December 22, 2003

I like to have my ideas challenged. The libertarian choir's sweet singing is nice much of the time, but I'm getting to the point where I am at least familiar with all the basic arguments for freedom. And although I'm still pleasantly surprised now and again by a pro-freedom connection I'd not come across before (Mark Gillespie's piece on Taoism and freedom being a good recent example), few things outside of complex academic theory really challenge my mind. Little did I realize when a slight, good-looking man approached me at the Free State Project's Grand Western Conference back in May what I was in for ...

That man, Richard Rieben, may be one of the most original thinkers in the freedom movement today. He's a philosopher, that much is clear. Richard is also a very astute observer of individuals and systems. That's one of the keys to understanding his writing, I believe, because many in the freedom movement have a rather disconcerting (to me, anyway) tendency to think of groups as simply collections of individuals. While they are that, what often happens in groups -- and other systems of human interaction -- transcends a simple summation. Richard has traveled the world, observing and thinking, and his writing reflects a view of liberty that is fairly free of the cultural constraints that often weigh upon others' works. This is perhaps most obvious in his book Handbook for Liberty.

Handbook for Liberty is a slim volume that is deceptively easy to read. The words are all plain English, and put together in a straightforward way -- no complicated sentences with interwoven dependent clauses, no newly-minted seven-syllable words that attempt to communicate a concept but merely serve to confuse -- so a reader may, if he or she chooses, simply read along attentively and get a great deal out of the book. If a reader chooses otherwise, and really thinks about what Rieben is saying, deeper levels of understanding open up. Either way, it's an excellent primer on creating liberty.

The subtitle clues one in to the thesis Rieben explores; it is Boundaries for Preserving your Humanity while Living amongst Humans. Rieben asserts that group forces (which can encompass many things at varying levels, including language, culture, history, and political power) have co-opted the battleground, making it virtually impossible for liberty to flourish. His perspective of libertarian cat-herding is crystal clear in this statement:

But we have failed to discern that no empowered group is decent, and especially not our own group over us. (p. 12, bold added)

Ho hum, you may be thinking, so this Rieben guy is an anarchist. You'd be wrong. Rieben claims that for liberty to work, we need protection from groups, and that anarchy doesn't provide that. So what will? According to Rieben, "a political system of liberty [that] disempowers all groups" will. In Rieben's view, culture -- no matter the flavor or form -- is a "despotic value" that is poison to liberty. He devotes an entire chapter to showing how libertarianism -- the group culture that professes to value liberty -- poisons liberty as well. Agree with him or not, a reader with integrity will have to confront the fact that Rieben has some powerful evidence supporting this contention.

So how does one overcome this and truly create a liberty-loving society? I won't give away Rieben's answer, but I will say that the answer is right under our noses, where it has been all along. It's so simple that we often fail to see it -- some refuse to see it. I recognized elements of his approach when I was a young girl, but despite that insight I often fail, still, to be mindful of it.

Aside from the mystery answer, Rieben also offers a good deal of practical advice, again in very straightforward form. It's almost as if he foresaw the Free State Project, along with its challenges, and is speaking to its members and those considering becoming Porcupines.

In Handbook for Liberty, Rieben has elucidated the perpetual struggle between individual and group that as a psychologist I have long sought to understand. In doing so, he illuminates a way for freedom-loving individuals to shrug off many of the challenges and stresses that accompany their activism, and to cut the chains that bind us most tightly. It isn't easy -- Rieben makes no bones about that. The tug of war between group and individual will always pull, even for those who seem to value individualism. Are we therefore always doomed to be pulled down the gravity well of the group? Perhaps, but if we're armed with Rieben's insights, we'll at least be able to resist more effectively.

Order Handbook for Liberty directly from Berapa Press, list price $10.75.