Liberty Anorexics

This is a posting from a Group I'm in. Enjoy


http://tinyurl.com/yo6me4

March 1, 2008

Please Don't Try to Feed the Liberty Anorexics
by Michael Cloud

In 2000, I traveled with Harry Browne during his Libertarian Party
presidential campaign. One time, I saw something that hooked my curiosity.

After one of Harry Browne's speeches, an audience member criticized Harry
for his position on the War on Drugs.
Harry Browne made a brief, strong, and impassioned case for repealing all
drug laws and ending the Drug War.
The challenger was unfazed. He responded, "I don't care what you say. You
can't make me change my mind. I hate drugs. I want to keep them illegal. I
want to punish people who sell them, buy them, and use them."
What's going on here? I thought. I considered several possibilities, but
nothing really clicked. So I filed it away.
I recently watched a TV broadcast of a free market economist giving a speech
and then answering questions from members of the audience.
One of the questioners vigorously argued for raising minimum wages.
The free market economist quickly offered statistics, evidence, and argument
in favor of repealing minimum wage laws. He ended his remarks by saying,
"Minimum wage laws increase minority unemployment. They make things worse
for the very people you're trying to help."
"I don't care what your facts and figures and research show," said the
questioner. "Anyone can prove anything. Raising the minimum wage sends a
message. I want higher minimum wages."
I flashed on my earlier experience with Harry Browne -- and realized what
was going on.

Liberty anorexia.

Anorexia is a condition where a person has little or no appetite -- and an
aversion to food.
If some human beings can have a condition that causes them to not want food,
to be revulsed and repelled by food, and to avoid eating -- then mightn't it
be possible that there are people who do not want freedom, who are revulsed
and repelled by it, and who avoid and reject freedom?

Liberty anorexics.

What if there are people who do not want liberty? What if they don't want
freedom -- even if it makes almost everyone much better off? What if -- no
matter what benefits liberty creates -- they still do not want it, are
repelled by it, and avoid it?
If you're like me, your first reaction to the idea of liberty anorexia is to
reject it. To think it impossible. But is it any more impossible than food
anorexia?
Maybe your second reaction will be to think: "They ought to want liberty."
Or: "They ought to be receptive and responsive to evidence and argument and
reason." Or: "They ought to be teachable or persuadable about freedom."
Please remember: "Ought to be" ain't "is." Things are what they are. Water's
wet. Wind blows. Gravity doesn't play favorites.
Maybe you've been in a few conversations with liberty anorexics. Maybe you
did *not* fail to convince them. Maybe they were impervious to persuasion.
Depending on how tightly you define food anorexia, it afflicts somewhere
between 1 in 30 1 and 1 in 1,000 people.
I suspect that liberty anorexia afflicts and affects a larger percentage of
the population.
Often, we can identify liberty anorexics by using "The Magic 'If'" technique
that I teach in my book Secrets of Libertarian Persuasion.

A few examples.
"If you looked at the evidence on the Drug War, and concluded that it didn't
work and made things worse, would that change your mind on ending drug
prohibition?"
"What if you carefully examined the facts and figures on the War on Drugs,
and you personally saw that it was a dismal failure -- if that happened,
would you consider ending it?"
Or:
"If you looked over the strongest arguments and evidence for minimum wage
laws, and you saw -- with your own eyes -- that it destroyed jobs for
minorities, and increased minority unemployment, would that change you mind
about minimum wage laws?"
"You tell me that all your friends support minimum wage laws. I accept that.
But if they were mistaken, if they were in error, if minimum wage laws made
things worse for low income Americans, would you want to know? If there were
evidence available, would you be willing to read it with an open mind?"
If they answer "Yes," then get them the information they need. If they
answer "Maybe," ask them what else they need to know to turn their maybe
into a "Yes."
But if they answer "No," they may well be liberty anorexics. If they answer
"No," move on to another topic or another person.

Please don't try to feed the liberty anorexics.



Viva Liberty!