23A027 What July 4th Isn't by Jim Davies, 7/4/2023

Today in America there's a holiday, to celebrate again that marvelous moment when in 1776 residents decided to reject the rule of the British Empire. It's "Independence Day" and it's a wonderful idea to reject someone else's rule.

The opening words of the Declaration, drafted by Jefferson, are sublime:-

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...

Those truths are, indeed, self-evident, because the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness all derive from the one fundamental, undeniable right of self ownership. I wish Jefferson had mentioned that, but no matter.

The Declaration goes downhill fast, from that magnificent opening. The authors in the very next sentence turn reason clean on its head:

That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...

Two gross errors, in a mere 20 words! First, given that all government is always the primary violator of the self ownership axiom (because by definition it sets out to rule each person, even though each person is by right a self-ruler!) there is no possible way it can "secure" the stated rights. That would set the fox in charge of the hen-house; which is exactly what the Founders did.

Second, if a person is "governed", then he has not and can not freely give his "consent". Alternatively if you agree to be treated in a certain way, you have granted permission and so are not being governed at all, assuming the permission is uncoerced.

So those 20 words, which are a preamble to all that follows, are nonsense; total and unrelieved.

Despite these fatal blunders, colonial Americans approved, and seceded (that is, announced they would not no longer regard their government as their government.) The mighty Brits would not let go, so a war had to be fought to settle the matter. The seceders won, happily. They don't always, for power is all that governments care about and they hate losing any. Thus, 85 years later, Southern Americans tried to secede from the Union. They lost the war.

More recently the FedGov has gained a lot of power overseas, forming a large hegemon, and urgently wishes Russia to join it. Faced with adamant refusal, it has triggered the Ukraine mess, the War of Russian Independence. Meanwhile the UkeGov refused to let go its citizens in the East and South, desperately trying to preserve its power and thereby handing the FedGov that opportunity.

Declaring independence is a tricky business, drawing savage opposition.

Nonetheless, the right of self ownership is "inalienable", integral to existing as a human being; to live a full human life therefore requires its exercise. That means to assert and declare the supremacy of the "I", an independence from others' rule. How in practice can that be done, given that society is saturated with government and its endless rules and regulations?

I suggest the first step is an internal reset. Review or learn the basic facts, that each of us truly is a self-governing organism. Square the shoulders, stand tall, take control and responsibility and revel in it! This is in line with the first great "benefit" of studying the course offered in TOLFA: after graduating, it says, you will have a "much-enhanced purpose in life", a "rational ethical standard", and a "reason for hope about the future." It's true, and so is the converse; society is today scarred by people without purpose, without moral principles and without hope.

Then the second step is to ignore government (as Kent McManigal puts it) as far as is compatible with an acceptably agreeable life. To ignore it absolutely is a ticket to prison, and while that's fully honorable it isn't needed. Instead, pretend to respect the rulers (though without ever working for them!) with a low profile, while quietly undermining the very ground they stand on.

So the third is rapidly to demolish that system of rule by bringing a friend - one a year - to the same course. That will double every year the number ignoring government - including any offers of employment. Do the math; within one generation, it will implode for want of workers.

July 4th was about régime change, not independence; about swapping one bunch of rulers for another, not freedom. This time, let's do it right.