Addressing Moral Character

I was reading Lawrence Reeds Are We Good Enough For Liberty and something hit me as a profound thought I have been neglecting for some time. He says, “What those Founders were getting at is the notion that liberty is built upon the ability of a society to govern itself, without government intervention. This ability to self-govern is itself built upon – you guessed it- Individual Character.”

I do think this is an important part of self-governance and self-rule, to hold character that would be not harmful to any other man around you, so that no outside governance would be needed. But that is not how our society is, is it? Most would say no, and most would give plenty of reason why they would believe that, but many would also neglect to mention their own fear of what they would do without some sort of governing body telling them what is right and wrong and punishing them for their own transgressions.

Along these line Jeffrey Tuckers recent article in FEE’s (Foundation for Economic Education) publication The Freeman titled “Against Libertarian Brutalism” has caused a giant storm of backlash on what I see as a quite ironic misunderstanding. Mr. Tucker’s words reflected what I think is seen as a negative to the furtherance of the message of liberty. There are those that would use the idea of freedom to pursue name calling, derogatory messages or bullying in their words. When approached as being mean, insensitive or slightly ignorant in their choice they throw out, “I am free to do it” and right they would be in that aspect, but being right and having moral character enough not to do it are two entirely different things.  There are also those that use their freedom to help others, to further a recognition of what freedom can bring, to educate others that the ugliness we see doesn't have to remain, if only those with virtue and character step forward to the light and to do what needs to be done whether someone I watching or not.

I myself have had this run in on local Facebook forums and pages. Recently a “Leader” of a Young Republicans group began insulting those he disagreed with by calling them “retards” and Paultards”. When I pointed it out to him, and the rest of the silent group, I was attacked as if I was trying to silence him, to restrict his speech, but this was not the case. My point was to get him to understand that the words he has effects and to call anyone by those names is absolutely unacceptable in my eyes. He continued to assault me with constant derogatory names and continued to threaten me. I sent the National Group of the Young Republicans a screenshot of the conversation between him and I and simply stated that it may be of some interest to them that their local representation acts like this. No call for removal, no call to silence, no muting him, just that they should be aware. Apparently they contacted him quite quickly and he increased his assault on the online thread we had begun.  To make this shorter I can say I was removed from this group and it is for the best. It was a good lesson for me that even I had used those exact same words in a derogatory manner before, but I have progressed since then.

I think what counts in the end is to be able to look back and say that you have learned from your behavior, both bad and good, and have made amends to those who hurt, helped those you can and to live a life worth mention in some way to someone.

I think that individual character has a lot to do with individual liberty, and I think that the more people that embrace this idea the better the world can become. Mr. Reed sums it up quite well on the back cover of his book, “Without character, a free society is not just unlikely…. It is impossible.”