Categories:
Microeconomics
Here’s a question for libertarians (though of course others should feel free to answer): What currently illegal thing do you personally really want to be free to do?
Set aside “not pay taxes”; that’s too easy. For me, anyway, the truth is that I’m so bourgeois that I’m already free to do almost everything that I want to do. What about you?
P.S. My answer: I want to be free to hire people from other countries. My sympathy and my self-interest point in the same direction.
READER COMMENTS
Robin Hanson
Oct 10 2006 at 1:08pm
I want to be free to create betting markets on important topics, so that I can see what to think.
Randy
Oct 10 2006 at 1:22pm
Interesting question. Aside from economic limitations which cannot be done away with by fiat, there isn’t much that I want to do that I can’t already do if I’m willing to prioritize the available resources. Strangely enough, the only thing that comes to mind is that I would like to be able light up a “j” without having to risk everything. Any chance you could make that happen by Thanksgiving?
Dennis Mangan
Oct 10 2006 at 1:30pm
I’d like to be free to teach economics without the doctoral degree. It’s a repressive requirement which libertarians never take a stand against. Lest someone say that the government doesn’t forbid it, which is true, I’d point out that the government does forbid collusion in restraint of trade, which is what universities do.
John
Oct 10 2006 at 1:39pm
play on-line poker.
Bryan Caplan
Oct 10 2006 at 1:39pm
Have you heard of graduate student instructors? They teach lots of classes, and they don’t have doctorates.
In any case, it’s no surprise that libertarians don’t take a standard against government failing to enforce laws (e.g. against “collusion in restraint of trade”) which they oppose in the first place.
Chris
Oct 10 2006 at 1:40pm
Eating froie gras would be nice, though I can always travel to a restaurant outside of the city for that.
Smoking in restaurants would have been a priority before I quit.
The government is actually pretty good at placing all of the heinous requirements on big bad corporations so that they are hidden from the rest of us.
Gabriel M.
Oct 10 2006 at 1:44pm
I’m happy to report that, right now, the problems in my life have nothing to do with the State. That being said, I’d love to be able to travel to the US without a VISA… this is not caused by this government but by that of the US, though.
Brad Hutchings
Oct 10 2006 at 1:48pm
Along Dennis’ line of thinking… I’d like to be free to fly an airplane without a license. It’s a repressive requirement. I’d also like to operate a small nuclear reactor and sell power to my town. Again, repressive requirement to need licensing to do that.
Kidding aside… Dennis, I think your argument is weak. You can find lecturer positions in top tier universities that require just a Master’s Degree. A couple of the best teachers I had in college in Math and Computer Science (UC Irvine) did just that. One taught an evening course after work because he liked teaching and wanted an avenue for recruiting talented software developers.
Will Wilkinson
Oct 10 2006 at 2:15pm
Come January, it will be to smoke a cigarette in a D.C. bar. Now I want D.C. to respect my rights under the 2nd Amendment to own and carry a gun. I’d also like to be able purchase certain prescription drugs without a prescription, and to buy certain presently illegal drugs.
Writing that, it strikes me as a shame that simply admitting that you’d like to buy an illegal drug (no matter how innocuous), or even that you’d like to own a handgun (no matter how constitutionally guaranteed), is probably enough for a lot of employers to rule you out as a candidate. So maybe you want to use a pseudonym on this one if you don’t have tenure at a university or work at the Cato Institute.
brad
Oct 10 2006 at 2:28pm
I would like to be free to purchase my anti-anxiety medicine without a prescription. I would save $60 a month and ten minutes of my free time.
Caliban Darklock
Oct 10 2006 at 2:49pm
I’d like the freedom to buy and use the products I want without regulatory interference. Like Claritin-D; I’d like it not to be behind the counter. I’d like the freedom to walk into the pharmacy and buy Vicodin without a prescription. I’d like to have my Ephedra-based weight loss products back, and I’d like the FDA to STFU about whether creatine monohydrate should be treated like an anabolic steroid. I think hormone boosters and suppressors and precursors and regulators are my own damn business. If I want to jack myself up on androgens until I can bench press a car, I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t be able to do it. (I can see a lot of reasons why I shouldn’t do it, however, which is not exactly the same thing.)
And in the process, I’m willing to concede that the potheads should smoke their pot, and the junkies should shoot their junk, and the crackheads should smoke their crack. I think these people and these products are simply disgusting, but if that’s what you want to make of yourself, it’s your choice.
I’m sick of having my choices made for me by a governing body concerned primarily with whether I can make a mistake, instead of whether I can realise my ambitions.
Randy
Oct 10 2006 at 3:25pm
Caliban,
That last line is really good.
Adam
Oct 10 2006 at 3:35pm
I would like to listen to and view offensive broadcasts without interference from the FCC. Let viewers/listeners and thereby sponsors determine what is suitable for broadcast. I agree with Randy on the issue of marijuana. Lastly, I would like to drive as fast as I wish to without speed limits. Instead of ticketing based on the increased probability of accident (at higher speeds), increase the fines for the accidents that do happen.
Sean
Oct 10 2006 at 3:38pm
Drink and buy alcohol in my country (I am under 21, though “technically” an adult).
Buy clothing at the lowest possible prices (i.e. without tariffs).
Send goods (i.e., clothes, shoes, electronics, etc.) to friends overseas (Europe and S. America) without having to pay hundreds in various duties.
NOT have to pay $100 just to enter Chile.
Milton S.
Oct 10 2006 at 3:39pm
Count me as another person who would like to be able to buy medicine without a prescription, or at all in the case of drugs the FDA has banned.
As for recreational drugs, I’d most like to try LSD, because I’m keen to experience synesthesia. My second choice would be opiates, as a tea rather than through smoking or needles.
David N. Welton
Oct 10 2006 at 3:56pm
Over here in Italy, I’d be happy just to be able to go *@!#&*&*&( food shopping on Sunday…
Fabio Rojas
Oct 10 2006 at 4:01pm
Two things:
1. Allow private first class mail.
2. Reduce immigration restrictions so my relatives can stay in the US for as long as they want.
Matt H
Oct 10 2006 at 4:05pm
I really want to be able to burn stuff (underbrush, dead trees, limbs, pasture, etc) on my property without governmental interference. Put another way, I want to see an end to burn bans and other restrictions on burning. If a fire I start burns up something I don’t intend on my property, it’s my business and not that of the local government or local volunteer fire department, provided I do not contact them. If that fire spreads to someone else’s property, it’s a simple case of me being liable for damages.
After many months of viewing burn bans in action despite changing weather conditions, I’ve come to the conclusion that they are the result of rent seeking on the part of fire departments and risk aversion on the part of local and state government officials as well as the common belief that fire is bad in and of itself without reference to the use to which the fire is directed.
