Have a Joyous Holiday

My family celebrates both Christmas and Solstice. We do so because those are the winter holidays that speak to us. We celebrate each holiday for our own reasons, and in our own way.

We celebrate Solstice because it reminds us that better things are coming.There is an end to the darkness, and light is just around the corner. For us "light"means different things each year. Last year, it was a reminder that my husband would not be out of work for ever. He was laid off around Thanksgiving and celebrating the coming longer days and increased light helped us to remain positive and hope for the best, and work toward finding the greatest good that could come out of the situation. This year, Solstice meant planning to meet our dreams, and achieve our goals in 2015. This year, Solstice for me was a reminder that I can, and should, make the changes to our family routine so that I can focus more on my writing and chase my dream to publish a novel. I gave up novel writing a long time ago in favor of writing non-fiction in order to provide for my family as a divorced mom. I've been remarried for roughly 10 years, and our youngest child is 9. Solstice this year reminded me that it's okay for me to write fiction and chase my dreams. This year, celebrating the light meant acknowledging and celebrating the good things that are on the horizon for my family.

When we celebrate Christmas my family is celebrating peace, hope, family, and our children. For us, it's a time to come together from all over the country to celebrate what holds us together - Love, care, concern, and trust. We do that in the traditional manner, Christmas tree, Lights, Christmas carols,  and gifts on Christmas Day. Family, both biological and chosen, celebrate together. We don't donate or volunteer as part of our Christmas celebrations because we do both regularly, and often, throughout the year. Donating and volunteering are simply part of our lifestyle,  so we feel no need to make special efforts around the holidays. Doing so would add stress and busyness to what I feel should be relaxing and fun.

Many years ago, I decided to stop serving the holidays I celebrate, and instead allow the holidays to serve my purposes. We must remember that holidays are created by humans, and as such have the job of serving us. So many people go about the holiday season trying to  "do the holiday perfectly" that they forget what they are celebrating. In the mad rush to buy the right presents, or the personal stress to celebrate Christmas "correctly," they forget what and why they are celebrating. Maybe you celebrate a deeply religious Christmas, do you really think Jesus wants you to stress yourself out in celebrating His birthday? I did not,which is why I changed my focus at Christmastime.

What does this have to do with Libertarianism? Libertarianism is all about live and let live. It's about doing what is right for you and your family without trying to impede other's rights and abilities to do the same. Libertarianism is about living your life, on your terms, in your way, and respecting when other people do the same.  I think Christmas is the perfect reminder of that way of life.

Merry Christmas , everyone.

Holiday Greetings

I've never understood why people make an issue of how holiday greetings are uttered. If a person says Blessed Solstice to me, and I don't celebrate Solstice, I simply take the greeting in the way it was intended. "Have a good holiday" If  someone  says Merry Christmas to you, and you don't celebrate Christmas, it should not be a big deal. Accept the good wishes and move on with your life.

It seems to me that we, as a country, are too easily offended. I mean, seriously, why get offended when a person wishes you well? It doesn't matter if you celebrate the same holiday, or no holiday at all. The intended message is "go forth and be happy." Every December, people argue over what the "appropriate holiday greeting" should be. The "politically correct" insist we should all say "Happy Holidays," while the Christians complain they are being discriminated against because people don't say "Merry Christmas," Jewish people feel uncomfortable wishing people a "Happy Hanukkah," and people who celebrate Solstice and Kwanzaa, and those who don't celebrate usually say nothing for fear of being ridiculed.

Why? The holiday you celebrate is between you, your family, and your God. It's nobody else's concern. Does that mean we should all use "Happy Holidays" to avoid offending anyone? Absolutely not. Each person is free to speak the holiday greeting of their choice to whomever they wish. It's the responsibility of the recipient of the greeting to have the maturity to accept with dignity, grace, and respect.

What does this have to do with Libertarianism? Some would say nothing. But, to me, our country's obsession over which holiday greeting is "correct" is part of what is wrong. People are too busy minding each other's business to properly take care of their own. If we all paid attention to our own lives, and strove to personally live up to our beliefs -whether those beliefs are religious or secular in nature, nobody would have the time to worry about things that don't concern them.

Thank you to Floy Lilly for this great resource on economics

Amanda BillyRock 07 June 2013 Economics In One Lesson Chapter 1 050

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uj2FZ7gKdI

Personal Responsibility

I'm not an expert on Libertarian thought. I'm the first to admit that. Truthfully, I had never even heard of Libertarians before I met my husband. Nor did I care about politics, elections, or any of the hot debate topics of the time. I really just wanted to be left alone to live my life, homeschool, and raise my kids in peace. I was a divorced mother of 3, working my tail off to educate, raise and support myself and my children the best that I could. I wasn't on any sort of public assistance. We probably qualified, but I never applied because I believed it was my responsibility to support my kids, not the government's.

