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David McElroy

An Alien Sent to Observe the Human Race

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Do you obey petty rules? Or do you fight The Man in hopes of change?

By David McElroy · June 2, 2011

It’s an age-old question for people who face authority they don’t want to obey: Is it better to quietly follow orders to avoid punishment or is it better to defy authority and fight for change?

The answer isn’t as clear-cut as it might first appear. What’s more, there’s no one correct answer. But I want to tell you the conclusion I’ve come to for myself.

Many of my friends are committed activists for freedom. Because of that, some of them attend various protests and engage in provocative acts of civil disobedience. I have a lot of respect for people who take this route, and I understand why the make the choice they do. There have been times in history when such attempts have brought about change, such as during the U.S. civil rights movement of the ’50s and ’60s. I don’t happen to believe it’s the right approach today, though, so it’s not my way. However, I’m not going to tell other people what’s right for them, because a) it’s their choice and b) I might be wrong.

If the only way — or even the best way — of achieving a more free society was to get the state’s co-operation in modifying its rules, I might possibly choose their way. But I think it’s ultimately smarter and more useful to find solutions outside the state entirely.

The route I choose is to obey the rules as much as possible — out of pragmatism, not out of love or duty — and look for ways to legally and safely move beyond the statist system we’re a part of now. If I believed there were no alternative to the current state system, I might be frustrated and end up engaging in civil disobedience or protests myself. But I believe change is possible otherwise, so I think the pragmatic thing is to obey the rules to stay out of trouble — all the while looking for principled and pragmatic ways out.

With the growing “free cities” movement, there are going to be opportunities for change around the world very soon. I don’t know for sure where the first successes of that approach might be, but I believe building something constructive — within a framework where others have an incentive to allow it to happen — is a far smarter route to change than protesting petty rules.

If you choose to protest petty laws and petition the state to give you more freedom, I respect your choice and I support your right to do it. But it’s not going to be my way. I want change that’s much bigger than that.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: charter cities, civil disobedience, free cities, laws, libertarian, pragmatism, principle, rules, statism

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Briefly

I got a note today from a woman who lives on the other side of the country and has a young son: “[Young son] says that we should meet you sometime. He just said of your profile picture that he likes your face. I have shared photos and videos of Lucy and the cats since he was really little.” This made me profoundly happy. I trust the intuitive judgment of children about people. Little ones tend to read character very well. Adults are easy to fool, but it’s much harder to fool children about who you really are. I hope I do get to meet this young man and his mom one day.

I’m in the McDonald’s near my house, sitting near the play area. There’s one little girl — maybe 5 years old — who’s here with her father. He’s about my age, so he’s older than the typical father of a 5-year-old. Even though she’s the only kid here, the girl is giggling and having fun by herself. She periodically cries out, “Daddy, look!” And then she shows off something she thinks is impressive. Then, just a moment ago, she called out very sweetly, “Daddy?” He patiently said, “Yes, sweetheart.” And then she said, “Daddy, I love you so much!” And then she went back to playing as her father looked on with happiness and love.

When I first discovered the idea of unschooling, it was so radical that I had trouble finding people who even knew what it was. Today, the idea is mainstream enough that major media outlets sometimes cover the topic in a favorable way. The Sunday newspaper supplement called Parade had a strongly favorable article about unschooling a couple of weeks ago which explained what it is and how it’s different from homeschooling. It’s less structured. There’s no curriculum. There’s plenty of flexibility. And there are no tests and grades. (Most people today are shocked to learn that testing and grading didn’t exist in schools through history until the last couple hundred years.) If you want your children to think for themselves instead of following the herd mentality that pervades every school I’ve been part of, you owe it to yourself — and to your kids — to consider taking control of your children’s development back from governments. Just because you and I survived institutional schools doesn’t mean it’s the wisest choice. Start by reading the Parade article. It might open your eyes.

In the Birmingham suburb of Hueytown, the Golden Gophers of Hueytown High School had just defeated the Eufala Tigers in the second round of the state playoffs Friday night. It’s not a game that will mean a lot to anybody outside those two communities, but it meant everything to the players and coaches involved. After the game, Hueytown defensive coordinator Trent Campbell was celebrating with his victorious players when he noticed Eufala offensive lineman Dallas Ingram distraught and alone. Campbell left his players to console the distraught Ingram and photographer Dennis Victory caught photos of the pair together. “My reaction was to go see about him, because I’ll see my guys on Sunday and next week and the rest of their high school careers, but that’s a young man we watched on film for a week and studied and he’s a fantastic player,” Campbell said later. “And it wasn’t too long ago when I played my last high school football game and I know what that feeling is and you sort of never forget that. I went to tell him what a great player I thought he was and what a great game I thought they played and I wish nobody had to lose that night because it was an incredible game.” This is what sports at the high school level should be about. Winning is great and winning is fun. But humanity and decency last longer.

I have changed radically about some things over the years, but probably none of those changes have been as great as the ways that I feel about people who are viewed as evil or criminal. When I was young, I was eager to see criminals or foreign political enemies killed. Today, I don’t view such people though rose-colored glasses and I don’t view them as blameless folks who are going to turn their lives around if we just think happy thoughts. But I can’t celebrate the death of anybody, even if he might deserve it in some ways of thinking about it. Even if it’s sometimes necessary to kill someone — and those cases are often debatable — I regret the death of someone who will now never have a chance to discover love and change his life. There are some evil people in this world, but I can’t celebrate their deaths.

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