Beta

Password Reset Confirmation

If an account matching the email you entered was found, you will receive an email with a link to reset your password.

Welcome to our Beta

The Advocates of Self-Government is preparing a new experience for our users.

User Not Found

The username/email and password combination you entered was not found. Please try again or contact support.

Skip to main content

Quizzes & Apps

Articles

Author: Morgan Dean

The Importance of Being Self-Taught

Betsy DeVos was confirmed as Education Secretary this week. This was one of the most contentious and controversial confirmations in history. Those opposing her nomination cited a lack of experience in public education as a reason why she was unfit to serve. taught With all the controversy, it’s important to consider another argument. It really shouldn’t matter who the Education Secretary is. The position shouldn’t exist. There should be no federal Department of Education, simply because it is impossible for one person to know how to meet the needs of every student in America. Individually, standards set by the government regarding education don’t impact us as much as we think. This is because we should be setting our own individual standards. We should be striving to teach ourselves what we haven’t been taught in school. Once students leave school, are they properly equipped to thrive in the post-secondary world? Probably not. This is why it is crucial that we strive to be self-taught. Practical experience is the first facet of this. We learn by doing. I am a result of a public education in both high school and now college. However, I have learned more from the work I’ve done in my career than from my public schooling. The second facet of being self-taught is reading. I am of the belief that reading for fun is just as important as educational reading, so long as you are doing both. Educational reading doesn’t always have to involve textbooks, though. Reading a book that you wouldn’t normally pick up is educational, as is reading a book on a subject you want to know more about. The beauty of being self-taught is that you can learn absolutely anything with practice. You can become fluent in a foreign language, learn the customs of another country, or even pick up a new hobby or job skills, all from reading and doing. I’m not saying that a public education is useless, not by a long shot. I recognize the benefits of it, but I do know that my love for reading comes from me teaching myself to read Shakespeare as a sixth grader. So take a minute and realize that YOU have the power. You have the power to educate your children at home, and you have the power to learn anything you want by reading and then doing. Embrace that you are never too young or too old to become self-taught. Oh, and If you love to read awesome books about libertarian principles maybe check out our book deal too.

Why To Kill a Mockingbird Teaches Us to Challenge Our Beliefs

With everything that has been going on in the media recently, the phrase “fake news” has been used rather frequently. Mockingbird That is why, this year, it is more important than ever to conduct your own research, and to be open to new and challenging ideas. This is something we, as humans, are not always good at. We can even see examples of this in popular culture. A few nights ago, President Obama gave his farewell speech. He quoted a very well known character from an equally well known book. The book was Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, and the character, the most beloved of all, was Atticus Finch. This character has been so highly regarded for decades as being a literary hero. In fact, many libertarians regard To Kill a Mockingbird as a center-piece of libertarian ideals. The beliefs that Atticus exhibits in equality, justice, and doing what is right is a common theme in libertarianism. This book is taught in high schools everywhere, where students are seeing perhaps the first example of someone who embodies the “stand up for what you believe in, even if you are standing alone” principle. The release of the second book in the franchise changed everything. Go Set a Watchman presented a new version of Atticus Finch. One that belonged to the Ku Klux Klan and held many racist sentiments. Readers discovered, along with Atticus’ daughter, Scout, that he was not the champion of civil rights that he was once thought to be. Many fans of the first book refused to read the second because they didn’t want their idea of Atticus Finch to be ruined by discovering the truth. This is a common problem that society should resolve to tackle in 2017. We are afraid of the facts, and often times we are too lazy to do our own research. We would rather just be presented with stories that back up our preconceived notions, and disregard anything that may challenge that. We need to remember that sometimes it is okay to read books that change our minds about something. It is good to research news stories to see if they are legitimate, even if we find out the truth is something we can’t use to back up our own beliefs. It’s essential to recognize that just because you don’t agree with something, does not make it useless. Let’s make this year the year we start doing our own research, rejecting fake news, and being open to new ideas and experiences that challenge us, even if we don’t necessarily like what we discover.

The Five People You Meet In Politics

This article was featured in our weekly newsletter, the Liberator Online. To receive it in your inbox, sign up here. The Five People You Meet in Heaven was written by Mitch Albom. It was published in 2003 and sold more than six million copies worldwide. It follows the story of an amusement park maintenance man named Eddie. Eddie recently died trying to save a young girl from a freak ride accident and is now in heaven. PeopleThe reader follows Eddie’s journey through heaven as he meets five people that have in someway influenced his life. This is a journey similar to what we experience politically. For most, politics and civics isn’t introduced until later in one’s life. People do not begin their lives being political. Children do not argue about politics on the playground. They aren’t yet exposed to the talk that can monopolize the lives of adults. As they get older, they become exposed to politics, which usually begins at home. This starts a political journey that lasts a lifetime. Along the way, we meet five people that impact our political decisions. The first people you meet on your journey is the first person you hear the political opinions of. For me, it was my Republican parents. For others, it can be another relative, a teacher, or even a friend. This usually kick starts your first set of political opinions. For years, I identified as a Republican. The second person you meet in politics is someone who believes the same things you do. This person is easy to get along with, they agree with you on most, if not all things. They very well may be your new best friend. Here is where things start to get tricky: the third person you meet on your journey is someone who challenges you. This is someone who doesn’t agree with you on anything political. It could be a family member, friend or professor. They argue with you and challenge you to look at the world from their perspective. It isn’t until later on that you realize the importance of this person. The fourth person you meet in politics really shakes things up. They believe what you believe. They are in the same political party as you, but there is a problem. They aren’t a very good person. Your hear them say something awful about another person, or perhaps you find something unfavorable about the way they treat people. Either way, you question if you truly believe in the ideals that you have clung to for years. The answer is often times complicated. The fifth and final person you meet in politics is the most important. That person is yourself. Not just any version of yourself. This version comes after all the self-doubt, exposure to new things, people, places, and ideas. This is the person that you become after all that. In my experience this is never the person you were before. Just like The Five People You Meet in Heaven, the five people we meet along the way change us. They make us reconsider things we thought we would never change our minds on, but in the end, it’s all for the best.

