Consider your “natural rights.” Jefferson codified these as “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” More specifically, your natural rights include all those listed in the Bill of Rights, plus rights that haven’t been enumerated because they’re so obvious as to obviate that need (the 9th Amendment covers those). Freedom of speech, the press, religion, assembly, our rights when dealing with the legal system (no self-incrimination, no excessive bail or cruel and unusual punishment, protection from unreasonable search, trial by jury, etc), the right to bear arms, indictment, etc), protection of private property from public seizure, and so forth all derive from “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Inherent in our natural rights is the notion that we own ourselves and have sole authority over actions we choose to take. And, in order to effect and exercise such ownership, there must be the right of self-defense, the right to move about as we wish, the right to own that which we produce, and the right to be left alone.
Consider, though, the state of modern society. In order to assemble in a public space in numbers that exceed some number established by a politician, one needs to secure permission (i.e. make a case for why you want to assemble and be granted a permit). If you want to travel via air, you need permission from the TSA (you’re not on some “no-fly” list they’ve created and maintain in secret, with little recourse for those who are on it) and you have to agree to forego your Fourth Amendment Rights in order to be allowed to fly. In many states, if you want to carry a handgun for personal protection, you need the government’s permission. And, if you defend yourself with a weapon that the government has disallowed, you’re in trouble.
Recently, there has been noise in Congress about creating a definition of who qualifies as “the press,” so as to limit the protections the press has away from bloggers. In other words, if you want to exercise freedom of the press, you have to ask the government to declare you as “press.” This last idea has stalled, fortunately, but don’t expect it to go away quietly.
Consider what you eat and drink. Again, “permission” permeates that part of your life. There are many things you’re not permitted to eat, many more that you can only eat if you jump through certain hoops, and that’s not even getting into the realms of pharmacology or recreational drugs. Want cheese made from unpasteurized milk? Want to buy raw milk in a supermarket? Want muffins baked with trans fats in NY City?
Then there’s alcohol. Anyone who wants to sell it to you needs permission from the government to do so (permission that costs a lot and is often subject to the whims of bureaucrats and local community boards). And, if you want to make your own – well, they “allow” you to make beer and wine at home, but if you want to distill, you need a license from the government (even for personal consumption).
Consider, next, the realm of economic liberty, a liberty that’s been beaten down to near-nothingness. Want to work for someone on terms that you both agree to but that run afoul of one of thousands of labor laws? Nope. Want to apprentice for someone (free labor in exchange for skills learned)? Sorry. Want to make and sell caskets in Louisiana? You need a mortuary with an embalming room and a license to embalm. Want to be an interior designer in Connecticut, Florida, Oklahoma, New Mexico or Texas? Get a permit. Want to braid hair in Utah? Take 2000 hours of cosmetology training. Want to help people prepare tax returns? Get IRS permission. Want to sell lemonade in New York city? Get ready for, at the very minimum, a couple months of dealing with bureaucracies before you sell your first cup.
When the government decides you need its permission to exercise your rights, you no longer actually have them. Your liberty, the very premise under which you live and thrive, is only what the government allows. To presume that we live in a “free” society when we need permission to do so many of the things that inhere naturally from a basic premise of liberty and self-ownership is to stretch the term “free” beyond recognition. As the great comedian Bill Hicks so aptly stated:
Here you go America – you are free to do as well tell you!
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