Omer K
Oct 10 2006 at 4:59pm
1) To be able to buy raw milk.
2) To get jobs on the basis of IQ tests 🙂
Hmm
Oct 10 2006 at 5:01pm
I’d like to have my house and worldly possession accidentally burned when my neighbour’s fire goes out of control. Then I’d like to sue only to find out that all of *his* assets went up in smoke as well :-).
(Sorry, not really meaning to rain on the idea, but there *are* reasons for restrictions besides keeping fire departments in business…)
nelziq
Oct 10 2006 at 5:29pm
Smoke weed, drop acid, and take E. Modify a street-going motor vehicle in ways that the DMV, EPA, or CARB may disapprove.
Matt McIntosh
Oct 10 2006 at 5:34pm
I want to be free to put whatever substance I want into my body insofar as this doesn’t significantly negatively impact unwilling third parties. This is such a basic freedom it boggles the mind that it even needs to be asserted.
Carl Marks
Oct 10 2006 at 5:37pm
I think we should relax the tax restriction, as sin taxes are another form of restriction that could resonably be abolished.
Right now i have a strong urge to go 90mph+ on some winding back roads in a Lotus. And havea access to better frequencies for broacasting certain signals. And hear the word tit on tv
I find it interesting the Bryan can’t think of anything. This may be a sign that all these government regulations seem to become commonplace over time, so that people don’t even remember what choices there could be in the world.
John Ford
Oct 10 2006 at 5:54pm
I want to be able to hire and fire anyone I like for any conceivable reason. Of course with this novel right would come the right of others to refuse to do business with me, quit without giving a reason or exercise their right of free speech to denigrate me if they feel my reasons are bigoted, immoral, unfair or in some other way capricious.
John
Alcibiades
Oct 10 2006 at 6:24pm
At this point in time, anyway, as I peer out over the job market post-my-undergraduate-degree, I’d like to be able to make conditional employment agreements, such as: if you don’t like my work in the first month, fire me and pay me nothing! This sort of thing would make the job app process easier, allow myself to test the waters in various lines of work, and indeed, help employers make better selections with respect to “fit.”
I’d also like to buy qualuudes from the cornerstore.
Mike Linksvayer
Oct 10 2006 at 6:39pm
I want to wait in line to go to the bathroom on an airplane. Really pushing things, I’d like to use toothpaste and mouthwash once I got to the bathroom.
jk
Oct 10 2006 at 7:05pm
I’d like to choose any experimental treatment for my MS, maybe someday avail myself of marijuana if I feel it will help.
Were a cure discovered tomorrow, the FDA would “protect” me from it until I died.
zoevans
Oct 10 2006 at 7:45pm
Unlike the majority here, there aren’t any particular laws which I wish I could disregard, without fear of punishment. Please do not misinterpret what I’m saying. I’m not implying I enjoy traveling at snail-paced speeds or condemn any law breakers. I have found myself content with in the boundaries of our legal system. From a lawyers stand point, our laws are designed to protect everyone as a whole, while promoting economic growth.
Daniel J. D'Amico
Oct 10 2006 at 8:03pm
I want to be free to smoke indoors. Restaurants, bars, movie theaters, cafe’s, book stores, libraries, etc…
I want to be free to drive faster than the speed limit, and to be free from ever having to visit the DMV ever again.
I want to be free to self medicate. If I were an athlete take steroids, if I need to stay awake take stimulants, or if I want a good night’s sleep take relaxants.
I want to be free to hire immigrant labor to clean my house, do my laundry, etc.
I want to be free to use my car as a taxi.
I want to be free from the threat of being prosecuted for pirated music, software, and film.
I want to be free to produce alcohol in mass quantities and sell it at retail prices directly to consumers.
I want to be free to buy alcohol 24 hours a day.
I want to be free to get on a plane without taking my shoes off.
I want to be free to watch a cock fight.
Yeorgoes
Oct 10 2006 at 8:52pm
Id like to be free to upload fully or partially publicly funded PBS documentaries to Google video. My first choice would be Milton Friedmans classic series, Free to Choose, which was recently removed from Google for copyright infringement…
Randy Mason
Oct 10 2006 at 10:00pm
I’d like to be able to smoke a joint while playing online poker as I’m watching an NFL game that i wagered on through an online bookie
soneil
Oct 10 2006 at 10:11pm
The drugs thing has been beaten to death, but I’ll reiterate it quickly. Particularly for those drugs shown to be less habit forming than {caffeine/nicotine/alcohol}, many of which are also less debilitating than a good alcohol bender.
I’d like to be able to listen to uncensored broadcasts as well. (The freedom to recieve speech is an important part of the freedom OF speech.)
I want to be able to buy alcohol on SUNDAY.
For the next two, hopefully I don’t come off as too much of a nutcase. (Ah, perhaps it’s far too late for that. As another mentioned, has it come this far that simple statements incur such a stigma?):
I’d like to be free to manufacture my own fireworks for my own use. This is probably the biggest one.
I’d like to be free to own/play with automatic weapons (and probably various other fun dangerous things.)
Anonymous
Oct 10 2006 at 10:13pm
I want to be free to do tons of drugs.
Caliban Darklock
Oct 10 2006 at 10:22pm
It’s interesting to note that Americans seem to want to do things that are likely to be dangerous, while non-Americans seem primarily interested in not being hassled in their daily lives. It’s not 100% clear-cut, but the line does seem to fall right around that concept.
kogus
Oct 10 2006 at 10:24pm
Drive without wearing a seat belt.
Travel without intrusive security screening.
Run a business from my home.
Perform my job without restrictions imposed by Sarbanes-Oxley auditors.
Patri Friedman
Oct 10 2006 at 10:47pm
There are a ton of answers to this, but I’d have to say the most important would be the freedom to have sovereignty over my own land. In other words, to have the option to remove land that I purchase from the United State of America. Because then (with a lot of hard work, and a lot of other people, and a lot of thought about tough issues like defense) I could get something a lot closer to the laws I want.
Dr. Tensor
Oct 10 2006 at 10:55pm
Own and continuously use any high powered weapons/explosives/fireworks I want without some overpretentious self-righteous bureaucrat breathing down my neck.
Ryan Castellucci
Oct 10 2006 at 10:57pm
I would like to be able to legaly circumvent copy protection and digital rights management for personal use, and anything ‘fair use’ has traditionaly allowed for. (For example, to play DVDs on my Linux system)
I would like to be able to do as I wish with works older then 26 years (as per the original US copyright term)
I would like to be able to get a bank account anonymously.
