How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World: a Handbook for Personal Liberty by Harry Browne

Harry Browne was an American writer, politician, and investment advisor.

He was the Libertarian Party's presidential nominee in the U.S. elections of 1996 and 2000.

He authored 12 books that in total have sold more than 2 million copies.

The book covers three broad areas:
"minimize the government's intrusions in your life"
"reduce the demands others make upon your time and resources"
"how to deal with people who call you "selfish" when you don't give them what they selfishly want"

The book was first published in 1973. It has been updated for present times. The editor admits that it is harder to be free today in an age of increasing government intrusion in our life. But it is still possible. The book explains how.

What does not lead to Freedom

"Hoping to be free, many people engage in continual social combat—joining movements, urging political action, writing letters to editors and Congressmen, trying to educate people. They hope that someday it will all prove to have been worthwhile."

"But as the years go by they see little overall change. Small victories are won; defeats set them back. The world seems to continue on its path to wherever it's going. Until they die, the hopeful remain just as enslaved as they've always been."

Why people not Free

"The freedom you seek is already available to you, but it has gone unnoticed. There are probably two basic reasons why you haven't taken advantage of that freedom.

One reason is that you're unaware of the many alternatives available to you."

"The second reason you're not free is because you've probably accepted without challenge certain assumptions that restrict your freedom."

Traps

The author talks of traps that trap us in despair.

Identity traps: someone tells you who you are.

Intellectual Trap is the belief that your emotions should conform to a preconceived standard.

Morality trap: belief that you must obey a moral code created by someone else.

Unselfishness trap: belief that you must put the happiness of others ahead of your own.

Group trap: belief that you can accomplish more by sharing responsibilities, efforts, and rewards with others than you can by acting on your own.

Government Traps: popular misconceptions about the nature of government: The belief that governments perform socially useful functions that deserve your support. The belief that you have a duty to obey laws. The belief that the government can be counted upon to carry out a social reform you favor. The fear that the government is so powerful that it can prevent you from being free.

Despair Trap: no way out.

Certainty Trap: assuming you need compelte information before you act.

"For instance Karl Hess decided he didn't want to attend high school—despite the compulsory schooling laws. So he registered at two different schools, then filled out transfer slips from each of them. Authorities at each school assumed he was at the other and no one ever bothered him about it again."

Government not as powerful as people believe

"If the government were as powerful as people seem to think it is, the war in Vietnam would have been won long ago."

"The government is an inefficient, bureaucratic mess. It isn't surprising that its programs always turn out to cost more than expected, that it almost never successfully completes a project, that bombers bomb the wrong cities in Vietnam."

"Slaves don't produce with the enthusiasm, incentive, and imagination that free people do. Bureaucratic programs just don't work as intended."

"The first principle in dealing with government, then, is: Don't be awed by it. "

"The second principle is: Don't confront the government." "A sure way to make your life miserable is to attack the government head on. Its resources are limited, and it can't waste them tracking down every possible violator of every law. But it will certainly aim its power at anyone who publicly defies it. So keep to yourself, do what you have to do."

"The third rule in dealing with government is: Don't organize. Don't get a large group of people together to defy tax laws, promote ways of circumventing the government, or openly violate regulations."

Act alone

"When you act alone, however, you're usually not worth the trouble."

"And when you act alone, you can easily and flexibly do whatever is necessary to stay ahead of the government. If new laws are passed, you can easily change your methods to continue doing what you want to do."

"No cumbersome, bureaucratic government can move as fast as an individual who's determined to stay ahead of it."

"I once had a similar experience. I was operating a small business in California—burdened with payroll taxes, bookkeeping requirements, and other regulations imposed by the government. There were Social Security taxes, unemployment insurance taxes, disability insurance taxes, and income taxes to be paid or withheld. They cost me money and time, and they reduced the take-home pay of my employees.

I regularly received notices from an organization whose purpose was to end payroll taxes. They requested funds, of course, and they also wanted me to join a protest movement to quit withholding taxes once the membership was large enough to be intimidating.

Naturally, I didn't get involved. Instead, I fired all the employees (including myself) and made contracts with each person for his services. Since I no longer had any employees, I no longer paid or withheld payroll taxes. No bureaucrat called on me to find out why the revenue to the state had been lost.

Meanwhile, the protest movement died its inevitable death, and other employers continued paying payroll taxes.

The "employees" of my company received an additional benefit."

All governments break their own laws and confiscate

"Thousands of once-rich Cubans who wish today that they'd been willing to commit the crime of sending their funds out of Cuba before the government confiscated them. They either thought they were helping their country by keeping their funds at home, or they counted on laws they thought would prevent confiscation, or they didn't want to take the risks involved in smuggling their funds out.

Their views have been shared by people in countries all over the world—people who always thought, 'It's different here.'

They failed to realize that no government obeys laws. It will change, overrule, ignore, or defy them whenever they get in its way. To count on the law to protect you is a grave mistake. Recognize, also, that you undoubtedly break laws continually. It's almost impossible to drive a car without breaking traffic laws. And most other kinds of laws are filled with contradictions that make nearly everyone a lawbreaker just by going about his own business."

"But don't be swayed by considerations of patriotism, "law and order" or national solidarity. Those things are only slogans designed to further the government's interests at the expense of yours."

"It has become progressively harder to elude the tax laws and regulations imposed by governments at all levels—governments that continue to get bigger, more expensive, and more intrusive.


"In general, government services are usually of very low quality. I often wonder, for example, if no education might not be better than some of the "free" education I see."


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