American Contempt for Liberty

Throughout history, personal liberty, free markets, and peaceable, voluntary exchanges have been roundly denounced by tyrants and often greeted with suspicion by the general public. Unfortunately, argues Dr. Walter E. Williams, Americans have increasingly accepted the tyrannical ideas of reduced private property rights and reduced rights to profits, and have become enamored with restrictions on personal liberty and control by government.



Skip to 2:00 where his talk actually begins.

There is much wisdom in the words of Walter Williams.

Im not american, should I watch this?

लिखा द्वारा Palm r11, 22.01.2020 at 22:17

Im not american, should I watch this?

Yes, but only if you want to gain wisdom

लिखा द्वारा Palm r11, 22.01.2020 at 22:17

Im not american, should I watch this?

I watched everything, with 1.5x speed, and I'm not American and I agree with what Dave said

लिखा द्वारा Abraham, 22.01.2020 at 22:59

I watched everything, with 1.5x speed

I never knew you could change the playback speed on youtube...

Just figured out how to do that... learning new things every day here

लिखा द्वारा Dave, 23.01.2020 at 01:10

लिखा द्वारा Abraham, 22.01.2020 at 22:59

I watched everything, with 1.5x speed

I never knew you could change the playback speed on youtube...

Just figured out how to do that... learning new things every day here

Every day we learn something new

This is one of the good features of YouTube I really like it it helps me watch long videos in half the time sometimes.

Watched the entire thing on x1.75 speed

Watched it on 0.25x because I have too much free time.

I watched it on 2x speed and my brain retained every tidbit of information

लिखा द्वारा Dave, 23.01.2020 at 01:10

My greatest issue with the Left is how they've hijacked the word "freedom." They conflate freedom with wealth. My understanding of freedom says otherwise; my understanding says that freedom is not an exchangeable good or service—government cannot confer freedom on its people, because at that point freedom no longer exists and is instead replaced by one's dependence on another entity, which in this case is government. Just because someone has a lot of money, that doesn't mean he's free. Freedom exists in nature, whereas wealth does not—wealth is merely property; one can be enslaved and still retain the property of his own body, his clothes, or his books.

Therefore, freedom is by nature negative—a fact that we must accept. To be free may mean freedom to starve, to make a costly mistake, or to take risks; a homeless person could be more free than a conscripted soldier with all his security and relative comfort. Freedom becomes positive only through what we make of it, which means that the negative nature of freedom does not take away from its value. Of course, this notion of freedom must only apply to able-bodied men and women. Extenuating circumstances exempt those who cannot escape the negative nature of freedom, in which case government is obliged to intervene (e.g., mental or physical handicap).

The Left conflates freedom with wealth and would rather have a society of slaves than a society of free men, able to pursue such wealth. I have no sympathy for those in poverty who are able-bodied and have faced no disincentive, besides their incentive to not work and instead reap the benefits of welfare.

I go to private university in America, I'm a freshman, and I know better than anyone else about what's going on. Besides this seriously misguided understanding of freedom that they all knowingly or unknowingly adhere to, the reason they adhere to it, among other issues, is because it's easy. They act on emotional impulse instead of reason. They only focus on outcome rather than the many variables involved in creating such outcome.

I don't have a lot of time to write posts anymore, otherwise I would have written several thousand words in response to the situation in Iran. However, I might post a more in-depth argument later after some reflection.

लिखा द्वारा Tribune Aquila, 23.01.2020 at 09:13

You're from the us, right? Is this "Left" you talk about just from social media and mainstream news? Or is it really going through every Americans head? The worker down the train station or the man in the shop over there or up there?

Over where I am there are bits of the "Left", but we all know they're a bit mad and Radical, so our mainstream TV does an alright job at covering both sides. Is it really not like that over in the US? Or is the "Left" and "Right" thing dragged out over there?

लिखा द्वारा DeepFriedUnicorn, 23.01.2020 at 17:06

लिखा द्वारा Tribune Aquila, 23.01.2020 at 09:13

You're from the us, right? Is this "Left" you talk about just from social media and mainstream news? Or is it really going through every Americans head? The worker down the train station or the man in the shop over there or up there?

Over where I am there are bits of the "Left", but we all know they're a bit mad and Radical, so our mainstream TV does an alright job at covering both sides. Is it really not like that over in the US? Or is the "Left" and "Right" thing dragged out over there?

If you've ever been to a public or private university in America you'd see that almost every professor and student is on the Left, that is, the radical Left. They comprise at least 40% of the Democratic party, which is about 20% of Americans.

I will watch this when I have time. But if there's no freedom in the US, where we will find it?

US is a benchmark of freedom, a blessed land...not without issues, but it is what it is.