Where do we go from here? Things are about to get very interesting

By David McElroy · September 25, 2011

Most of us know what we don’t like about our current political systems. When we share our frustrations, we hear the inevitable question: What can you do about it? I think we’re getting closer to answering that question. Soon, it’s going to be time for you to decide which path to follow.

When I’ve talked here in the past about potential alternatives to sticking it out under the current system — or even worse systems, in the case of the places some of you are reading from — the answers have had to be pretty theoretical. We’re at a point at which the theoretical takes halting steps to become the possible and then the practical. And that’s when it gets exciting.

One of the most exciting projects in the world right now is going on in Honduras. It’s not the final goal of complete independence that I’d like — when people can build their own countries as easily as they can start companies today — but it’s a huge step in the right direction. It has the potential to be a game-changer for those of us who believe that economic and other freedoms can give people a chance to bring themselves out of poverty and find a better way to live.

In late July, Honduras approved a constitutional change that’s going to allow groups to petition to start new cities — charter cities or free cities, for instance — on undeveloped land in the country. In the new cities, the applicable law will be Hong Kong law and economic freedom (or better), according to Michael Strong, who is working closely on the project.

I’m telling you about this now because there’s something coming up later this week that I’d like to encourage you to watch. (And you know that I don’t watch television, so it has to be special for me to encourage it.) John Stossel has a show on the Fox Business Network looking at the question of “What if Libertarians Were in Charge.” As the final segment, Strong and his wife, Magatte, will be discussing how free cities will reduce poverty and create jobs, hope and prosperity in the developing world.

I’ll mention it again later this week, but here are the times: Thursday, Sept. 29, at 10 p.m. eastern; Saturday, Sept. 30, at 9 p.m. eastern; Sunday, Sept. 30, at midnight eastern; and Sunday, Oct. 1, at 9 p.m. eastern.

Sometime later in the week, I’ll also be directing you to a new website that will go live explaining all about free cities and their potential to bring much higher levels of freedom and prosperity.

So now that there’s an alternative to work toward — one that’s about to get off the ground as a real, pragmatic alternative in Honduras — we’re much closer to answering the question of what can be done. It’s just a first step, but it has the potential to be an interim step toward something much bigger that can bring real competitive governance in the long run.

No matter what your motivation, this has the possibility of being a game-changer. It’s a chance to show that more economic and social freedom can create prosperity, but it’s also an opportunity to lay the foundation for changing an entire country. Honduras is poor and has many people with little hope of a better future economically. The free zones will create jobs and wealth that will change their lives and create tremendous opportunity for those of us who would like to work with people’s social and spiritual needs. Any time a society is undergoing huge changes, people are open to considering things they wouldn’t have considered before. It will be an exciting time and it will require people who are willing to sacrifice and work hard — in a place that’s not going to be terribly developed at first — in order to build new enterprises and help change the world for the people who live there.

Most people aren’t going to want to go be a part of it. I understand that. (It’s something that I probably will want to be a part of if I can.) But even if you don’t want to directly be a part of it, it has the chance of having a ripple effect in the rest of the world — by showing what can be done when you allow people to be free.

This is a future I can be happy about — helping work to build a free society and also working to meet the needs of local people who are desperate. I don’t know whether that appeals to you, but it makes me a lot more excited than staying here in my nice little suburb and wishing I could change things.

I’ve always wanted to change the world. This seems like a good small way to start, in a way that can meet physical, financial, educational and spiritual needs of poor people who can be set free in many ways.

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Lucy just made possible friends with two little girls, but the girls are more enthusiastic so far than she is. Joy, 5, and Hope, 6, just moved in with their grandmother on my street. I didn’t know this, but while Lucy and I were walking, I heard a tiny voice from the darkness cry out, “Hi, doggie!” It took me a minute to figure out where the voice was coming from, but once I did, their grandmother, Rose, came out onto the porch and gave the girls permission to pet Lucy, which delighted the girls. Joy said she wasn’t allowed off her porch since she had socks and no shoes. Lucy was shy, but allowed them to pet her a bit, while the girls marveled about how soft she is. I hope Lucy will let them be her friends. It’s a joy to see how far Lucy has come since she came to live with me. She’s nothing like the “special needs dog” who I was told would never get close to anybody.

I’ve never taken YouTube very seriously as a publishing platform — not enough to do anything more than post the occasional random video — but I’ve started laying a foundation for doing more with it in the future. I created and uploaded some simple branding to my longstanding YouTube channel this weekend and I’ll be doing more in the future. The channel has only about 300 subscribers, so if you feel so inclined, I would appreciate it if you’d subscribe. As with all things on social media, subscriber counts and views help me to get future content seen more easily by others. Click here to visit the channel.

Don‘t appeal to any piece of paper or any tradition as the source of your freedom. You don’t have “constitutional rights.” You have natural human rights. If you appeal to a document as the source of your rights, you are admitting that politicians can come along and amend your rights at any time. A right is yours because you are a human being, but it means nothing if you don’t have the means and the willingness to defend it. The sad truth today is that almost all of us are at the mercy of politicians who ignore our natural rights — and they get away with it only because they have educated our fellow humans to believe we have no legitimate choice other than obedience. Rebellion without the ability to win is insane — so don’t make this argument to police, politicians or judges — but it costs you nothing to come to a clear-eyed understanding today of what your rights really mean and where they come from.

Spring always reminds me how glorious blue skies and green leaves can be. When I was in the second grade, Mrs. Arnold chastised me for using those colors together. She said they didn’t match. Mrs. Arnold had very specific rules about which colors could be used together. We couldn’t deviate from her rules. When I used green and blue together in one of my class drawings, she forced me to do it over, since she said those colors shouldn’t be used together. I was a polite and obedient child, but I asked her why they didn’t match — since God used them together in nature. She was exasperated and told me to follow her rules. So when I see glorious beauty which mixes green and blue — such as this photo I took just outside my office Friday afternoon — it always reminds me of Mrs. Arnold. It reminds me that she was wrong. And it’s a good reminder for us all. There are established rules about a lot of things. Many of those are good rules. But if an expert tells you something and you know he’s wrong, you might need to take a chance. He might be just as mistaken as Mrs. Arnold was.

In the coming months and years, we’re going to need inventive and productive people pursuing things that matter. We’re going to need smart and self-directed men and women who will find ideas and create enterprises that will help bypass the political class and build a new and better society. But everything I see in media right now seems geared toward telling people how to entertain and amuse themselves. The stories are full of advice about what to binge on Netflix and what games you should be playing while you’re stuck at home. We desperately need to ignore this advice and be looking toward building new futures instead. Being passive consumers got us where we are today. It’s time that we reclaim our former role — the one that made this country wealthy — as productive and free people who build far more than we consume. This could be a great opportunity for those who will take it. Turn off Netflix. Put down the video game controller. We need new ideas, new achievements, new goals — not more coach potatoes. This is the time to be thinking and creating and planning for the future that you and I both want.

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