To Stand

Wrap Liberty's Flag around me, when I am marked to die in God's cause. It's better to die with honor intact than to suffer any blight of character. Such a martyrdom is equal to a throne in the Kingdom of Heaven. My duty is to stand as a man, in all the classical glory that entails; to labor drenched in sweat and caked in sawdust, to be riding the raging seas, to live under a tower of books, or live in suit, tie, and wing-tipped shoes. Work and family is the sum of a good man's life. This is gallantry. This is the warrior's code.

When at the end of days and the roll of honor is read, who's name will be written there? The Emperor's or the Plowboy's? I would hope that we each can be counted amid the rank of the righteous and the true. We'll be happy, and that in the face of how many trials rolled upon us before. Where will the sneers be of the skeptics in that day?

My duty, whether the end is grave, furnace, hell, heaven, or paradise is clear: to stand as a man. Never to surrender, never to be haughty, never to ride over the poor and meek, but to be the fiercest enemy to tyranny and sin as ever stood upon this earthy rock. That is the chorus I sing, and I will not recompose it. Truth, justice, honor is in the hand of God, may I live up to what he expects. 

Picture courtesey of Wikimedia Commons: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Jacques-Louis_David_-_Oath_of_the_Horatii_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg

Athenian Empire Killed Athenian Democracy

The greatest threat to Athenian democracy was Athenian empire. As Athenian influence expanded and was maintained by force of empire, Athens internal democracy became unsafe. Athens, rather than making Greece safe for democracy, imperiled democracy's very existence. Ultimately, Athens grew into Empire by creating international government, where the power was placed in Athen's favor, allowing Athens to eventually absorb other states. This tremendous injustice, while spurring Athens on to imperial omnipotence, also predicted her downfall and eventual subjugation.

How this came to pass is as long as history, but much of the pieces came into place around 449 B.C. while in the aftermath of the Persian Invasion. The war with the Persians forged new powers in Greece and Athens became one of the foremost states alongside Sparta. Most of the lesser city-states were aligned behind the two monolithic giants in a primitive League of Nations called the Delian League. Perhaps a just political union between the separate Grecian cities would be a good thing, but the Delian League was not a servant of justice, but an Athenian tool to coerce the other political bodies in the league by exacting tributes from the rest.

Athens then became very rich, but increasingly unpopular until Sparta broke off to form the Peloponnesian League, brining many of the other states in the former league with them. In addition, many of the states subject to Athens and not inducted into the Peloponnesian League dissolved the political bands which connected them to the Delian League by revolting. With such tumult and injustice in Greece, the immediate recourse was to war: The Peloponnesian War. Which war forced Athens to suffer through deadly plagues, appalling ravages, and catastrophic defeats. The conclusion of the war found Athens soundly defeated and her former democracy corrupted and degenerate. In the end, Sparta acting as overseer, replaced Athenian Democracy with whatever governance Sparta saw fit to institute. After this new development, Athens fate was not always in Athenian hands, for after Spartan rule came Thracian, then Macedonian, Alexandrian, later followed by the Romans, Byzantines, and Ottoman Turks, among other subjugators throughout time.

History is a boneyard of dead empires and conquered peoples. Moreover, there seems to be no set cast, for one is king one day and vagabond the next. The tyrant ends his days being tyrannized it seems. It is a mystery, where the Western World would be if Athens, instead of exercising cruel dominion over her fellows, acted is justice with them. What if Athens, instead of enveloping nations against their wills, only took those into the fold that came willingly? Would the world be more politically stable?

Immortal Glory: The 25 Building Blocks That Will Exalt A Nation

In relation to the other ancient powers, Greece was less than a third world country. Where the Egyptians, Babylonians, and Persians lived in splendor and plenty, the Greek suffered amidst wretchedness and famine. Where the civilized ate cake and drank wine, the Greek was lucky to scrounge stunted grain and brackish water. Where other lands had Pyramids and Hanging Gardens, Greece had not even a hovel. If Greece were placed on a scale against any of these other powers, Greece would be catapulted up into the air. How did Greece against all odds rise to empire despite the whole wealthy world against them? Is it possible that other nations, states, and persons could  replicate the process? How? Perhaps we could venture to answer this question by using our understanding of Grecian history as a guide.