David Tommes
Oct 10 2006 at 11:37pm
I would like to be able to walk down the street drinking a beer, register a vehicle without the need for a certificate of roadworthiness and defend myself without worrying about being charged with assult by my would be attacker.
Will
Oct 10 2006 at 11:38pm
I’d remove all laws regarding copy protection and patents and make all source code available to the public.
Brad Hutchings
Oct 11 2006 at 12:06am
Hey WIll, I’d like to make your house available to the public. By law. Sound fair?
Nerd
Oct 11 2006 at 12:11am
Smoke pot, gamble, and pay for sex.
Kevin Nowell
Oct 11 2006 at 12:31am
All of the above.
cyber_rigger
Oct 11 2006 at 1:16am
I would like to keep my tax money
that is now spent on a losing drug war
(i.e. legalize the now illegal drugs).
I would like to see the majority of prescription drugs
available without a prescription.
IMO this would reduce health care costs dramatically.
I would like to have a voucher system for public education.
I would like to see an immediate end to Bush’s little war.
I would like see laws
allowing an ultralight metro car
(say under 40 mph)
that require NO registration or insurance.
Some simmilar laws exist now
but they are too restrictive
and still require registration.
Pay off the national debt.
The debt is an attack on the middle class.
People should be free to do whatever they want
as long as it doesn’t infringe on the rights of others.
James
Oct 11 2006 at 1:21am
I would like to be free to shanghai men into working as henchmen for my remote facility.
Goddamned government!
Captain McPants
Oct 11 2006 at 1:22am
Have sex with under-age girls.
I know this sounds wrong, but hear me out.
I just recently turned 18, and I think its utter crap that its now considered illegal for me to have sex with a 16 year-old, while less than a month ago it was perfectly fine.
azenhi
Oct 11 2006 at 1:24am
I cannot legally question my detainment if the government decides I am an illegal combatant.
I would make that recourse legal again.
Jack
Oct 11 2006 at 1:31am
I want to be free to innovate without artificial state-sponsored monopolies getting in my way in the form of patent protectionism and idea hoarding.
The Fundamental Right to Create is superior to the artificial ‘rights’ granted arbitrarily to discoverers by the massive government beauracracy known as the patent office.
The patent system is broken, and only window breakers like it to remain so.
John
Oct 11 2006 at 1:35am
Adam wrote:
I would like to drive as fast as I wish to without speed limits.
I would like to be able to use a rocket launcher on motorists in my neighborhood who drive at kid-killing speeds.
In a Libertarian paradise, we’d both get what we wanted!
Glen Raphael
Oct 11 2006 at 1:40am
I want to be free to show up at the airport 20 minutes before the flight, jog out to the gate and get right on the plane without having waited in a security line or been searched in any way at all. (I’m confident some airlines would provide this option to the hoi polloi if it were legally allowed, just as private planes at private airports currently provide it to the extremely rich.)
When picking up a friend at the airport, I want to be free to walk right out to the gate and meet them as they get off the plane. I really miss that.
I want to be free to resell my airline ticket to somebody else.
I want to be free to fly anonymously or under an assumed name without fear of being denied access or being detained or delayed.
I want to be free to buy Sudafed (and various other drugs, a few currently illegal) over-the-counter without having to show ID and wait for a pharmacist to copy down all my details. As with the security line, I don’t mind waiting in line when it’s necessary but I deeply resent being forced to wait in line merely for what Bruce Schneider calls “security theater” – to show that somebody is “doing something” about a perceived threat.
rkillings
Oct 11 2006 at 1:45am
But Bryan, you *can* hire people from other countries, to do anything you like. You can just can’t hire them *here*.
As long as you are here and they are working for you over there, as independent contractors to you, there aren’t even any formalities. You don’t even have to send them an IRS Form 1099; in fact, you *must* not do so. (They are non-US persons working abroad.)
So hire away.
Bob
srikanth
Oct 11 2006 at 1:56am
There are always places around the world where you might be able to do something that might be illegal in the country of ones residence. The important issue is whether the person is willing to sacrifice his social circle and society to do it!
anon
Oct 11 2006 at 1:58am
No one has admitted to wanting to buy sex legally? Well, I’ll be the first. I think a legal prostitution market, with the accompanying lessening of stigma, would offer some simply amazing and extraordinary experiences. It doesn’t have to be seedy or dehumanizing.
Aside from that, I’d probably take a psychedelic drug perhaps once a year or so. It really is a mind expander, and far from addictive (after I’ve done it once I usually have no desire to do it again for quite some time).
Marxllw
Oct 11 2006 at 2:13am
Every act has a consequence and if that consequence does not physically affect any other person than myself, then i want to be free to do that said act.
Freedom has a price, and that price is responsibility. A lot of people don’t want to be responsible. If you are not responsible with drugs and you fry your brain, who is going to look after you? If that ment letting you die then fine, but what is your fried brain cause pain, suffering and cost to others?
The greatest form of government is anarchism but all members of that society have to be highly enlightened for it to function and not fall apart.
Daniel Lurker
Oct 11 2006 at 2:24am
I would like to be able to live without the FDA.
John Smith
Oct 11 2006 at 2:26am
Own silenced guns (my ears are sensitive) own rifles currently not permitted by an executive order (AUG) and drive 100+ on the freeway when no one is around.
Anonymous
Oct 11 2006 at 2:36am
Smoke pot.
Jason
Oct 11 2006 at 2:38am
Smoke weed.
Chad
Oct 11 2006 at 2:53am
I have chronic back pain, nothing insane and it can be patched up by a few aspirins or whatever, but I’d rather be able to grow my own medical cannabis legally. Honestly, who does it hurt if I have a few plants in my basement?
Max M
Oct 11 2006 at 3:13am
I would like the right to beat up anybody who smokes in a restaurant I am eating in. I would also like the right to take out anybody that is intoxicated, due to self medication, and therefore acts as a threat to their surroundings.
😉
Harley
Oct 11 2006 at 3:35am
I want to get married.
Jaxxon
Oct 11 2006 at 3:39am
I’d like to be able to publicly perform positive music (that I did not write) without resulting in huge licensing (copyright) fees for the clubs I play in.
Aaron
Oct 11 2006 at 3:45am
The freedom to wear body armor rated at any DOJ threat level that I wish, and to carry the handgun of my choice, openly or concealed, anywhere I wish to go for pleasure or business.
I’d also like the freedom to travel to any country I want and spend as much or as little as I wish without fear of recrimination or reprisal from State department regulations.
