Finding Freedom in an Unfree World

Orlando, FL

January 22, 2023

“When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.”

– Edmund Burke

A quarter century ago, Harry Browne wrote a wonderful book about how to attain liberty in an ocean of hostility.

Since the publication of How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World – and particularly the last three years – ramparts have risen around allowable activities and permissible opinion. The ruling “elite” has circled the wagons, treating dissenting views like hard liquor at a Mecca Mosque.

But some unapproved thoughts can’t be corked. This weekend, many of them poured into Orlando like a contrarian cocktail…served straight up, and garnished with smiles.

My bearings have always been traditional, and somewhat “fringe”. I think people should be left alone, free to raise their kids as they prefer, to spend their money as they wish, speak their mind as they must, and stay silent if they like.

But these days, such “extreme” perspectives are rarely permitted. Technocratic meddlers decide what drugs are compulsory, what foods we’re forbidden, and which fuels are off limits.

As the ideological “center” has drifted further to sea, those craving normality are left on an island, scouring the horizon for a rescue raft. Last year, it appeared. 

Over twenty years ago, I discovered Tom Woods…professional historian, prolific author, and peruser of economics “in his spare time.” During the previous decade, I’d delved into Traditional Catholicism. Around the turn of the century, I found Woods’s writing at Seattle Catholic. 

His essays were compelling, and prompted me to subscribe to Latin Mass magazine. Not long after, I read The Church Confronts Modernity (his PhD dissertation published as a book) and The Great Façade, a critique of the modern Church written with Chris Ferrara. 

I’d found a Catholic compatriot. But I soon realized our secular spirits were kindred too. Years before, while living in San Francisco, I worked for Pat Buchanan’s first presidential campaign. 

After I joined, the first person I met was Justin Raimondo. 

I had no idea who he was. But he greeted me as if I’d known him forever. Chain-smoking cigarettes behind a rickety table, he welcomed me to the team and began talking up Buchanan. 

And he wouldn’t stop. 

I needed no convincing. Pat was one of my heroes. His autobiography Right from the Beginning was what first pulled me toward Traditional Catholicism and the conservative cause. 

When he announced for president, I was already on board. Within weeks, I was in New Hampshire. Somehow, on my first day there, I made my way onto Buchanan’s bus. 

Riding around the state, I sat between Pat and his wife, Shelley, as they discussed what he would say at each stop. After that primary, I followed the campaign to Georgia, where I again finagled a seat aboard the Buchanan bus.

As we rode from Lawrenceville to Marietta, Pat expressed gratitude for a supportive article written by Lew Rockwell. It was the first time I’d heard that name. But when I read his piece, I was immediately hooked.

I was familiar with Murray Rothbard. As I researched Rockwell, I learned how they’d worked together to found the Mises Institute to honor the memory of that remarkable man.

Living in San Francisco, I began to frequent Laissez-Faire Books, which sold a wide collection of writings by neglected economists in the classical tradition or the Austrian school.

Rothbard and Mises were all over the shelves. And the room abounded in an assortment of thinkers in the free market mold. Within weeks, my apartment filled with works by Menger, Bastiat, Böhm-Bawerk, and Say.

It was exhilarating, like acquiring secret knowledge from an abandoned oracle. I felt as if I’d joined an underground club, a hidden network of daring dissidents. 

As my exploration expanded, my subscriptions did too. A few years earlier, I wet my feet with a weekly compilation called The Conservative Chronicles. This publication reprinted syndicated columns by such writers as Pat Buchanan, Walter Williams, Thomas Sowell, Joe Sobran, Bill Rusher, and William F. Buckley.

The Soviet Union had recently collapsed, taking with it the Cold War unity of the conservative cause. Inclining toward the “paleo” proclivities of the Buchanan cohort, I soon stumbled upon Chronicles magazine.

I read that publication for years, and began to notice articles by the Traditional Catholic I’d recently discovered. Upon reading his essays, I realized Tom Woods and I shared not only religious belief, but political perspective.

I started seeing Woods’s writing on LewRockwell.com and Mises.org. I bought his books and watched his videos. When he launched his podcast, I was among his initial listeners…and remained there since.

Tom Woods is a terrific communicator. He conveys complicated material in a comprehensible manner. But the last few years, he realized sharing ideas wasn’t enough. 

The Covid Regime was a cultural Rubicon. Traditional thought and free market philosophy has been ridiculed for years. But with the onset of biomedical surveillance, “woke” regimentation, and climate catastrophism, our ideological adversaries have resorted to outright assault. Tho’ alleviated by strategic retreats, the onslaught has been severe, and relentless. 

So what to do? Should we try to defy or admit defeat? Raise a white flag or hoist a sovereign standard? 

In times like this, it’s natural to be discouraged. But, as Woods put it Friday, we mustn’t be discouraging. Yet far too many of us are, which is exactly how our enemies want us. 

They want us demoralized. If we think there’s no hope of victory, we’ll be resigned to defeat. And we’ll join our assailants trying to convince those who persevere that they’re wasting their time. Why struggle to be free when you’re fated to be fettered? It’s easier to mind your masters and do what your told.

But we’re most often shackled by our own chains. Not every blocked portal is a permanent prison. Just because doors slam in our face doesn’t mean we can’t pick the locks. 

Last year, Tom Woods created a key. “The School of Life” is a community of determined people reclaiming control of their lives. For many of them, the last few years have been depressingly disturbing. Many made medical decisions that cost them careers, had children sacrificed on the altar of “The Science”, or are merely weary of walking thru a world of eggshells. 

They’re sick of arbitrary restrictions and debilitating decrees. But they’re more tired of complaining about them. They want to do something, and many of them are. 

This weekend, several speakers told us how. We heard practical advice on how to start a business, and to reduce our taxes. We discovered creative options for ecommerce or “guerrilla” marketing, alternative techniques to invest in real estate, and successful tactics for effective persuasion. We received personal fitness tips from a weight-lifting professional, and ideas for political resistance from a young mother who’s successfully curtailed tyranny in a “Blue” state.

But mostly, we made new friends among like minds. Not that we all share the same opinions. But we appreciate a place where what were recently “normal” perspectives can comfortably be shared. And we’ll continue to do so, regardless the hostilities the world might present.

In an unfree world, liberty may be locked. But it’s nice to be reminded that we have the key.

JD