Why liberty matters

It is so clear to me, now, how abuses of power have taken place and why liberty has been taken so lightly.

Power can be rationalized to solve any problem. And as long as people become attached to the idea that it will solve that problem, any problem, they will defend its use, even if it is not responsible for solving the problem, even if it does not, in fact, solve the problem, and even when it often causes the problem or makes the problem far worse.

It is the ultimate version of post hoc ergo propter hoc. False cause.

And it has plagued humanity from its beginning.

Modern students of history must always wonder why it took so long for humanity to get this figured out well enough to finally create governments that took liberty seriously. Liberal democracies.

And it was because power could and was and is forever rationalized to solve every problem where well-meaning people rationalize its use, even if it causes innumerable cases of unnecessary tragedy in the process.

And it is because it can forever be rationalized to do so.

And as long as our fears rather than our self-confidence dominates, our cowardice instead of our courage, we will forever be lost in this ugly cycle.

Except that we don't stay stuck.

The one real saving grace for humanity is that we figure it out. We always get out of this ugly cycle, though usually only after much tragedy takes places.

We are a foolish and unfortunate lot. Humanity. And much of it is our own doing.

And our failure to take responsibility for our own undoing has been the bane of humanity since long before civilization.

And the one central value that has most moved us forward is our capacity to take that responsibility and any real progress on our parts is and always has been supported by our liberty to do so.

And it is perfectly clear, to anyone taking note of the our most recent history relative to our more distant past, that liberty is what has made the difference.

And liberty will be our saving grace today, as it has always been. Because it gives us the opportunity to learn, to make mistakes and move on, and to live lives where we are loved and belong and where we love others and help them belong.

It is our freedom that makes us great. And it is our freedom that allows us to learn the lessons that move humanity forward.

And that's why liberty matters.

Bingo

This case goes straight to the heart of what is wrong with this political period.

Criminalizing Home Schoolers

A California appellate court judge has ruled that parents who home school their children must get teachers' licenses or face criminal charges.

It's so arrogant. This notion that the state, and its benevolent-sounding representatives, know better what to do for us and our children better than parents and their children. This notion that because I think I know what would be better for you, I should decide what is good for you and decide for you as a matter of law. This notion that if you do not do what I think is better, you need to go to jail or to be punished not because you are actually harming anyone for real, but because I say so.

The one area of life that matters to many of us most - our education and the education of our children - is the one place where the values that center education most - liberal values, meaning the valuing of our liberty - should be taken most seriously.

And somehow, in the most mature liberal democracy in the world, we can't get that straight. Because we are so obsessed with both defending the record of the New Deal, which is a mixed record, at best, and because we are so obsessed with controlling what one another do.

This case illustrates so well the problem with this line of logic and the arrogance that it exemplifies.

Does this judge really think that this ruling will stand?

You know what the beautiful thing is?

Not in a democracy.

Baron de Montesquieu, the originator of the idea of divided powers and an independent judiciary, was a fuckin' genius. Because he was all too aware of the tendency of those in power, everyone in power, to covet it and sacrifice our liberty, all of our liberty, in the process.

This is why I love liberal democracy. And it has not a goddamned thing to do with any party's politics.