Chris
Oct 11 2006 at 4:38am
I want to be free to post pictures of my little children in the bathtub, so that my friends and relatives can enjoy them, without Child Services prosecuting me just in case there is a pedophile out there who takes an unhealthy interest.
Others are surrounded by fears, and legislate them to propagate them to those without fears.
Mark
Oct 11 2006 at 4:40am
I would like America to admit its own importance as the (currently) biggest economy in the world and take a world friendly stance on issues including greenhouse gasses, and pollution in general, but specifically related to large companies.
I would like to have my opinion taken seriously by the government when I say that America’s continuing stance on world politics including but not exclusive of: Terrorism, The Taliban, Bin Laden and Iraq, are making the world an increasingly dangerous place. Despite the appearance that this is legal, in fact numerous people have been arrested and true freedom of speech is not actually a reality in America.
I would like America to realise that the things that are making Middle Easterns angry toward the West, and especially America, is their continued arrogant assumption that they have some sort of actual authority in the region.
I would like America to cease its two faced, “Do as I say, not as I do” attitude toward Indian, Pakistani and Northern Korean Nuclear Projects. These projects are scary, but a lot less so than the concept that the country that is trying to stop you developing them is the only country that has ever actually used them in active warfare.
The only reason America can get away with these sorts of things is that it disguise’s the invasion of countries, the overthrow and installtion of friendly (read will sell us oil cheaper) governments, as the “War On Terrorism” a concept drummed up with fear mongering tactics that ultimately serve its own needs.
Unfortunately the growing power of the middle and east world will eventually bring an already crumbling America to its knees, and I for one can’t wait for the day, not of America’s defeat, (that will not happen) but of the reduction of America to the same status as any other large nation in the world. Instead of the world bully who rules the playground with fear and strength.
Liberty and Freedom???? Oh Please, pull the other leg. Its got nukes attached…
Hmm I seem to have got off topic a bit. Sorry.
Rant finished.
Ps. I am not Middle Eastern, American or even European. For those American who think that this must then exlcude me from any ethnicity on earth, look at an atlas. 🙂
regards
Muklin.
muklin@gmail.com.
Harald Korneliussen
Oct 11 2006 at 5:21am
I want to be free to trade my citizenship with a foreigner. He becomes a norwegian, I become a bosniak, ukrainian, pole or whatever.
Having this option would force decent people in the west to make some hard choices. It would also force less decent people to make a choice: do you want to keep those nice neighbours of yours, or do you want to stop extortion of other countries through tariffs, exploitation, corruption etc.?
Harald Korneliussen
Oct 11 2006 at 5:24am
Gosh, Aaron, for a moment I though you said you wanted to marry the handgun of your choice.
joe
Oct 11 2006 at 5:27am
Rape.
I would like to be able to have sex with any hot woman I see and can overcome.
That’s it really.
wavelet
Oct 11 2006 at 5:34am
drive a car without a seatbelt
ride a motorcycle without a helmet
take any mind altering drug that i choose
drink alcohol in a bar after 0200
drink alcohol in a public place
slap George W. Bush in the face… hard!
Horatio
Oct 11 2006 at 6:03am
Eliminate the fascists/socialists in government who stomp on my rights.
Aaron
Oct 11 2006 at 6:36am
Harald said:
>I want to be free to trade my citizenship with a >foreigner. He becomes a norwegian, I become a >bosniak, ukrainian, pole or whatever.
A variant on what you have said:
I want governments around the world (especially ours) to acknowledge that people, capital, ideas and goods want to move freely about the globe.
People should be able to “vote with their feet” and uproot themselves if their government is not treating them appropriately, and make their residence where they can carve out a better life.
meep
Oct 11 2006 at 7:11am
Huh, Omer K already beat me to it. I want to be able to buy raw milk. (I go =eh= on the IQ tests, as I’ve already got some great credentials and know too many useless high-IQ people.)
And get a gun and carry (open or concealed) without a permit.
And public consumption of alcohol would be nice.
Not have to register my kids with the govt.
That’s about all I want to do. Oh, and be able to shoot out the tires of people who run stop signs or red lights. Bugs the hell out of me.
Greg Geter
Oct 11 2006 at 7:34am
Free to carry a gun wherever I want, including airplanes.
red
Oct 11 2006 at 8:03am
I would like to be free to get a divorce as easily as a marriage license, and at the same reasonable price. Though I am not sure this answer applies to the question. Otherwise, I would like to be free to physically assult all the sick fuckers who have abused, neglected, and/or molested the children I work with everyday.
jungle
Oct 11 2006 at 8:43am
I’d like to be able to be naked anywhere.
noah
Oct 11 2006 at 8:59am
I’d like to be free to build mass produced breeder reactors.
King James
Oct 11 2006 at 9:00am
Smoke grass, drop A, shrooms and the like. Extremely silly this is prohibited
Timothy
Oct 11 2006 at 9:17am
Buy a vibrator, it is illegal in Texas. Get on an airplane without having my 4th amendment rights violated.
Valerie
Oct 11 2006 at 9:40am
I would like to be able to set up a lawn chair and hold up a sign protesting outside of a business without needing a permit.
I would like to be able to drive down the street safely and not have to worry about a hidden police car pulling out behind me.
Dude
Oct 11 2006 at 9:43am
1. Sunbathe and swim nude
2. Buy raw milk cheese from France
3. Carry a knife with a 3″ blade
4. Revoke rent control laws and rent apartments at market price.
5. Modify hardware that I’ve purchased
6. Take pictures of bridges and tunnels
Matt H
Oct 11 2006 at 9:44am
Hmm,
Point taken. However, when the property I wish to burn is in rural, secluded, sparsely populated areas with natural breaks such as cultivated land and roads it becomes harder to justify restritions, especially when weather condition have changed. A good case can be made for restricting the use of fire in populated areas or areas with few natural breaks and perhaps in limited cases when weather condition require.
The rent seeking I speak of is not from a desire by fire departments to increase in number or income, it’s from their desire to reduce the total number of fires they respond to. That’s an admirable goal. I certainly don’t want to see valued property destroyed and I have had some of my really valuable property destroyed by accidental fire. However, the problems occur when the restriction on burning, or outdoor ignition sources in the case of welders, adversely impacts the ability of people to maintain and improve their property or earn a living.
Ivan
Oct 11 2006 at 9:47am
You can people from other countries. You can’t import them.
What do I want?
I’d like to freely violate every patent and copyright.
Government enforced monopolies are bad. Patents don’t protect real people. For normal people, the problem isn’t piracy but obscurity.
Secrets are FAR more valuable than patents, and don’t require government enforcement. Open creativity is more valuable than idolatry.
