Over the last several years I have been searching for a way to articulate my own philosophy of life. I’ve been able to explain it to myself fairly often, but I also often struggle to explain it to my children and grandchildren. My wonderful mother once told me that I don’t have to explain it; I just have to set the right example. For years I’ve taken the easy way out and have tried to just that. However, by profession I’m a teacher and trainer. Teachers and trainers also have to be able to describe actions and processes so students can do the same. I guess it’s time for me to get off my ass and do just that.
In general, I’m a libertarian (small L). In my opinion, the current Libertarian Party does not have a feasible foreign policy; else I’d register to vote Libertarian. However, they don’t so I don’t.
So what is a libertarian? The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy says: “Libertarianism, in the strict sense, is the moral view that agents initially fully own themselves and have certain moral powers to acquire property rights in external things. In a looser sense, libertarianism is any view that approximates the strict view.”[1]
I am an agent in this definition. That means that I own myself. I may have an employer, but I am the one who chooses to follow my employer’s instructions, regulations, policies, etc., or not. I am responsible for my actions. That means I am required to face the consequences of my actions, good or bad.
As a citizen of the United States, and resident of Texas, I have an obligation to obey the laws of my country and my state. I didn’t choose to be born a citizen, but I have accepted that obligation. However, as stated above, I own myself. If I find that a law is too onerous to follow, I may choose to disobey it. And again, I am responsible for my actions so I have to face the consequences of that decision, good or bad. It is what a man does.
I am often accused of being a Conservative (big C). I don’t believe that I am. I actually support the legalization of most, if not all, recreational drugs. Or, at least, treat them the way we do alcohol. A person owns their own body, what they choose to do with it is their business, and their problem. If they hurt someone else while under the influence they must own their actions and face the consequences, and make reparations if possible. If they just abuse their own body, it is not my obligation to pay for their medical treatment. I might do it if they are family, but that should be my choice … the government has no business using my tax dollars to do it.
I am often accused of being insensitive about my social obligations. I often ask just what my “social obligations” are. The response is often some tripe that I have to “care” for other people, or animals, or trees or some-such. Since I must not care about the homeless, or I don’t have consideration for women, or some particular ethnic minority, or snail darter minnows or the conservation of the “rights of Mother Earth”, I don’t have compassion.
This is usually followed by that previously mentioned accusation that I am a Conservative.
What these people are saying is that I don’t meet their ethical standards. And they are right. I don’t believe that most of them have rational standards, so I can’t meet them.
I believe that each human being is a person who owns themself. Animals and trees are not human. They are not sentient. Animals operate by instinct and their evolution. A shark eats. It is not evil. A butterfly flies. It is not an angel. A scorpion stings if disturbed. It doesn’t go out one morning and think, I’m going to cause someone pain today! Animals do what they do.
Trees are beautiful and wondrous things. But they don’t think! People think! (Or they’re supposed to, anyway.)
Part 2. So, back to people.
I believe that each person is an individual. Some have capabilities, mental or physical, that are more or less effective than others. I have been blessed in life because I have had role models who helped guide me to being a man. My parents and grandparents began by teaching me that values are key. Others helped me see that certain values are more important than others. One of the values that has struck me as near the top of the list is respect for competency. Being competent at your job heavily contributes to success at the job. Most of my adult life has been associated with the military. In the US military there developed a culture of strongly pursuing ability and competency to perform the tasks necessary to accomplishing a mission. Of course, this was before affirmative action set in. So, you now think I’m racist?