All the ancient sources agree that primeval greece was barbarous unto contempt; in fact Greece could have defined the meaning of barbarism itself. The 1828 Webster's Dictionary, however, defines "Barbarism" as "3. Rudeness of manners; savagism; incivility; ferociousness; a savage state of society."  (http://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/Bbarbarism) 

What did a barbarous Greece look like? Not pretty. There were no vineyards, houses, or fields; thus, there were few people, doomed to live in misery. There were however, lots of clubs and spears for these were the implements the people used to rob and murder each other. When anyone got anything of value, bandits were not far behind. When owning a week's worth of food will get you killed, it's better to just eat for today and pray for tomorrow. Attica (the future home of Athens) was especially poor and undesirable. While other lands abounded in natural resources, Attica was sparse and barren. Because none cared to rob and slaughter such poor men in a desolate land, Attica's population boomed. Eventually Attica could no longer support her population, and some were sent to populate Ionia. Then it was that civilization started and once brother stopped killing brother, families grew rich and happy together. Men were then able to keep the fruits of their labour without fear from their neighbor's greedy sword and became an industrious people: they built houses, formed pottery, plowed fallow lands, fished, and traded. At first their wealth remained local, but soon Phoenician traders became attracted to the growing markets in greece and it was from these traders that Greece learned her letters among many other arts. Once the Greek was able to read and write, they were able to compile their oral traditions into papyrus scrolls in order to preserve their thoughts, ideas, conquests, failures, arts, and religion. Because of this, the works of Homer were preserved and we know something of the earliest exploits of the Greeks: The Trojan War.

Prior to the Trojan war, the Greeks were not considered one people, but lived in very small communities. But with the passing of time, the political atmosphere was ripe for a unified effort, which took shape in the abduction of a Grecian woman by the name of Helen. The Greeks then banded together for the first recorded time and destroyed Troy. Years latter, Persia claimed a right to invade Greece, for they considered any attack on Asia and Troy to be an offense to them. Herodotus, the ancient historian, then gives account of the Persian War.

Prior to the Persian war, the Greeks had returned to their homeland and once more separated into their separate tribes and cities; but the Persian war was again to unite Greece to a public cause. Not all the Greeks joined the cause of Greece however, for the Persians were at that time the supper power of the world, having conquered Babylon, Assyria, Egypt, and a good part of western India. Greece was among the very few places in the civilized world left unconquered, causing many Grecian states to submit willingly to Persian rule. But some states were not to be conquered, for their Patriotism was fierce. Can you  guess which to cities resisted Persian invasion? Athens and Sparta. Athens supplied a navel defense against the Persians and Sparta Prepared a land force against the same. The battle of Marathon was Athen's war against the Persians and the battle of Thermopylae was the Spartan's. Both won great renown and their people, forged in adversity became powerful and Robust. Thus Sparta and Athens became the primary states in Greece and all lesser states became subject to them.

with the passing of the Persian invasions, Greece entered a new stage of turmoil, for Athens and Sparta were both entering imperial governments, and Greece they supposed, was not big enough for the two of them and the Peloponnesian War was ignited. Sparta won the conflict, but didn't stay on top for long. Wikipedia recounts the aftermath of this Grecian strife as: "Both Athens and Sparta were later overshadowed by Thebes and eventually Macedon, with the latter uniting the Greek world in the League of Corinth (also known as the Hellenic League or Greek League) under the guidance of Phillip II, who was elected leader of the first unified Greek state in history." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece#History)

Thus Greece became a unified body and grew in power and prestige. Phillip II, unified the Greeks, but his son Alexander The Great would lead Greece to become the new supper power. He launched an invasion of the Persian Empire backed by the combined might of all the Greeks, spreading a Greek empire to the ends of the earth. Greeks filled the known world with their culture. As a result, the Western World found her identity. Empires won quickly and by conquest, do not last long. When Alexander died, his empire followed him to his grave. All the same though, Greece became a force to be reckoned with and changed the corse of history permanently.