What We Can Learn About Choosing Liberty from Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”

This article was featured in our weekly newsletter, the Liberator Online. To receive it in your inbox, sign up here.

This election cycle forced Americans to make some tough decisions- tough decisions regarding candidates they simply aren’t comfortable supporting. This led Republicans to support Democrats, Democrats to support Republicans and a record breaking percentage of the population saying “we reject these two choices” and supporting a third party candidate.

It is important to remember that when we support policies and candidates influenced by political power and corruption, we get the same, tired results, instead of getting results that will benefit us.

So how do we navigate this corrupt political system? How do we make the right choice? The answer is fairly simple. Always choose liberty.

Road Not TakenRobert Frost’s poem The Road Not Taken expresses a similar predicament. This poem is about choosing between two paths.  Neither path can be predicted, as it is impossible to see all the way down either.  However, one path looks as if it hasn’t been traveled nearly as much. The speaker knows he cannot remake whatever decision he makes.  This gives him pause.  He knows he cannot predict the future, and that he will never be able to travel the path that he does not take.

Frost understands the age-old predicament of choice, wanting both, but ultimately deciding.

We face decisions in our political lives, which have a direct affect on our personal and professional lives.  Every time we vote, engage in political discourse, or label ourselves as a certain ideology, we choose a path.

Today we face two paths, one being Big Government, the other being freedom and liberty. The first path is the easiest. 

It is easy to let the government take care of us, provide us with transportation, health insurance, housing, and food. But when does it stop? Where is the limit to government involvement?  The other path can be rough and rocky as it is one of self-reliance, independence, and liberty.  This path doesn’t allow us to rely on the government, but rather on ourselves. The latter path may be the harder one, but it is also the one that will give us freedom in the long run.

Frost notes in The Road Not Taken that he took the road less traveled “and that has made all the difference.”

Wouldn’t you like to know that you took the path that was less traveled, even though it was the harder one? That ultimately, you made a conscious decision everyday to choose liberty? Choosing liberty simply means supporting ideals, candidates, and policies that put freedom first.

So let’s not take the path that has been traveled so many times, let’s make a hard decision, and let’s make change happen.  After all, it was also Robert Frost who said “freedom lies in being bold.”

What Paradise Lost Can Teach Us About Being Human

What Paradise Lost Can Teach Us About Being Human

This article was featured in our weekly newsletter, the Liberator Online. To receive it in your inbox, sign up here. It’s no secret that, politically, this year has been unprecedented. Electoral politics have dominated every media source for over a year, making it impossible not to notice the ideological divide that has separated each of the political parties. This has made one thing clear, our system is broken. This has created animosity on the national political stage that we have never seen before. With everything happening around us, sometimes we forget that we can make a difference, as humans, and that we don’t have to accept our broken political system. Paradise LostIn Paradise Lost John Milton retells the Christian creation story of Adam and Eve. It is considered to be the story of “man’s first disobedience.” However, what is most important to consider is what that disobedience causes. Milton writes that without Adam and Eve’s classic example of disobedience, God would never have been able to show his grace and love, creating a better outcome than if they hadn’t disobeyed him. We have this opportunity every day. As humans we are flawed, but this doesn’t mean we have to accept the flaws of our world, or even our broken political system. This means that we are given the opportunity to turn the negative into positive. We can even see traits of humanity within Satan’s character. He went off on his own and created his own army, only to have nostalgic feelings for Heaven, asking himself why he couldn’t just be content in the presence of God. In our world we have both good and evil. It is unavoidable, and as long as one exists, so will the other. We live in a world of contraries and we see that play out every day in politics. Peace vs. war. Love vs. hate. We must ask ourselves which side we want to fall on, then we must act. What Paradise Lost teaches us is that it is a beautiful thing to be human and know both good and evil. As much pain as evil brings about, it also gives meaning to good. The difference between the two help us understand what we should seek, and what we must certainly should avoid. Whether you believe that humans are innately good or evil, there is importance in remembering that we are all still human.. We must remember to first be good humans, THEN be good libertarians, but also remember that those two things can go hand in hand. When Satan says that it is “better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven” is he right? It is better to pursue the existing evils for the sake of winning instead of turning the bad into good, reaching across party lines and working together to create long-term solutions?