REd
Oct 11 2006 at 10:07am
I would like to be free to choose which school my child will attend since public schooling is mandated. 30 years and still desegregating. No one is happy about it, schools are worse, and private school enrollment is up each and every year.
REd
Oct 11 2006 at 10:10am
Free to teach class with a .45 in my holster.
Anthony
Oct 11 2006 at 10:17am
I’d like to be able to publicly question and discuss the apartheid that exists in Malaysia – Malay Rights.
Never heard of it?
That’s because it is illegal here in Malaysia to even question why the Muslim Malays (they are born Muslim and cannot convert) have guaranteed placement in the university even if their grades are awful, they get to buy houses up to 10% less than everyone else even if they are a millionaire – 90% of government jobs go to them.. They are the majority – and get all the perks. Please don’t buy Malaysian products (intel celeron, xbox) – don’t visit – go to Thailand, much nicer place for a vacation.
Mark Horn
Oct 11 2006 at 10:17am
I’d like to be free to get my home inspected by whomever I wish instead of only the “licensed” inspectors. It’s currently illegal in my state to have a home inspected (for pay) by anyone who’s not licensed:
http://www.ncdoi.com/OSFM/Engineering/HILB/Documents/NCHILBStatutes.pdf
That’s the specific answer that’s impacting me immediately. A more general answer is that I’d prefer licensure be optional from the buyer’s perspective. I should be allowed to hire anyone to do any work based on my own ability to assess their quality. I should not be required to hire based on anyone else’s criteria.
Phil
Oct 11 2006 at 10:24am
I would like to be able to teach undergraduate courses based on my abilities as a teacher in that subject, rather than based on what degrees I happen to have in that field, or even on what courses I have passed in that field.
Bob
Oct 11 2006 at 10:51am
Phil,
You are free to do that, but universities are also free not to hire you!
My answer: I want to be free to put on a home addition without having two dozen busybodies from the city screwing with me every other day.
Survivor
Oct 11 2006 at 11:30am
Smoking in restaurants? So you want to make me breathe in your disgusting smoke and get sick from it while I’m trying to enjoy my meal? No thanks. Same reason you can’t go around spraying acid and hitting random people with it. You should be free to do what you want, as long as it doesn’t hurt me.
Jeff Bauer
Oct 11 2006 at 11:31am
Operate a portable cell phone jammer.
Red
Oct 11 2006 at 11:40am
I would like to be able to buy lab chemicals and equipment for my expirements (not for drug use, losers) without being red flagged for nearly everything, and without needing excessive and impossbile to obtain permits and licenses, and without GIVING UP MY RIGHT OF SEARCH AND SEASURE. (forgive my spelling)
Ed
Oct 11 2006 at 12:08pm
I want to dismantle the FDA.
I want to buy raw milk (which is far healthier than pasteurized, when properly handled). Any farm should be able to sell whatever the heck they want without a license.
I want the FDA to stop regulating what individuals and businesses can say about health. Did you know they actually raided strawberry growers for claiming that strawberries can prevent certain illnesses?
The FDA manages to suppress both high-tech innovation and low-tech common sense approaches to health. And this country’s health happens to suck right now.
marklar
Oct 11 2006 at 12:39pm
I want to be able to buy bourbon at Safeway.
liberty
Oct 11 2006 at 1:02pm
A lot of these (wow, more comments than I have ever seen here before) are about direct consumer purchasing restrictions.
What about free to buy products that simply don’t exist because of government regulations higher up or are very expensive because of those restrictions. For example, Canadians are not free to purchase private healthcare and hence drug companies are not *able* to make a profit; hence Canadians are not free to buy *any* medicine — except as an import.
What are some of those in the US? Free to get competitively priced health insurance, for example?
EverydayEconomist
Oct 11 2006 at 1:08pm
One word: Copyright.
I would like to see works where the creator is dead pass into the public domain, especially secondary characters, or less used works.
That means you Micky, Donald and Goofy.
I would also like to see different regulation regarding patents, so that the patent duration fits the item being patented.
Paige
Oct 11 2006 at 1:58pm
I would like to be able to get naked when ever and where ever I want. Really now, what’s the harm in a little nudity?!
Aftin Crowe
Oct 11 2006 at 2:12pm
I would like to be able to go to school with out all of the requirements of standard test. I feel that test just make students memorize facts and not really learn what they should from the class. I think students would learn and enjoy school much more if they didn’t have so many restrictions on what they had to take and how many test they had to pass.
Martin Kelly
Oct 11 2006 at 3:12pm
Abolish contracts of employment.
I mean, do you actually want to be bound by law to a customer service job?
BLNTDONE3
Oct 11 2006 at 4:59pm
TO BE ABLE TO JUST DOWNLOAD AND NEVER FEEL LIKE IM BRAKING THE LAW
Scott
Oct 11 2006 at 6:17pm
I would like to be able to shoot out the tires of cars who honk repeatedly in front of my building or play music too loud.
Allen
Oct 11 2006 at 6:19pm
“You should be free to do what you want, as long as it doesn’t hurt me.”
I agree. That’s why I’m lobbying the government to stop you from driving.
Omer K
Oct 11 2006 at 6:25pm
Yeah I hear you. Thomas Sowell has an entire chapter dedicated to that in his book “Affirmative Action around the world: An Empirical Study” Well worth the read.
Dont worry, within a decade or two China will become a true blue economic powerhouse, and with their policy of encouraging their diaspora to return, soon the chinese will leave Malaysia (Malaysia is 30-40% Chinese, 10% Indian, rest Malay, with the Malays mooching off of everyone else).
1badfc3
Oct 11 2006 at 6:27pm
Id like to be able to buy and smoke weed legaly even if its just in the privacy of my house or property. Weed being legal should come soon. It can be used for the same thing as trees are used for-paper-etc. and it dosent take as long to regrow acre of weed as to an acre of trees. Leave the trees alone and legalize weed!!!! Weed is no worse than beer or liquor. In fact id rather ride in a car with some one high than some one drunk… so it may take a little longer to get to the place your going. Oh and its not a gate way drug thats bull sh*t just anothert excuse to make it illegal. Come on now its legal in canada and mexico and other countries. I think there would be less violence and crime if it were leagal in the u.s.????
Ray G
Oct 11 2006 at 7:40pm
This might be too broad, but I would like to be free to use my mind wherever I was able to show myself capable. I dropped out of college, and have worked my way into the “white collar” world, but there are still many doors closed to me of course.
I know, I should go back to school, and I will. For now however, I’m simply frustrated.
CalcaMutin
Oct 11 2006 at 7:56pm
What about purchasing stuff with foreign currencies and banking freely in foreign banks?