Greece went from the epitome of poor to the masters of the universe, but how? Through philanthropy?Did any nation raise Greece like a mother raises a child? No, at best Greece had a few trading partners in the Phoenicians, but the Phoenicians didn't go to Greece because they were generous, but because Greece had something to offer them. Moreover, Greece was invaded multiple times! yet she somehow came out on top! How does a bunch of waring tribes become a super power? Here is a list of building blocks from the Greek's example on how to become a super power:

1. Individuals stopped plundering each other. 
2. Man did not fear relentless slaughter
3. Population boomed
4. Man did not fear being plundered
5. industry boomed 
6. Man became rich
7. Trade boomed
8. Technology boomed 
9. Education became available
10. Some men became more powerful than others
11. Power centralized
12. The waring and plundering cities stopped robing each other
13. Cities united for a common cause
14. The anatomy of power was refined 
15. Population, industry, trade, wealth, technology, and education were revolutionized
16. Prosperity invited inner tumult and external invasion (Persian Invasions)
17. The people are refined and higher morals established 
18. Population, industry, trade, wealth, technology, and education are revolutionized
19. Power struggles
20. The anatomy of power is further refined 
21. Justice prevails over injustice
22. The cities and states become unified under one government
23. Population, industry, trade, wealth, technology, and education are revolutionized
24. Influence exponentially expands 
25. A super power is formed

Each instruction is built on top of the first. A population is not built from plunder and murder! A population, on the contrary, is built upon safety and a surplus of food (wealth). If once the blocks of civilization start to tower high, and a block on the bottom is removed, then the tower will fall. If a super power becomes tyrannical, blocks are removed and the power reduced. This was how Greece went from chump to champ.

While Greece did win a place in history, she did stumble a few times. If a nation is built off of not killing each other,  destroying Troy is not a constructive (nor humane) path to victory. In a similar manner, conquering the world and subjecting other peoples dose not open the door to salvation. Furthermore, overly centralized governments typically spell ruin for any nation who supports them. As is clear, Greece had shortcomings, but she still able to construct, and out of those 25 building blocks was able to erect a monument that will stand as long as man can read.

I often imagine that I can use the past to become a powerful seer, and am able to divine the future based on my knowledge. In doing this I wonder what the fates of nations will be. Perhaps the current superpowers will topple because they removed a vital block. Perhaps there are nations currently small and weak, whom will someday be grand super powers because of their diligence in placing block upon block. I don't believe I imagine in vein, for the signs are clear: If America dares remove her foundation, she will fall. If the barbaric nations build block upon block, they will inherit the world.

Sources:
http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.html
http://classics.mit.edu/Homer/odyssey.html
http://classics.mit.edu/Herodotus/history.html
http://classics.mit.edu/Thucydides/pelopwar.html
http://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/Bbarbarism
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greece#History

You, Thieves, and Hot Dogs: A Fable

Imagine that you are taking a stroll through the park when you are suddenly assailed by thieves, but before you are pilfered, the leader engages you in conversation in the most cavalier fashion: "I thank you generously for your contributions today, as you see, we are poor men, who would otherwise perish if it twern't for your kind soul."

And with that, he and his thugs proceed to brain you with a baseball bat and borrow your wallet. Afterwards the leader examines the contents of your wallet, he takes forty percent, and leaves the rest saying: "For milk and groceries. You are welcome. Come back in two weeks."

You walk away dazed, praying that the stolen money might actually do some good for the "poor" men, and not just enable them to live riotously. As you walk, you begin to recover some of your senses, including your sense of smell. Your clever nose quickly detects a park vendor selling hot dogs.  You realize that the beating has made you terribly hungry. You walk up to the cart decked in sausage links, and ask the man politely at what price his bratwursts are. You pay, and walk away happier than you arrived.

As you walk cradling your meal in your hands, you see a crowed surrounding a shouting man standing on a soap box. Normally, you might rather continue homeward, but a piping hot brat waits for no man, so you settle down on a park bench to eat and listen. The speaker shouted thus: "Everyone listen to me! A great evil has taken over our park!"

"Good!" you think to yourself while savoring the perfectly toasted bun. "Those park pirates are going to get it now!" Between the sweet relish and sweet revenge, you barely even feel the bump on your head anymore.

The speaker exclaims, "It is the evil of money grubbing hot dog vendors! They are strangling the poor with their twisted meats! They don't pay fair wages! They are deliberately poisoning us with processed meats! They have a monopoly on in-park food! You are tricked into buying their products through clever marketing schemes! They won't just give away hot dogs to disabled kids and single mothers! The hot dogs are greasy and the sellers are greedy! Hot dogs are built on minority privilege and class rule! Hot dogs stifle creativity! Vendors cut down rare trees in the Amazon to build their carts and hire seven-year-olds to work the meat grinders! Hot dog profits have rigged the 'Parks and Recreation' elections! Hot dog vendors only care about themselves and their own dirty self-interest; they don't care if hot dogs make you happy!"

