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Open letter to R Paul of Kentucky on the difference between freedom and liberty

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Ethan Indigo Smith
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Dear fellow for Freedom from Kentucky,

You lost me. You believe in pure libertarianism. And by that I mean you are for freedom, which leads to anarchy when pure and unchecked. Liberty is the enforcement and practice of the Golden Rule, libertarianism as exemplified by your statements, is by no means a representation of liberty, but rather freedom. The two are not interchangeable, however they might be used as though they are.

The Golden Rule is essentially: Do no harm to others. No one should be impeded except if harm is likely. And furthermore the only time it is acceptable to conduct violence is when someone is conducting violence on others. Liberty is the Golden Rule.

Libertarianism is not liberty at all, it is representative of freedom. Freedom is the ability for me to travel to Louisiana and take a dump on a turtle nest without repercussion. Freedom is the right for me to drill an oil well for profit and then destroy a whole ecosystem without repercussion or restriction. Whether by accident, carelessness or outright failure does not matter. Freedom is the ability to not only live and let live, but to do whatever the hell one feels like, including preventing someone from eating and drinking somewhere based on their appearance or destroying whole ecosystems in pursuit of black gold. In freedom one could do whatever one wants, pure freedom, pure libertarianism is anarchy.

This is what you are all about to me Mr. Paul. You are not about liberty or the Golden Rule, but freedom and libertarianism; the pure form of which is anarchy. Freedom has developed into liberty. The history of the Unites States displays this through the freedoms the few originally had in the U.S.A. based primarily on appearance. Freedom developed into liberty through the elimination of slavery based on appearance and land acquisition/theft based on appearance. Liberty further progressed through the Civil Rights Acts ending publics and private racism. Liberty cannot develop into freedom only regress into it.

Pure liberty is the Golden Rule. Pure freedom is libertarianism and anarchy. BP should be shut down and anyone who criticizes anyone for saying as much should shut up. Words can never hurt, only instigate thought. Petroleum leaking into the ocean does hurt and there should be harsh punishment and repercussions for the institutions involved. Stating as much hurts nobody for BP, Haliburton, Transocean ltd. and Cameron International are institutions and have no feelings or beating hearts, they are institutions and therefore are not imparted with liberty.

Institutions only use freedoms Mr. Paul. Institutions cannot even speak, but they can pay people to use misguided doublespeak which you have so generously employed. Thankfully there still is the freedom for people to question and criticize. Sir, you lost me. I listened to what you said and not what people said about what you said and you totally lost me. If your beliefs represent the only option to the Republican and Democrat polarization, I might look into property in Mexico or Canada.

Yours truly,

A critical thinker from the United States of America

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Ethan was raised in Maine, Manhattan, and Mendocino, California. Ethan has traveled the world and has been employed as a Private Detective, a dishwasher, a valet, a snowboard instructor and always a poet. Ethan Indigo Smith (more...)
 

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