Douglass Holmes
Oct 11 2006 at 9:06pm
I would like to be free to sell my body parts. Why do we sign over our body parts to people who have no accountability to us? I would rather make arragnements with a life insurance company that would get to sell any valuable body parts at my death for a break in my premiums while I’m alive. I would trust a profit driven firm more than the organ distribution system that now exists. Next time I get my driver’s license, I will not sign the organ donation form on the back. There should be a marked for body parts.
Jason
Oct 11 2006 at 10:43pm
I’d like to be able to own a handgun, which D.C. bans completely. This inability has had a tangible effect on my pocketbook and choice of where to live, as I’m paying considerably more rent in an area where the crime rate is very low, when I would’ve (seriously) preferred saving some of that money for other purposes and living in an area with a moderately higher rate of crime, had I been allowed to own a firearm. This doesn’t even hit upon the other tradeoffs involved, such as that I’m living farther from my workplace than I would like, because it is safer — assuming that I can’t legally play a very meaningful role in protecting myself — to live farther out.
Eric Brailsford-Cato
Oct 11 2006 at 11:07pm
I want to be able to choose when i can drink alcoholic beverages. I think it is crazy that residents of the U.S have to be 21 to drink. In the rest of the world it is 18 or they dont have an age limit at all. If young americans grew up around alcohol and, and were taught by their parents, they would drink responsibly and it would in turn, eliminate alot of abuse of the substance
Slavisa
Oct 12 2006 at 9:01am
1) Not to have to buckle up in car.
2) To buy contact lenses here in US without prescription — FDA again.
Matt
Oct 12 2006 at 12:03pm
2 wives
flyboy
Oct 12 2006 at 3:22pm
This was the most honest answer so far……
joe writes:
Rape.
I would like to be able to have sex with any hot woman I see and can overcome.
That’s it really.
Posted October 11, 2006 05:27 AM
Kwix
Oct 12 2006 at 3:25pm
I want the right to marry whomever I choose, so long as they consent(and are of an age to do so), be it male, female, one of each, whatever. The government has not right to interfere in personal transactions of any sort, legal or economic.
Matt's Wives
Oct 12 2006 at 3:28pm
We would each like 2 husbands.
chris
Oct 12 2006 at 3:35pm
Ditto on buying raw milk. The only currently illegal drug I’d like to consume legally is ecstasy, with the added bonus that I’d have a clue about whether the pill is what it’s supposed to be.
I’d like to be able to buy cigarettes without being carded. I’m 35 years old and having to show ID at my age is silly enough, but I would extend this even to teenagers.
Anonymous for now
Oct 12 2006 at 4:36pm
Hard drugs. Mainly heroin.
I do them under prohibition but they’re hard to come by and dangerous to be stopped with.
(Social barriers would break down once availability become widespread, as plenty of people are able to do hard drugs responsibly and could come out of the drug closet.)
Michael F. Cannon
Oct 12 2006 at 4:40pm
To carry a gun in the only place I feel the need — the place I work and the only place I’ve had a friend murdered — Washington, DC.
Laffy
Oct 12 2006 at 5:04pm
Id like to be able to murder, steal, rape and enslave without consequence. Basically, be all powerful dictator.
Lisa Casanova
Oct 12 2006 at 5:08pm
I want to be able to get innovative drugs for my Crohn’s disease without having to beg the FDA for permission.
I want to be able to get painkillers for my CD without having to beg a doctor who’s afraid of the government.
Chad
Oct 12 2006 at 5:25pm
Take care of my family’s health care, education, and retirement without substantial interference from the government.
Boy, that is asking a lot.
Number four would be addressing our ridiculous alcohol policy, if I were still under 21.
bruce
Oct 12 2006 at 5:34pm
At my blog I recently listed all the rights I have or would like to have, and how many dead children those rights are/would be worth:
http://brucem.livejournal.com/55557.html?mode=reply
I did this because at the end of the day, this is how we measure the value of all our rights (more fully explained on my blog).
masterchief
Oct 12 2006 at 6:05pm
I would like to ride a motorcyle without a helmet and at any speed I wish on the highway.
I would like to buy a fully automatic ak/47 with a 30 round clip and a silencer to thin the dove population whenever the spirit moves me.
I would like to drive to Mexico or Canada without having to stop at the border.
Jonathan
Oct 12 2006 at 6:39pm
I would like to travel abroad without a passport.
I would like people to be free to come to America (did I mention that I love Mexican immigrants – the REAL proof that capitalism works).
I loved the one about trading citizenships – that’s the best idea I’ve heard in a long time. It would have been a terrible consequence of my birth if I had to grow up under the Soviet system or the like, never with any glimpse of freedom. Besides, I’d like to see a few socialist idiots see what it’s really like – and you know they would want to try.
I want host my party tonight without fear that I will be prosecuted for underage friends of mine freely drinking alcohol by their own choice and under their own responsibility.
I want to open my own “free trade” coffee shop on the edge of campus to compete with the “fair trade” (don’t make me laugh) shop sponsored by campus with its $3 coffee
I want to start my own railroad
I want to own land in Alaska (do a little research)
I want to speed
I want my employer to be able to fire this guy who really, really pisses everyone off
I want to force the little punk who smeared pizza on my car to wash it without compensation to him
I want to represent myself in court (technically, I can, but with all the Bar Association’s rules, there is no way that I really can – see collusion in restraint of trade again)
I want to open a fully nude strip club in town
I want to run for president (I’m under 35) or senate (I’m also under 27)
I want public executions for extreme cases of murder with substantial proof
I want to make sexual remarks to coworkers on the job (actually I do, because we’re all cool). Now if my employer wanted to fire me for it, I don’t have a problem with that
I want to have sex with an underage (yet somehow fully mature) friend
I want to get my Canadian friend a job in America
I want to NOT buy auto insurance
I want to build a bomb and blow something up on my property for my own amusement
I want my friends to be allowed to do their drugs
I want to turn my car into a taxi like someone earlier (I already deliver pizza for a living while in school – what’s the difference? The pay!)
I want to arrange boxing matches with my friends, pitting two men in a contest which they both consent to
I want no requirements for a marriage license
I want to open my own private road with my own set of regulations that you must follow if you want to drive on it. Unless I don’t like you – then you can’t drive on it.
I want to be exclusive in my business dealings – and be able to tell people to get the hell out when I want. That is, my business is my own private property. NOT public space.
Bob Goodman
Oct 12 2006 at 6:53pm
I second the firework making. And shooting them. I’d do a little more of both were it legal.
David Hutson
Oct 12 2006 at 7:20pm
I would like television and radio to be free of content restrictions (but what do I care really, I have satellite radio…)and even though I barely drink, I think drugs should be legal for my pothead friends.