The speaker finally took a breath and continued in a more rabble rousing manner: "What we need to do is to overthrow the cart! Let's seize the evil vendor's ill-gotten gains! Let's use that money to give to the poor desolates that sadly walk this park and whom will otherwise perish if it twern't for your kind souls!"

With that last remark your blood is boiling, for you knew that slogan all to well. All the speaker said may or may not have been true, but you knew this: that the vendor did you a service, and you paid him a service in return; but the stinking highway men, who claimed to be poor, clubbed you and stole a service from you without giving anything in return. You traded with the vendor using your freewill and were happier after you made the exchange. The poor thieves pounced on you like jungle cats and left you like a dying antelope.

Knowing all this you shout objection to this absurd plan only to be beaten again and stolen from, this time by the mob. Broken and bruised you make your sad way home, hoping that the vendor might be somehow spared the wrath of the vulgar mob. But, alas, the next morning as you walked through the park on your way to work, the vendor was gone and the cart lay on it's side. Empty.

Never again were delicious sausages sold in the park, and the mob, speaker, and the thieves ate all the hot dogs in a matter of hours. You resolved to avoid the park from then on, for all who walked through the park starved, were beaten, and stolen from until the park was made infamous and none wandered there. The poor thieves, bereft of victims, died from starvation or rolled out in search for fresh parks and fresh vendors across town.

The park was as desolate as the vendors cart: Empty.

Injustice: The Roots of War

War is a consequence of fraudulent justice. When justice is

not carried out between individuals, families, groups, peoples, and nations then war ensues and instead of persons asking for justice to be carried out, they take forcible reprisal. Take for example some small child who had his toy stollen from him by his brother. The boy, angered by this obvious outrage, immediately and sternly asks for the toy to be returned. When his brother laughs in his face and begins to tease his sibling, the deprived boy appeals to a higher authority for justice, and thus seeks recourse in a parent. If the parent fails to execute proper justice, then the despoiled boy must either retire from the field or counterattack and take his forcible reprisal. His brother however, refusing to see that he was the initiator, pretends that he is the victim of his brothers greed, seeing that his brother is trying to steal what he has already rightfully stolen. Thus a brutal argument and fight breaks out and every semblance of justice is shattered.

Although the story may seem juvenile, this pattern has been carried out countless times throughout history. The Trojan war was a consequence of the long abuse of justice between the Greek and the Persian, which finally came to a head after the said abduction of Helen by Paris and his fellow mariners that led to the destruction of the power of Priam and latter was held as cause for the Persian empire to invade the Greek inhabited Ionia.

Inadequate justice and war is not only a juvenile experience or in antiquated one, but it also seems to be a fundamental component in the modern experience, seeing how America has been founded on the basis of injustice, and that America continues to evolve as a state because of various miscarriages of justice. In the colonial beginnings, most of the colonists emigrated because it came down to vacating or fighting, for the justice was that bad. America continued to grow into a political power worth the control and regulation of the British, how began to impose unjust trade laws and taxes. America did not go bloodthirsty into revolution, but one injustice led to another and war became impossible to avoid.

The Civil War is another such example, for a long train of injustices led up to it, the first being that initial importation of slaves to James Town in 1619 which led to a schism between the northern colonies and the southern when the constitution was being drafted and all man kind was thought to be free. This schism between north and south led to aggressive legislation against the south, and eventually the southern succession which led to the North's lack of compliance to southern sovereignty which led to the civil war.

The Middle East and the frequent causes of their internal strifes and their relations with America and other supper powers has also been caused by a long abuse of justice dating as long ago as the crusades; Although the tumult in modern times has been more a result of Colonialism and WWII than general history. Before WWII, the middle east was colonized by European powers, meaning that when WWII came around, much of the Middle East saw that being pro-axis may result in their independence, thus sparking many other injustices that winds throughout history resulting in 9/11 and other unfortunate reprisals and counter attacks.