Big Government vs. Self-Government in Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’

Big Government vs. Self-Government in Shakespeare’s As You Like It

This article was featured in our weekly newsletter, the Liberator Online. To receive it in your inbox, sign up here. William Shakespeare’s comedy As You Like It is known for the themes of marriage, forgiveness and love. However, upon closer examination, it can also be read as a tale of people fighting the wrongs of Big Government, while pursuing self-government. as you like itFirst, we have to look at what it means to “self-govern.” We give this our own meaning every day when we make decisions independent from the government. Self-Governing means that you decide how to live and are responsible for your own actions and choices. In As You Like It, there are two opposing sides in a warring family, Duke Senior, who represents self-government and peace, and the other being Duke Frederick who represents Big Government and violence. The major motif within the play is a family divided. Duke Senior has been usurped by his brother and banished from the kingdom, while Duke Frederick remains and banishes other members of Duke Senior’s family. Duke Senior flees to The Forest of Arden where he lives a very minimalist life, among the shepherds who live very pastoral lives. The forest serves as a place of freedom and refuge from the evils of courtly life. The idea of the forest in literature, and especially in this play, is that it is the antithesis of civilization. The forest is the one place that man has not yet touched and made corrupt. Living in the forest, Duke Senior builds a life for himself, finds other lords who have also left the court, and pursues a freedom in the forest. They operate completely separately from the Big Government that is back at the court, and they are happy. As we are well aware, Big Government always tries to intervene. Rare contributor Bonnie Kristian wrote an interesting article about how even the smallest examples of government interference should concern us. Even during Shakespeare’s time, there is government overreach. Duke Frederick and his posse go after Duke Senior. However, along the way he meets a priest who convinces him to lead a peace-loving life away from the court. Self-government, for the win! If self-government worked in the Shakespearean era, with practice, it can work today, several hundred years later. Most importantly, are you putting self-government into practice in your daily life?

What Libertarians Can Learn from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

What Libertarians Can Learn from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

This article was featured in our weekly newsletter, the Liberator Online. To receive it in your inbox, sign up here. Harry PotterAfter nine years, J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, decided she was not quite done with telling the story of ‘The Boy Who Lived.’ Released on July 31st, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child broke pre-order records for both Amazon and Barnes and Noble, the same year that we, as libertarians, are breaking records. So, what can we learn as libertarians from the Harry Potter books? Gina Luttrell wrote at ThoughtsonLiberty.com an article discussing the overarching themes of libertarianism in the Harry Potter series as a whole, but with a new addition to the saga, there are new themes and ideas that we, as libertarians, can explore. One of the main conflicts we see in the newest book is Harry’s son, Albus’ struggle to find where he truly belongs, both at school and in the world. He worries that the Sorting Hat will place him into Slytherin, instead of Gryffindor, the house of the rest of his family. Harry consoles him by pointing out that this doesn’t matter, that he will be loved regardless, and that The Sorting Hat will take his feelings into account. This is similar to the struggle many of us have faced at least once, with a media telling us that there are only two political paths. Their aim is to push us to subscribe to one of their schools of thought, either a conservative or liberal viewpoint. It is important to remember there is more to politics than left and right. Speaking as someone who formerly identified as a conservative from a conservative family, I can attest firsthand to the struggle of facing a change in philosophical identity after taking The World’s Smallest Political Quiz and realizing my values are different than I thought they were. I guess that is one way to find our “place”…The Quiz is almost like a Sorting Hat, huh? As it has previously been discussed among libertarian scholars, Harry Potter is the perfect example of a libertarian. He values the ability to choose his own path, while fighting against the corruption within the Ministry of Magic. In previous books, the Ministry subscribed to similar ideas as the villains of the series, like ethnic cleansing, discrimination, violence, and secrecy. With a total lack of transparency, Big Government rules throughout the series. In Harry Potter and the Cursed Child we see a very different Ministry of Magic, led by Hermione Granger, a character who has always been keen to follow the rules, but has proven time and time again that she is not afraid to deviate from them in cases of principle. We also see that Harry is serving as an Auror, or dark wizard catcher under Hermione. So what can we take away from this shift as libertarians? Harry and his friends used to fight against the established government and their oppressive ideas, and now they ARE the government. Being a part of the libertarian movement means fighting corruption with freedom and openness, spreading the ideals of libertarianism as people become more open to it. During this election year, I think we are experiencing a significant shift in the way people think. As people tire of the same two choices, and they get tired of Big Government ruling their lives, they are opening their eyes to libertarian ideals. Libertarianism is more than just politics, yet we are seeing a shift in what drives people to throw their support behind a candidate. We have Gary Johnson and Bill Weld on the main stage, and although neither is perfect, they are representing new ideas that have never gained so much attention. Every day, we are changing the way people think. So, let’s make sure we don’t forget that there is more than two options in politics. Let’s remember to stand strong on issues of morality. Let’s fight against an oppressive government. Political discourse is changing. Just like the beloved Harry Potter characters did, could we be experiencing a shift in the ‘political status quo?’ Let’s hope so.