I worked crappy hours at a job I loved, and supplemented that income with my writing. Many times I lived on 3 or 4 hours of sleep. I homeschooled, and parented, my kids during the day, and worked at night when they were sleeping, and when babysitters were cheaper. It was not an easy life. But it was worth it.

Later, when I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, I sought out non-medical, "alternative" treatments. I wasn't happy with the options the medical establishment offered me. Modern medicine was unwilling to look at why I was having these symptoms; it was only concerned with medicating them. I wanted to understand why my body was not working properly, and learn what I could to do fix it.

I've always believed that it is my responsibility to care for myself and my family, and to support those things which I believe deserve supporting. To that end,I research products before I purchase them. I try to research where a company spends it's donation dollars. What causes, and principles does the company stand for? To me, those things are as important as the quality of the product or service that company sells. When a person spends money, they are supporting not only the product they buy, but the store they buy it from. Understanding this concept is part of being an informed consumer. I don't believe it's the government's job to regulate businesses. If people act as responsible consumers, and learn about the company they are supporting with their money, then the free market will take care of the irresponsible companies, the dishonest companies,and the badly managed companies. Government regulations can't do those things. The power of responsible buying/volunteering/donating/working  (also known as the free market) can.

I get irritated when I hear people cry out for more government regulation. No matter what the topic is, the problem can be solved by the free market. If you don't like the way company X treats a certain class of people, then don't buy their products, don't volunteer there, don't donate money to company X, or any company who contributes to company X, and certainly don't work there. Find a company that treats people they way you want to see them treated and then support that company. If enough people feel as you do then company X will cease to exist due to lack of support and the other company will thrive. If company X continues on, then maybe your "issue" with them isn't as important as you believe.

Personal responsibility covers a huge number of things. It is taking responsibility for yourself, your family, your community and  your world while understanding that the only thing you really have control over is your own actions. It's being responsible for yourself, and allowing everyone around you to be responsible for themselves, even when you disagree.

If more people practiced personal responsibility instead of trying to force their opinions on others, our world, and this country would be a much more accepting place.

Libertarianism 101: The Non-Aggression Principle

Libertarianism 101:  The Non-Aggression Principle

By Allan Davis, Jr

The NAP--Non Aggression Principle--lies at the heart of libertarianism.

The NAP is very simple. It says that no one has the right to initiate aggression against another person.  Aggression is defined as you might expect; anything that hurts someone--assault, rape, murder, theft, etc, all fall under the definition.

Notice that there’s nothing in here about self defense.  Libertarianism is not pacifism.  In other words, libertarians are not allowed to start fights--but they are perfectly entitled to finish them.  You have the right to life, which means you have the right to defend yourself.

That’s it, in a nutshell.  You are not allowed to attack someone, or rob them, or anything, and you are allowed to defend yourself, your property, or other people against aggression.

So, then, why does libertarianism have a bad reputation?

Let’s answer that question with another question.  What is the magic number?

In other words, how many people does it take for the rule to go away?  How many people do you have to have on your side to make it okay to initiate aggression against someone?  Three friends?  A simple majority of the town?  Fifty-one percent of the national population?  535 votes?

None of the above.

No matter how many people agree that it’s okay to steal a person’s property, it’s not okay.  Even if you can get fifty one percent of the population to agree with you that someone needs to give up his money, or his land, or his property, or his life, that doesn’t change the fact of “initiating aggression,” and doesn’t make it right.

That’s the key factor of libertarianism.  Might most definitely does not make right, even when that might is defined by population, or government, or law, or tradition, or anything else.  Theft is theft.  Aggression is aggression.

And that’s where libertarianism gets a bad reputation.  We have all been raised to believe that government is a good thing; it protects us from ourselves and each other.

At the same time, government is aggression, by any metric.  Government has the power to steal from us (in Eminent Domain, Civil Asset Forfeiture, and even taxes).  Government has the power to cage us (for any of a countless number of offenses, many of which harm no one).  Government has the power to kill us.

And government has to have these powers.  Government wouldn’t be government if it was run on donations instead of taxes, and it wouldn’t be an effective government if it couldn’t hand down punishments for breaking the rules.

Libertarians are, for the most part, the only people asking these questions:

• How much government is too much?
• Should government have all of the powers it has?
• Is government really necessary?
• Is democracy a good thing?

Hopefully, this lays out a solid foundation for discussing libertarianism in general.  Thanks for reading.  Please feel free to suggest topics for more Libertarianism 101 articles in the comments below.

Hello, and Welcome!

Welcome to The Everyday Libertarian. Over the past several months, I've seen many people comment on Facebook, in email, and on message boards that they would like to learn about the Libertarian viewpoint. These same people have said that they feel the majority of Libertarian writers don't talk to the common person. They feel the writers are stuffy academics who only talk to each other, and have forgotten to speak to the average person.

I'm here to fill that gap.

The goal of this blog is to talk about Libertarian principles as they relate to the every day lives of the average American.