Injustice is, and has been with us all along and it shows no signs of being vindicated unless we as individuals can learn to be just with ourselves and each other. As in the story of the young boys, we need to be just to each other and leave each other's things alone. When we happen to be in the wrong, we need to take our punches willingly and give such reparations as we can. When justice cannot be satisfied between individuals, then a higher authority must do justice. When the higher authority is in the wrong, than it's the right of the citizens to do justice over their authority. When justice is satisfied then peace, good will, happiness, and wealth are free to work their blessings.

Grecian Golden Age and The Libertas Creed 2

It wasn't till greece began to be literate that their civilization truly became great. With the invention of reading, writing, and math Greece was able to enter it's golden age. The earliest know literature out of Greece is of course, the works of Homer, The Iliad and the Odyssey. From thence do we get a glimpse of what attributed to a Grecian golden age. The contributing factors, as we may glean from the pages of these antiquated books were that the Grecian people united, justice became more refined, morals were more firmly established, the people became more righteous. Justice for example, was the cause of the whole Trojan war fiasco in the first place, for, Paris son of Priam, abducted Helen from her homeland, and despite all legal means to get her back, Paris would not comply. The Morality of the Greek also became more abundant at the dawn of the West. While it is obvious that only the very best fighters would survive a ernest and violent war, what is not recognized is that morality also played a huge roll in the immortalized Trojan War. While natural selection picked off the weak and foolish amount the ranks, it also picked off the immoral. Patroclus is killed because of the pride of Achilles, as well as Achilles himself. Ajax is killed also for his pride when he mocked Poseidon. Agamemnon was murdered by his adulterous wife. And many other lesser Achaean heroes are killed by some moral deficiency. Odysseus was one of the few survivors and he is famed for his exceptionally steadfast morality. After the war was over, and the warriors returned to their homes, they all acted in greater righteousness than when they set out. 

From that most ancient time, Western history gets it's origin. As a result of the trojan war, and as a result of Homer, and whatever culture that went into ancient appreciation of Homer, we get later authors, philosophers, warriors, and playwrights as a heritage of that primeval war and that primeval storyteller. From 500 to 300 BC, Greece was basking in it's Golden Age. This Age of plenty and culture was largely the heritage of the Trojan war and Homer; but that was not all. 

The paramount factor to sparking and feeding the Grecian Golden age were the people at large, and great persons. The people at large began to value nobel virtues, moral values, and civilization. This general attitude among the people gave rise to the great men of the times, who of which can be found At Wikipedia linked here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ancient_Greeks

Therefore, what launched Greek's Golden Age was manny fold including: proper government,  justice, morality, Righteous people, An elevated culture, freedom of trade, promotion of arts and sciences by the general people, among so many others that it would be tedious to list them all, but you get the general idea. It cannot be stressed enough how a golden age is brought about and by whom. One man couldn't of done it alone; neither one class of people or race, creed, philosophy, or religion. For Greece to be come the cradle of Western civilization, it took all the people from many different backgrounds to define it as "Golden." 

The Libertas Creed is dedicated to anything that brings about and maintains such an age. While many disparage America and the world for declining and falling, The Libertas Creed refuses to take this view, preferring to, by it's efforts maintain whatever Golden Age heritage is left, and perhaps revive it; or, if this fails, to provide some basis for a golden age to come. There is a time when everyman must decide where he stands and what price he must pay. Will he flop into the dirt, degenerate and bestial; Or  will he stand like a man akin to God?




If you found this post illuminating, you may also like these other Libertas Creed posts:

Freedom to Increase

Hector: A Pillar of Strength

Humanism is Shortsighted I

Grecian Golden Age and The Libertas Creed 1

When upon cracking the ancient spines of the surviving Greek works, there is a general golden thread throughout all of them that hints at what it takes to launch a golden age for a civilization. In The History Of The Peloponnesian War, there is related a time before Greece ever be came great, or powerful, or influential; but where Greece was perhaps among the lowest of barbaric countries:

