People only thrive when ?absolutely free?

To the editor:

My public relations friend Marc thought my letter of Sept. 22 [?Paul devoted to freedom of individual?] remained unclear regarding Ron Paul as a representative of natural law. I solved the problem by making clear how the nature of the mind itself calls for a freedom philosophy as follows.

Every man is an island unto himself. Even if false spiritually, this is true mentally, because we cannot know someone else?s mind. Everyone lives in his own subjective world. Therefore, each of us defines his outer world. (The denial of this truth is authoritarianism.) Even if we acknowledge objective authority, our use of that authentic knowledge is decided by our own mind, our subjectivity. Therefore, since subjectivity and objectivity comprehend all of knowledge, subjectivity is the only basis of objectivity.

Therefore, each of us defines his altruism in terms of his subjective self. The objective hero, the mother, and the philanthropist all get rewarded internally. They are heroes to themselves. Even sacrificing one?s life for others comes from the thought, ?I?: ?I love him.? ?I can?t let her die.? ?I can?t let those people suffer.? The hero gives his life for self-image. Like that, if motives are altruistic, they are self-interested. If they are self-interested they are also self-interested. Therefore, all motives are self-interested.

Furthermore, our mental isolation means that no one can help us better than ourselves. Of course we need help from others, but the value of gifts or contracts is always measured internally. No one else can define what another wants and, ultimately, needs. This is why government redistribution of wealth is materialistic. Impersonal rewards make us lazy in evaluating what we can contribute and achieve both as individuals and in particular circumstances. Freedom, on the other hand, both forces and allows the individual to reward himself through his internal conditions and external circumstances ? the only humanly normal inputs.

If self-interest is the only motive and only the individual can competently decide for himself, freedom from government meddling optimizes value. It defines wealth.

Gifting and trading extend our self-interest. This defines society because voluntary cooperation multiplies the self-interest and competence of the autonomous individual. This humaneness, then, is the basic element of economies. It is the permutations and combinations of this sacred being seeking his own fulfillment which gives rise to the objective statistics and the objective science of economics. Subjective valuation underlays the Principle of Marginal Utility, the basis of Ron Paul?s Austrian economics.

Social engineers, bureaucrats, politicians, and academics ignore this subjective fundamental. They inhumanly treat us as economic and social objects. Rather, we are the mysterious engines of life who only thrive when absolutely free. John Locke, Thomas Jefferson, and Ron Paul are wrong that crushing the individual a little by limited government will elevate him a lot. The anti-individual nature of government, increasingly over time, destroys possibilities that are privately within and locally about us. Government unconditionally threatens everyone creating a dull and fearful society. An anarchistic society would be unpredictable and glorious.

? Jon Kelly Kirkpatrick, Fairfield