Many of our detractors instantaneously believe that we have always been like this: sell-outs. They have faith in our irrevocable belief in a twisted and enslaving system. Because of this, we have no redeeming qualities. We should be destroyed. Period. Or so they say.
The problem with this point of view, is that it is pathetically incorrect. Almost every Austro-Libertarian and all Absolute Austro-Libertarians that we know of, began as something else.
Let us say this again, we all began as something else.
We were not born this way. We didn’t have a switch flipped in our brain and suddenly we started thinking this way. No sir!
It was a long and hard process. We started as human beings and received a standard education. We felt for other people struggling to survive. We looked at the un-imaginable wealth on one side and abject poverty on the other and came to the “right” conclusion. Take from the rich and give to the poor. Social justice. Balance of means. Use force if necessary.
Seemed right. Seemed just, but it was stupid.
The intention is excellent, the execution abject.
In other words, it simply does not work no matter how hard we try.
This social process (call it leftist, liberal, communist, Christian, whatever) simply does not work. Two major defects are insurmountable and un-fixable:
- The government is used by economic powers to their advantage.
- The economic pie shrinks.
The consequence of these two major flaws are:
- We become slaves to the government
- As time goes by, we have less and less resources to share
In other words, instead of having social justice we have social injustice. Instead of having more wealth to distribute, we have even less. And who pays the consequences? You guessed it: the dispossessed.
The reality of all Democratic systems, and particularly those of the centre-left persuasion, is poverty and stagnation.
Unfortunately, the world works this way.
You know, we are funny people. When confronted with an adversary, we don’t negotiate, we go straight to surrender… to the facts.
We don’t believe there is a point in trying to change the system “from within”. Many people have tried for far too many years. People much better prepared, suited and intelligent than us. They have all tried and failed. The world is spinning out of control and we are all going to be flushed down the toilet of bad political systems. This much is inevitable.
We all began as something else. This does not mean that we surrender all our ethical and moral obligations or our humanistic points of view. We are not blind to the widespread misery and pain punishing most of the globe. Punishing those of us that were not privileged enough to live in a “First World” country. Which is to say the vast minority of us.
It is precisely because we are deeply concerned for other people that we have arrived at the only solution that works. We did so precisely because it did work in the past and there are no valid, serious doubts that it may not work in the future.
We also fully and freely acknowledge that this system of ours is full of gaps and errors, unintended consequences and problems. It is not a perfect system and it can never be. However, it is the best we have. Today. Tomorrow will be another story. Tomorrow a better system will appear. At least we hope so. We are not afraid of change, above all because it is a change for the better of us. All of us. Those with possessions and those without them. We all began as something else and we have not forgotten.
We know that this system of ours can deliver freedom and unlock a vast amount of wealth which is currently, right now, being wasted and subdued by governments.
More freedom and wealth for all means more rich people but it also means less, far less, dispossessed people in the world.
We truly want to help, but we are realists. We fully acknowledge that there is no free lunch. If we want grater wealth, we need to accept more rich people. It is that simple. You cannot have one without the other. We all began as something else and throughout or journey we learned this lesson. This is why we are here today, teaching it to you.
The simplest truth is that if you really, but we mean really, want to help other people in poverty, you must increase the size of the pie. There is no other way.
Chinese people say that it is “glorious to become rich”. It is, but for the wrong reasons. It is glorious because your riches bring a better life for the dispossessed. It is glorious because you are helping to elevate the standard of living of all human beings. It is glorious because you are becoming part of a system that does not need governments to secure our freedoms and in so doing, you are freeing us.
We all began as something else. This is our Omega for us. We have found it. Until something better comes along, but for now, this is it!
Join us or not, but just remember that you too began as something else.
Note: please see the Glossary if you are unfamiliar with certain words.