Soldiers taught me that respect for competency; demonstrated it by leading by example. They gave positive reinforcement to positive behaviors and negative reinforcement to unhelpful behaviors. So, who were those soldiers? I grew up in the 82d Airborne Division in the 70’s. In the early 1970’s there were three US Army divisions that were totally voluntary: the 82nd Airborne Division, the 101st Airborne Division, and the 1st Air Cavalry Division. To join the airborne units, you had to volunteer to go to Airborne School to learn how to jump out of an airplane. The Cav Division was transitioning to airmobile operations and service there was considered extra hazardous. So who volunteered to go to these units? All kinds of men, but interestingly, large numbers of these volunteers were of African-American and Hispanic (mainly Nuevo Yorkaricans) descent. In many cases, these minorities outnumbered the Caucasians by far. In my platoon, most of the noncommissioned officers, and the platoon leader, were Black or Puerto Rican. These were the men who trained and tested me. And their highest demand was that I be competent in my job. They took the time to teach me, to make me practice, and to evaluate my performance. They were the ones who made me a soldier. There was no consideration of my ethnicity; there was only consideration of my performance. I either performed my tasks correctly, or I did not. If I did it correctly, I was rewarded by promotion or additional responsibility. If I did not perform correctly, I was re-trained or required to do more practice until I got it right. Or else, I wasn’t good enough to stay; if that had been the case, they could have kicked me off the island. Certain jobs require people who can DO THE JOB. No “affirmative action”, no “gender-norming”, no “nice try”.
I owe great appreciation, and my life, to the black, brown, red, white and blue US Army veterans of the 1960’s and 70’s. I respect a man or a woman because of the content of their character. I base that determination on their behaviors, their actions. I can’t read their minds, nor do I base my determination on their words alone. Don’t talk – Do!
(Or to paraphrase a great, but short, philosopher: “There is no talk, there is only do.”)
3. Compassion. I’ve found that there are many people in the world, from many countries, who understand what a liberal democracy is supposed to be. Not this semi-socialist dream that American “liberals and progressives” seem to want. I’m not against American liberalism because I’m not compassionate; I’m against it primarily because it is ridiculously unsustainable. They want things to be free. They’ve yet to realize that NOTHING is free! Somehow it has to be paid for. And in many cases they end up mandating my charity. I don’t have a big problem with charity. I’m stingy and selfish, but I sometimes have my charitable moments. However, I DEMAND the right to be charitable on my own terms. It’s MY earnings, dammit. I get to choose where it goes. Not a bunch of ill-informed, illogical, and short-sighted do-gooders! The founders of our representative democracy were pretty smart, well-educated men. They realized that there are certain human rights that are intrinsic to being human. They carefully articulated which ones required deliberate and sacrosanct protection. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. There are no guarantees of equal results, but the right to try, to endeavor, to make the attempt. Anything else can NOT be guaranteed without taking something from someone else, without their permission. Our American progressives are trying to guarantee equal results. On our dime. Without our permission. And they say I am not compassionate! I agree. But I do have some empathy for certain people. So, what is compassion?
According to Merriam-Webster[2]: What is the difference between empathy and compassion?
Some of our users are interested in the difference between empathy and compassion. Compassion is the broader word: it refers to both an understanding of another’s pain and the desire to somehow mitigate that pain:
Our rationalizations for lying (or withholding the truth)—”to protect her,” “he could never handle it”—come more out of cowardice than compassion.
— Eric Utne, Utne Reader, November/December 1992
Sometimes compassion is used to refer broadly to sympathetic understanding:
Nevertheless, when Robert Paxton’s “Vichy France” appeared in a French translation in 1973, his stark and devastating description … was rather badly received in France, where many critics accused this scrupulous and thoughtful young historian either of misinterpreting the Vichy leaders’ motives or of lacking compassion.
— Stanley Hoffmann, The New York Times Book Review, 1 Nov. 1981
Empathy refers to the ability to relate to another person’s pain vicariously, as if one has experienced that pain themselves. That I can relate to, having seen atrocities, starvation, genocidal purges, and modern war.
But I only feel compassion for those who try to help themselves. If others fix their problems for them, they do not “own” the solution. They become dependents. Go to any UN refugee camp to see what I mean. More on the UN later.
I’ll continue this in further postings. I’m only getting started.
[1] Vallentyne, Peter, “Libertarianism”, The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Spring 2012 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = <http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2012/entries/libertarianism/>. Accessed 14 October 2013.
[2] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compassion Retrieved 06/23/2021
Musings of a Hardcase Texan 