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Wake Up, America!
by Steven Yates (Libertarian)
About The Author
Steven Yates has both a doctorate in philosophy and a masters in public health. He has taught philosophy in a number of institutions, most recently at the University of South Carolina Upstate and Greenville Technical College. He is the author of two books and numerous articles and reviews. His columns have appeared on LewRockwell.com, NewsWithViews.com, and elsewhere. He writes a weekly column for the Times Examiner, based in Greenville, South Carolina where he currently lives. He also owns a small business, FreeYourMindTees.com. The views expressed in Steven Yates's columns are his own, and are not to be attributed to any institutions with which he is affiliated. About The Column
The name of this column should be self-explanatory. I believe American society is in deep trouble. While many Americans are indeed waking up, they are not doing so in numbers sufficient to make a difference. As a trained political philosopher (I have a Ph.D.) I work under a number of assumptions. First, there is a minority in any population whose members are fascinated by power, and will do anything to obtain and increase it. Most common people have little or no interest in power for itself, and this places them at a disadvantage. "The price of liberty is eternal vigilance," says Thomas Jefferson. He was right. We need to build up, shore up, and to the greatest extent possible increase the size of a vigilant minority to a critical mass. The Ron Paul Revolution has made it possible to do this; the key is going to be for this grassroots movement to hold together and forge itself into a serious opposition to the gathering forces of globalism and corporatist-statism if liberty is to survive in America. The alternative is what we have seen during the years especially since the 9/11 attacks: more and more Congressional legislation, Executive Branch statements, and secretive gatherings of power elites (e.g., the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America). The former are taking us closer and closer to a domestic police state; the latter are moving slowly toward dissolving all national borders in our hemisphere in a fashion similar to what has been done to the formerly sovereign nations of the increasingly sovietized European Union. Wake up, America! Why TINSTAAFL?
Published: February 13, 2008
TINSTAAFL is a familiar combination of letters, but the idea behind it is worth revisiting to see the *why*.
Thinking About the Conditions of Liberty
Published: February 6, 2008
What are the conditions of liberty and freedom? This is a question libertarians need to think about and have an answer to before they can expect to move forward. How do we control power; and how do we encourage necessary vigilance?
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