away unless we allow it to be taken away.

The state never gives new freedoms, it does find ways to create new licenses.  We feel all tickled by the misinformation that tells us we have new freedoms.  This is the flaw in most Libertarian thinking in my opinion.  Libertarians tend to think, if the people vote for it, make it legal then let the people do it.  This never results in liberty, only license. 

Our freedom of worship has some license already attached to it.  Churches willingly allowed government to establish the "Johnson Amendment" in 1954.  It says in exchange for being "tax exempt" (something the church already was), the church could no longer endorse or promote political candidates.  Boom.  It was the means that then senator Lynden Baynes Johnson (the future president) shut up some of his political foes who happened to be pastors of churches.  With one amendment, the liberty of freedom of worship was turned to license.  As long as churches don't get involved in politics (now accepted as orthodoxy by most Americans) the government will leave you alone.  Start making political waves and the government will fine you, tax you and regulate you like a business if you survive the process. 

Take the euphoria expressed in the states that recently "legalized" marijuana.  If marijuana was a liberty, you wouldn't have to legalize it,  you could grow it, exchange it, use it at will without government interference.  You still can't do that, oh, you must purchase a license.  You pay for the privilege.  You promise to do it the way government says to do it and agree to continue to comply with whatever other regulations they come up with.

Liberty isn't regulated.  Liberty ceases to be liberty when it is regulated.  Our founders declared that in the United States speech should not be regulated.  The press should not be regulated.  Our worship should not be regulated.  Do we see these liberties slipping away toward license?  

China is one example.  You can worship openly in China as long as you do so in a "government  sanctioned church", one that has been approved and granted a license, one that will not have anything negative to say about their government or whatever else they deem objectionable.  If the church gets too independent, their license is taken away, church leaders arrested and the church disbanded.  Not liberty, not freedom at all, that is license my friend.

So, in our era of "big government", making abridgments to our liberties in the name of "the public good", increased oversight by government agencies, our privacy invaded, understand the government is bent on taking the place of our Creator, doing away with the Creators' liberties, counterfeiting them and taking control of them through license.

Makes you wonder why the state grants "marriage licenses" anyway.   If you have children you might be more than a little surprised by what you agreed to by signing your marriage license.  Probably more than a little surprised.

I hope you now see, and I hope understand the difference between liberty and license.  Now go ponder the difference between justice and fairness.

What If Money Didn't Matter?

Video: What if money didn't matter? Click here to view.

It's a great thought, what if money didn't matter?  Wow, we could all run around the world doing whatever our little heart desired, no stress, no responsibilities.  We could live forever with all of that off our plate.  It's a great fantasy to only do what we are passionate about, do only what gives us life and care not a whit for the rest.

Only life doesn't work that way.  Money DOES matter and what about the vitally important things NO ONE is passionate about?  Who is passionate about changing baby diapers?  The one or two strange people who might be would probably change their minds once all the diaper changing opportunities were dumped (pun intended) upon them.

I am not saying that it is required that you be miserable in order to make money.  But the thought that you can live without some kind of hard work or have to do things that you don't like doing at times is irresponsible and immature.  We all have to to do things we don't like in order for life to actually work.

The thought that money doesn't matter sounds so noble, so selfless, so un-materialistic.  The truth of the matter is, it is anything but those things.  Really, think about it.

The fact that you may not be motivated by money means that you depend on others who are.  As much as we would like to think we could live only on air and good intentions, the nasty truth of the matter is, we can't.  We need food too.  Oh, and water.  Oh, and a place to sleep.  Oh, and some light.  Oh, and some heat.  Oh, and enough money to pay our Obamacare Affordable Care Act Insurance premiums which used to cost $0 if you didn't want any but now that's illegal.  Oh, and you get the idea.  The truth of the matter is all of that oh, stuff COSTS MONEY!  Someone's money.  Even if you feel like you want to live like money doesn't matter, you no doubt are depending on someone who does think it matters.  They are subsidizing you in some way.  Your parents are either enabling your extended childhood by paying the tab on your inconsiderate pasty white tail, or your friends are coughing up enough to donate to you to keep your selfish hide afloat or the American tax payer is.  It cannot be denied that SOMEONE must do the work and get paid so that they can fund your lazy self to do little to nothing.  So, living like money doesn't matter is not noble.

Neither is living like money doesn't matter selfless.  It is in fact incredibly selfish.  When you are only focused on doing enough to meet your own needs, no matter how meager you think they may be, you aren't even thinking on how you might help others who are in need.  It isn't even on your radar screen.  What? Think about being generous?  I know, that only applies to you.  You want others who do think money matters to be generous towards you.  You never stopped being selfish long enough to think how you might be generous towards others.  When you only want to beg from others or work only enough to meet your own needs, it precludes how you might help others with the necessary things of life.  No, that thought never enters your mind because you are intrinsically selfish.

Sure, we would all like to run all over creation with only our backpacks and a camera thinking we are doing something of value.  The real truth?  You are hiding in plain sight justifying your not wanting to grow up and face the music of life and contribute towards really making the world a better place for everyone, not just yourself.

I know the kind of eye roll mentioning the subject of retirement will get from the "free spirit" crowd.  But let me ask the question anyway.  What are you going to do when your benefactors who care about money and are subsidizing your selfish hyde die?  What are you going to do when you are too old to run around with your camera and backpack?  Really, what is your plan?  I know savings accounts and retirement investments and the like are so boring,  but one day they won't be, trust me.  One day, you will wish you had some of that boring stuff.  Some day, you actually might want to have a place to live and food to eat and enough money to pay for your Affordable Care Act Obamacare healthcare plan.  But you won't and it will be too late and you will have to mooch off others to live some kind of minimal life.  Good luck to you.

Isn't it more selfless to think of others instead of yourself?  Why not GET A REAL JOB doing something that MAKES MONEY so you can actually be a generous person and help others?  Why not make A LOT OF MONEY to help a lot of people?  Just because you make a lot of money does not mean you have to live like a conceited idiot.  You can actually make a lot of money and live a simple life while having the means to help a lot of other people who have legitimate needs.  You want to really be noble?  Think about giving up your selfish extended childhood-adult-life running around doing nothing of real value and go to work making money so you can be a part of the solution of helping others instead of leaving the responsibility to real adults who give back and make the world a much better place.

Do you really want to live an un-materialistic life?  Then make a ton of money and give it away to others in need keeping only enough for yourself to live and not have to mooch off of others.  That is living a true un-materialistic life.  Just living a minimal life by being a burden to others is what is known as being LAZY, it is not being un-materialistic.

So, if no one has ever had this little talk with you about life, you can thank me.  It's the truth.  Some day, you will care and hopefully it won't be too late.  You unfortunately can't be a child your whole life.  It is well neigh time to come of age, get a job, put away the backpack and camera until your days off, make your own way in life and think of someone besides yourself.  It might be like having pizza for the first time when you were age 3.  It looks like you won't like it, but you might actually love it.  Work doesn't have to be the end of our lives.

If you can think deeply for longer than a minute, ponder this deep thought, "What if everyone lived exactly the way I do?"  Would life work?  Where would the money come from?  How would the work get done?  Who would collect the garbage?  Who would make sure the sewer systems functioned?  Who would do the dirty work?  Ponder that deeply while you skip through the fields of daisies capturing digital images.

You'll thank me later.  Really.