Stripping down the case against using government action to restrict economic activity and freedom of assembly to its fundamental immorality.
Ryan Ramsey, 4/19/2020
Today is a sacred day for this nation. On April 19, 1775, shots were fired at Lexington and Concord. It is a day considered to be the start of the American Revolution, and has also marked a number of other historic events relating to rebellion against various tyrants.
Today I will honor the roots of our nation by laying bare the core argument against the latest indignity against the rights of my countrymen. This is the anniversary of a brushfire in the hearts and minds of men, which burned so hot they chose to die if they could not live with a new consciousness, which they could only gain by eradicating all who refused to respect it.
The men who opened fire on this day 245 years ago were part of what we now call the Enlightenment. John Locke placed the crown on the head of the enlightenment when he wrote about natural law and natural rights. He was not just a philosopher, but also a physician, which adds a pinch of irony as I invoke his work in my opposition to shut down and stay at home orders, in response to the coronavirus. More ironic is that most Americans have no idea the entire Revolutionary War was fought during a smallpox epidemic.
Locke did not invent the concept of natural rights, but his work so eloquently expressed it that he is regarded as responsible for the widespread acceptance of the fundamental principle that changed the world forever and led to the birth of our nation.
This idea was that there were certain moral truths that applied to all people, regardless of the particular place where they lived or the agreements they had made.
This idea, and the way its branches work throughout all aspects of human psychology and unifies us under the laws of nature, are the wellspring of America’s status as greatest nation in history.
At its very core is self ownership. Our right to property and to keep the spoils of our labor is born of the fact we own ourselves. We are the sole dominion of that sentient being which purchased said property, and/or created by our labor the products and wealth derived from it.
Self ownership must include the right to choose what risks one finds acceptable. Many of the greatest advances in mankind’s history are tales of genius men thought foolish in their day. Galileo faced inquisition for discovering the earth revolved around the sun. One can imagine a neighbor of the Wright brothers scoffing at how foolish they were to think they could fly, and how they were just going to hurt themselves or others with their ridiculous contraption.
Americans had already embraced self ownership two and a half centuries ago when we began curing redcoats of their lead deficiency with our muskets.
While the Roman Inquisition used state violence against Galileo, in the nation founded upon natural rights things were different. The neighbor of the Wright brothers could not interfere, and they got the last laugh, and with it their place in history.
Those cheering the government insults to our natural rights in response to COVID-19 are essentially advocating against the entire advancement of western civilization, which is why I have been mocking them by advocating their deportation to Cuba or Somalia on social media. They are the modern day loyalists, the 2020 Benedict Arnold. They would be facing our bayonets on this day 245 years ago.
On a personal level, my choice to ride motorcycles, face armed mobs of communists to protect the right of others to speak, confront corrupt politicians and find creative ways to embarrass them in public, climb mountains in the remote wilderness, or engage in full contact martial arts…. all carry with them risk of death or severe injury, all of which are totally avoidable.
I take all these avoidable risks because some of them involve sacred duty, and others give me a satisfaction that enrich my life in ways many do not understand. I own myself. I have the right to risk my life in order to spend it doing what satisfies me and honors what I believe is my duty to the God who blessed me with it.
No has a right to use force to interfere with my choices involving where to assemble. That is not an opinion, that is the law of the land, and the Bill of Rights is not negotiable.
A man who advocates the use of government as a proxy to do so adds an additional immorality, that of cowardice, to their original transgression. Government officials who issue edicts that other armed men must enforce while they sit safely in their gated communities and governors mansions are also cowards, and have violated their oaths of office.
The explanation of how the political class is engaging in tyranny with shut downs and stay at home orders is written in the works of John Locke and enshrined in the Bill of Rights.
The bulk of the debates about these draconian measures are moot, no chart of infection numbers or death rates are relevant to the real question. We do not need to look at comparisons between policies and fatalities of different nations to determine the merit, legality, or morality of quarantine.
We only need one simple question answered.
Who owns us, government or ourselves?
If the answer is ourselves, we are living under tyranny. That realization creates two more questions we must ask ourselves.
Are we worthy of the blood and sacrifice of the men who opened fire on the British 245 years ago today, made in part for us, as their descendants?
If so, what are we going to do about it?
The Libertarian Heathen 