Ty
Oct 12 2006 at 8:29pm
The freedom to use my property as I want. If I have a pond on my property I am not allowed to do anything with it or build next to it without getting all kinds of surveys and permits allowing me to build or restructure my “wetland”.
Swimmy
Oct 12 2006 at 8:52pm
Like a lot of others, I want the FCC out of television and the government out of entertainment. As a videogame player, I’m nervous about congress’ recent finger-wagging. It’s not as if an under-18 ban would affect me, it’s just that the atmosphere will encourage companies to create less graphic entertainment, leaving me with a flawed or incomplete final product.
Prof. Caplan, I don’t think you can brush aside the lower-taxes answer so easily! Part of Friedman’s major approach to economics in Capitalism and Freedom is that the government isn’t just taking our freedom through restriction–it’s taking our economic freedom through taxes, which are subsequently squandered or even invested in ways to harm us further. It’s an easy answer, yes, but as the saying goes, economic freedom is a large part of total freedom, and that especially applies to my freedom to spend my own money.
The Wine Commonsewer
Oct 12 2006 at 8:53pm
Freely travel the US and function in the culture without having to constantly show ID.
Buy prescription drugs over the counter instead of spending a half day of my valuable time with my doctor and giving him $50.00 to tell me what I already know. IE, that I need an antibiotic.
Drive without a license. Everybody knows how to drive. Those that don’t still get a license so what good is it? My mother got her first driver license by proxy. IE, my dad got it for her and then came home and taught her to drive.
Stevo Darkly
Oct 12 2006 at 9:15pm
I would like to be able to buy alcohol from my neighborhood supermarket after 1 a.m. This is when I need it most.
paco
Oct 12 2006 at 9:19pm
Operate my own “pirate” radio station and broadcast whatever I want, from explicit content to alternative news.
Grow “illegal” plants to sell in a free market to satisfy local demand.
Deface corporate billboards with grafitti.
Basic Hippie
Oct 12 2006 at 9:21pm
I’d like to be able to smoke a joint in a bar. Or on my patio without fear of someone crashing the doors down. Or in a park at sunset. Or…
Chris Monnier
Oct 13 2006 at 12:00am
* Buy prescription drugs and contact lenses without a prescription (and therefore without a doctor’s appointment). When I visited Amsterdam, I did something that’s illegal in the US…I bought contact lenses without a prescription!
* Drive without having a driver’s license
* Own a vehicle without registering it
* Own a car without being forced to have insurance on it
* Travel into and out of the country (the US) without a passport and without having to go through customs
* Get married without having to be licensed by the state
* Open a business and collect revenue without filing any paperwork
* Watch and/or listen to uncensored, non-tape-delayed network TV and radio
jaim klein
Oct 13 2006 at 1:55am
I want to be free of crazied, drugged people on the streets.
I want the FDA be stricter.
I want longer patent monopoly to incentivate the creation of useful new things, technologies and art.
I want to restrict women’s right to harass and terrorize men by accusing them of sexual innuendo and so.
I want totally free education for everybody at any age.
Noogie
Oct 13 2006 at 5:09am
Drugs. Legalizing drugs would make it so much easier for me to obtain them.
Alison
Oct 13 2006 at 7:37am
I want to be able to remove, or at least to skip watching ads/previews on DVDs that I purchase. I think it’s ludicrous that there are DVDs that I own which force us to sit through ads every time I (or, usually, my kids) want to watch that movie. The blocks on the DVDs don’t even allow fast-forwarding. aaaarrgh.
I also want to be able to transport in my vehicle as many people as I consider safe. Not just the number of people that correlate to the number of seatbelts.
Dan
Oct 13 2006 at 8:00am
Exercise my free speech rights 60 days before an election by buying air time/print space criticizing an incumbent politician. (How McCain-Feingold ever became law is a mystery to me.)
RobN
Oct 13 2006 at 8:48am
ditto on medicines
ditto on hiring undocumented people
I would like to be able to start a business, hire people, sell product without having to get permission.
I would like to be able to plant trees of my choice in my front yard.
I would like to be able to have a fence higher than 6 feet.
I would like to be able to “camp” in the National Forests for more than two weeks at the same location.
Krs
Oct 13 2006 at 8:52am
I want to be able to have sex with minors of both genders. The idea that age of consent should be set by governmental decree or that the majority should be able to inflict their limited morality upon others is absurd.
muklin
Oct 13 2006 at 9:20am
OMG. Guns guns guns guns guns. I know this point has been made before this but…… here goes.
What is the American love with guns?
Mr. Michael F. Cannon – How was your friend murdered?
And where do those guns come from?….. ?????
Do you think that these guns are lisenced?? Are they legally owned? No. But where they come from then? Well they’re stolen from your own houses. Or from K-Mart. Or Wal-Mart. But how come there are so many guns to be stolen from these stores. Well because the consumer demand for them is so high. A handgun must be the easiest thing to come by these days, when a 7 year old can aquire one and take it to school and kill another 7 year old!!! Which brings me to the next point. Who is a handgun going to hurt when you keep it in your house??
Why would you ever buy a gun then???
Dumb asses.
J
Oct 13 2006 at 9:23am
I want to be free to practice law with no restrictions. I would even accept some ethical restrictions, I’d even accept a provisioanl period, I’d even accept continued training. I’d maybe even accept having to graduate a law school. But no more.
Eric Hanneken
Oct 13 2006 at 11:53am
muklin wrote,
Your secondary source (Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence) appears to be misrepresenting at least one of its primary sources. According to the abstract of one of the papers they cited for these figures, the actual result was
In other words, the only self-defense uses that were counted were the minority of cases where a criminal was shot. The study did not include cases where would-be victims preempted violence by brandishing a weapon, nor did it include crimes that did not occur because would-be criminals decided they’d rather not risk injury or death from an armed target.
Jaap
Oct 13 2006 at 12:15pm
I want the freedom to distribute information without being subject to the government granted monopolies known insidiously as “intellectual property”.
Cryus
Oct 13 2006 at 12:35pm
I think consenual erotic cannibalism, as happened in the Armin Meiwes case, should be perfectly legal. What happens between loving partners, or a person and their food, is nobody’s business.
Speaking of food, I would allow food producers to follow the wisdom of the market in determining just how “safe” their food needs to be. If a product kills too many folks, the market will wipe it out. No need to turn our industry over to a bunch of Washington busy bodies and their special interest puppet masters.
Cryus
Oct 13 2006 at 12:36pm
I think consenual erotic cannibalism, as happened in the Armin Meiwes case, should be perfectly legal. What happens between loving partners, or a person and their food, is nobody’s business.
