This article is about the insights given to us about democracy, totalitarianism, decentralization, self-government, war, and power in the writings of Aldous Huxley. HIs insights into the true nature of the government, the threats in levels at the basic human rights and dignity of the individual, the origin of those threats, and what to do in order to end those dangers and reassert our essential humanity and liberties are herein. If you thought you understood Huxley after reading, “Brave New World,” that was just the tip of the iceberg compared to what else he wrote. Dive deeper with this article.
Tag: freedom
Great Profiles in Courage: Mary Dyer Executed for Religious Liberty
Mary Dyer is one of the greatest examples of true Christianity in American history. A member of the Society of Friends, a Quaker, she stood up against one of the most authoritarian and autocratic societies to ever exist in North America, the Puritan ran Massachusetts Bay Colony. While plenty of people talk about liberty and religious freedom, Mary did more than talk – she lived and died asserting her basic human rights in the face of a brutalist and oppressive society that would deny her basic rights because of her faith. She is a shining example of what it means to love liberty more than life and what it means to truly live pure Christianity. Her example is a righteous example to us all.
The Place of Politics in the Church
This Lost LDS Classic looks at the role of partisan politics (loyalty to political parties) and nationalism play in the role of Latter-day Saint culture and religious practice. The political divisions in the church are both bothersome and poisonous. The Body of Christ, the Kingdom of God, should not be divided by the political ideologies of the world. The more we allow ourselves to be defined by our politics – as “liberal” Mormons, “conservative” Mormons, etc. – the more we weaken ourselves, disrupt our Christian unity, and weaken our ability to establish Zion and do the work that God has given us. Nationalism and political partisanship have no place in the Kingdom of God and the sooner we drive them from our hearts and minds the more we become Saints of the Most High God and true Brothers and Sisters in Christ.
Not Amnesty But Prison For The COVID Tyrants
The last few years have been utterly devastating for the entire world. In response to the appearance of Covid-19, the governments of the world asserted insane, unconstitutional, illegal, and immoral powers to seize control of every aspect of society, imprison entire populations of provinces, states, and nations in their homes as if they were criminals under house arrest, to irrationally determine who could work, who couldn’t, and who had to starve, prevent people from going to church, seeing their loved ones, or being with their families, and cause such mass hysteria and fear that society turned on itself in fits of outrage, hate, and self-destruction. The end results of all this were utterly predictable and were reported on endlessly by many people, including those of us here. Now the monsters, fools, and tyrants that wreaked all this havoc simply want you to forgive and forget what they have done. We cannot let that happen!
Socialism is Slavery In All But Name
George Fitzhugh was one of the most influential defenders of slavery in the United States before the Civil War. A severe critic of human liberty and a free society, Fitzhugh argued that wage labor was worse than slavery and that a capitalist society did nothing but lead to the suffering and death for the millions of laborers of lived in it. In his book, “Sociology for the South,” Fitzhugh addresses the similarities between slavery and Socialism/Communism. He explains all the ways that slavery fulfills the promises and goals of Socialism, how the Socialist rejection of a free society inevitably leads to slavery, and how Socialism is the form of slavery that free societies invent to solve the ills of capitalism while still pretending to be free. As shown herein, Fitzhugh clearly explains that Socialism isn’t merely like slavery. Socialism *is* slavery and slavery *is* Socialism in very form and deed, in every way but in the usage of the word itself.
Music For The Revolution, Volume 1: The Mixtape of Liberty
In church we are taught that the songs of the righteous are a prayer to God that He delights in hearing. (D&C 25:11–12) Elder Dallin H. Oaks has taught that because of the power of music to direct our thoughts is so strong we should memorize hymns as a way to move our minds away from sinful and temptuous thoughts and as a way to better learn and understand the doctrines of the Restored Gospel.
The same is true when it comes to promoting the ideas and values of liberty. f we want to buttress the message and values of liberty within ourselves, our homes, our families, our children, and our friendships, we have to be more conscious about which kind of music we are listening to and willfully choose to immerse ourselves in the songs of freedom which promote liberty and avoid music that encourages ideas of subservience to people, organizations, substances, and ideas that weaken and destroy our humanity and liberty (for you cannot do the one without the other.)
In an effort to do this I thought I would share some of the music that I regularly play, music which embraces and promotes the ideals of liberty, freedom, and the worth of the individual. That way you too can fill your home with the doctrines, values, and spirit of liberty.
President Biden’s Vaccine Mandates Have Been Smashed In The Courts
On Sept. 9, 2021, US President Joe Biden imperiously declared that his “patience is wearing thin” with those Americans who were not yet vaccinated. That same day he issued his first vaccine mandate with two others following in November of 2021. By December 2021 they would all be struck down by the courts, with judges ruling they were inept, nonsensical, unworkable, and – most importantly – deeply unconstitutional as they violated the separation of power and allowed the President sweeping illegal powers if allowed to continue. Here I explain these rulings and how they help us to truly understand exactly what the law is and how it functions, something too many are sadly ignorant about. These mandates are an attack on the basic ideals of individualism and democracy and a threat to the rule of law. Disobedience to them is not disobedience to the law, but preservation of it in the face of illegal power grabs by the US President.
The Christian Origins of Individual Freedom
What does it mean to be free? How do you protect liberty? What role, if any, does the government and/or religion play in liberty, either in protecting it or degrading it? These are important questions that we need the answers to if we are to realize our potential as individuals and peoples. In order to understand what freedom is, how we gain it, how we preserve it, and how to increase it in the future, we must know the history of the ideas of liberty. All of those things is what this article is all about.
The Best Version of the “Battle Hymn of The Republic”
In many churches in America, you’ll find the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” -a song that glorifies war and nationalism- sung as part of worshipping the Prince of Peace. It is incongruous with the purpose of Christian worship at best and blasphemous at worst. Yet many love it because it is such a stirring and triumphant sounding song. Luckily, there is a better option which both maintains the tune and brings the song’s message more in line with Gospel truths.
Universal Imprisonment on Independence Day
American Independence Day, a day in which Americans are supposed to declare their liberation from an overweening British state that sought to turn them into servile prisoners in their own lands dawns this year with the American public facing mass imprisonment in their own states, cities, and homes. Convicted of no crime, facing no accusations, merely upon the declaration of those in power, tens of millions of Americans have been placed under house arrest and threatened with both life shattering fines and life ending violence if they disobey. If America ever needed a new declaration of liberation, today is that day.