Opus 2011-297, Plow and Crown: The Issue of Liberty

We have a lot of dichotomies laid down in philosophical discussions.  You are all philosophers even if you don’t use the term.  We all seek wisdom and truth or at least try to convince others we have it.  We tend to divide things, as in “There are two types of people, the Wise, who agree with me, and the Fools, who don’t.”  We have the Ying and Yang of the Star Wars Force.  We have the “have’s” and the “have not’s” of the socialists.  We have the old and the young.  We have the traditional and the contemporary.  We have the conservatives and liberals.  You get the picture.

One of the oldest divisions has been between those who rule and those who don’t.  On the one side you have people who think it is their role in life to tell other people what to do and demand submission.  Cultures always seem to have a ruling class whether it be kings with a divine right or your local IRS agent with the power of the Federal government behind him.  Americans may laugh at kings but we are afraid of city hall. 

At one end you have those who must control.  At the other end you have those who refuse to be controlled.  In between you have masses of people who just want to find the path of least resistance.  That group in between has a lot of power but they don’t want to rock the boat.  Look at the peasants of the middle ages.  Look at cultures with masses of slaves.  Look at the people of California. 

California?  How does California equate with the peasants of the middle ages?  Recently the people voted, with a strong majority, to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.  It was very simple and received a strong endorsement from almost all groups.  The homosexual community, with a few exceptions, was obviously not on board.  One judge, openly homosexual himself, overturned it with a flick of his pen.  And the people of California meekly went back to their hovels and said, “Oh, well.”

The issue I want to address is the question of Liberty.  The battle has been going on since the first guy with big muscles and a big club said, “Give me your lunch.”  It is still going on as our President tells us that we need to give him our health care, our savings, our right to bear arms, our right to disagree and the list goes on.  He is not alone.  Democrats and Republicans are joined by the elites of every stripe.  They want to put us in a box.

I don’t want to go in the box.  I will be addressing that under the title of “Plow and Crown,” at least until the government also takes away my freedom of speech and/or turns off the internet.

homo unius libri