Speaking of food, I would allow food producers to follow the wisdom of the market in determining just how “safe” their food needs to be. If a product kills too many folks, the market will wipe it out. No need to turn our industry over to a bunch of Washington busy bodies and their special interest puppet masters.
voice of reason
Oct 13 2006 at 12:37pm
I think consenual erotic cannibalism, as happened in the Armin Meiwes case, should be perfectly legal. What happens between loving partners, or a person and their food, is nobody’s business.
Speaking of food, I would allow food producers to follow the wisdom of the market in determining just how “safe” their food needs to be. If a product kills too many folks, the market will wipe it out. No need to turn our industry over to a bunch of Washington busy bodies and their special interest puppet masters.
DaveJ
Oct 13 2006 at 11:38pm
Sell an organ.
Carry a firearm.
Use explosives.
Operate any motor vehicle.
Ingest any particular substance, for any particular reason.
Have a secure bank account.
Say whatever I want, as loud as I want, to as many as I want, about politicians within 60 days of the election.
Vote in an election that hasn’t been rendered meaningless by gerrymandering.
Have anyone I prefer assist in filling out / filing legal papers.
Travel without having to carry papers and show them to the various internal security police.
Hire / fire for whatever reasons I may have without worrying about losing my business every time.
All of the above are reasonable, responsible, and illegal (or at least require jumping through major hoops).
Nate
Oct 14 2006 at 12:22am
I want to do donuts in an empty snowy parking lot. And not pay big bucks for it if a cop shows up, like last time. (The judge said I was endangering myself.)
I want to go waterskiing at night. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of the lighting and visibility issues, I don’t want to get hurt out there any more than you do.
I want to buy Peach Schnapps & Triple Sec at the grocery store. (Go ahead and laugh, but I like the frou-frou drinks!)
I want to import a car without federalization doubling the total cost.
Some day, I might want a doctor to help me exit this world with the least possible pain for myself and my family, rather than languishing for years on a feeding tube.
I want to invite friends over for a party, and not worry that I’ll lose my house if the cops show up and find out they bought something forbidden.
Brian Hollar
Oct 14 2006 at 2:10pm
I’d have to agree with Dr. Caplan — I’m already free to do almost everything I want to do. If I had to choose something that personally affects me, I wish I could opt out of social security and take responsibility for saving for my own retirement.
If I could make one and only one change, it would probably be to give parents the freedom of school choice. I’m not a parent yet, but if/when I become a father, this would be a huge issue for me. I think it is an absolute travesty that we continue to force students from poor families to go to non-performing, non-safe schools. Middle and upper-class families have freedom of choice with schools by being mobile enough to move to good school districts and/or sending their kids to private schools. The poor do not have these options.
With the exception of education, I think Americans are incredibly well off when it comes to liberty. I was surprised by how most of the answers given have almost zero impact on the lives of most Americans.
I’ve been to a number of countries where people don’t have freedom to own property, start a business, drive on the road without getting stopped by the police for a bribe, or even get mail at the post office without having to open it up in front of “inspectors”. In comparison, most of what people are complaining about here seems relatively insignificant.
If people care so much about liberty, why aren’t they more concerned about it overseas? I have far more concern and sympathy about the lack of basic freedoms most North Koreans, Moldavians, and Haitians have than I do about the inability of Americans to buy dope at Walgreens.
See more of my thoughts in this post on my blog: http://thinkingonthemargin.blogspot.com/2006/10/what-do-you-want-to-be-free-to-choose.html
anonymous
Oct 14 2006 at 4:23pm
LSD
Peter Bjørn Perlsø
Oct 15 2006 at 7:43pm
Own firearms. (This is Denmark… :p )
Julie McCollum
Oct 16 2006 at 1:02am
I should be able to choose whatever i want freely as long as it falls under the constraints of the Constitution. those are the rights that are given to us as Americans. why do we have to lobby to have these freedoms?
jem
Cassandra
Oct 19 2006 at 9:18am
I want to be free to put a woodstove in my garage without having to have a secondary heat source.
I want to be free to own a restaurant and allow people to smoke whatever they want while on my private property
I want to be free to smoke marijuana without worrying about losing my job
I want to be free to build an addition on to my house without having to get a permit and an inspection
I want to be free to travel without a passport
I want to be free to build my own car and drive it on the road
I want to be free to check into a hotel without giving my name
I want to be free to open a bank account without giving my name
I want to be free to walk down the street without getting surveilled
I want to be free to let my cat out without having to post bail if she’s picked up
habman
Oct 19 2006 at 10:37am
I want to be free to engage in commerce, live my life, enjoy my family, property, drink, smoke, friends and entertanments free from government interference.
I know I am expecting alot, but I’m just like that!
Baklavey
Oct 19 2006 at 12:52pm
I want to be free to make and sell drugs with out permission. Buy and sell weapons with out license. Alter my home and property as I wish. Travel wherever I like with out passport. Accept precious metals only, for purchasing of my products. Buy and obtain sovereingty over once public roads. Engage in business with out license, telling any authorities, etc…
Reb
Oct 19 2006 at 2:11pm
I would like to get up in the morning and go about my day knowing that I need never see nor hear from the so called govt or its representitives, knowing that my inalienable rights were not going to be called into question by anyone who could or would mess with them and to know that as long as I did not violate the liberty of another person I could go about my business and if I were violated that I would be able to deal with it and not have someone saying that I can’t,”Perfect Liberty” the right to be left alone!
Kevin S. Van Horn
Oct 19 2006 at 2:20pm
Choose for myself what vaccinations I and my children receive.
Choose for myself what kind of education to provide my children, without having to follow any state requirements.
Travel by plane without being searched, wand-raped, and generally treated like a criminal.
Raise money for a business enterprise without clearing it with the FCC first.
Take a job without first proving I have the government’s permission to work.
Travel abroad and return without showing any stinking ID.
Buy allergy medicines in whatever quantity is convenient to me, without getting a doctor’s permission slip first.
Drive without a driver’s license or car registration.
Nate
Oct 20 2006 at 12:58am
It’s depressing to see how many libertarians are just in it for the drugs.
And how many seem to think that it’s the government (not private industry) that requires things like drug testing at work, ID requirements, etc.
And it’s interesting how many libertarians think that libertarian control of government would mean abolishing copyright, trademark, patent, and other laws. Maybe I missed that memo – where did that idea come from?
And FYI, if you live in the US can can drive a car you build yourself. A big chunk of the kit car industry is basically small-time auto manufacturers that get around a bunch of legal restrictions by having the customers do some of the assembly themselves.
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