"For instance, it is evident that the country now called Hellas had in ancient times no settled population; on the contrary, migrations were of frequent occurrence, the several tribes readily abandoning their homes under the pressure of superior numbers. Without commerce, without freedom of communication either by land or sea, cultivating no more of their territory than the exigencies of life required, destitute of capital, never planting their land (for they could not tell when an invader might not come and take it all away, and when he did come they had no walls to stop him), thinking that the necessities of daily sustenance could be supplied at one place as well as another, they cared little for shifting their habitation, and consequently neither built large cities nor attained to any other form of greatness. The richest soils were always most subject to this change of masters; such as the district now called Thessaly, Boeotia, most of the Peloponnese, Arcadia excepted, and the most fertile parts of the rest of Hellas. The goodness of the land favoured the aggrandizement of particular individuals, and thus created faction which proved a fertile source of ruin. It also invited invasion. Accordingly Attica, from the poverty of its soil enjoying from a very remote period freedom from faction, never changed its inhabitants. And here is no inconsiderable exemplification of my assertion that the migrations were the cause of there being no correspondent growth in other parts. The most powerful victims of war or faction from the rest of Hellas took refuge with the Athenians as a safe retreat; and at an early period, becoming naturalized, swelled the already large population of the city to such a height that Attica became at last too small to hold them, and they had to send out colonies to Ionia." 

Hence all Western Civilization arose out of a land so poor, that it was unattractive to thieves and tyrants, but once people were left to enjoy their liberty and the fruits of there own labor, their population boomed so immensely that their influence began to colonize more fruitful lands nearby. The history continues to share another factor that attributed to the barbarism of the times: 

"There is also another circumstance that contributes not a little to my conviction of the weakness of ancient times. Before the Trojan war there is no indication of any common action in Hellas, nor indeed of the universal prevalence of the name; on the contrary, before the time of Hellen, son of Deucalion, no such appellation existed, but the country went by the names of the different tribes, in particular of the Pelasgian. It was not till Hellen and his sons grew strong in Phthiotis, and were invited as allies into the other cities, that one by one they gradually acquired from the connection the name of Hellenes; though a long time elapsed before that name could fasten itself upon all. The best proof of this is furnished by Homer. Born long after the Trojan War, he nowhere calls all of them by that name, nor indeed any of them except the followers of Achilles from Phthiotis, who were the original Hellenes: in his poems they are called Danaans, Argives, and Achaeans. He does not even use the term barbarian, probably because the Hellenes had not yet been marked off from the rest of the world by one distinctive appellation. It appears therefore that the several Hellenic communities, comprising not only those who first acquired the name, city by city, as they came to understand each other, but also those who assumed it afterwards as the name of the whole people, were before the Trojan war prevented by their want of strength and the absence of mutual intercourse from displaying any collective action." 

Thus was Greece not one state, but thousands of small tribes, which condition practically describes barbarism. It wasn't till these tribes were united into the larger powers called Athens or Sparta, that civilization started it's long assent to the top. It is important however to note that while a central authority is useful, a corrupt and overly powerful central authority is the best equipped to takedown the civilization it was originally established to promote. (While centralizing authority was a pedestal for civilization to build upon in the beginning, centralizing authority was also responsible for Greece's post golden age by initiating stupid wars, welfare, and fiat money.)

Read More: 

Sidelights on Moral Relativity

Many people today, especially young people, have come to accept that morals are relative. Few of these people wonder what morals are relative to. Perhaps they realize that in theory, an individual constructs their own guideline, to which morals are relative to. What they take for granted however is that few people live in such obscurer isolation that they can decide what is right and wrong. A person living i the company of others must at some level, pay due respect to the morals generally accepted by the society. Thus a person's morals may be relative only to himself, unless he holds any communion whatsoever with his fellow man. Morals, under social conditions, then become relative to more than just the individual, but be relative to the sum of every man's morals.

If, in the event that someone's act comes under moral censure, that person can no longer plea that his moral code differs from the society, but must accept the censure because of his association. Suppose that one man has no qualms about loud music in his apartment, and thinks that he is somehow morally justified to play it at 3 AM. If this man were to play it in his own individual house, his morals would be in act, but when coupled with a society, his morals become relative to them. Morals, then, grow from being relative to self to being relative to society. 

One can, to a practical extent, choose the company he keeps, and he can keep company with those of like morals, which in turn justifies his own moral conduct. Return to the example of the man and his music. What if, after vacating his old apartment, he were to move to an apartment full of fellow music enthusiasts, who stayed up just as late and played their music just as loud. Thus the morals of society come into harmony. 

Suppose for a moment that only one person didn't like the late hours and the music. If this person was a regular joe, his morals would be overcast by the group's morality; except that this one person owns the building. Thus everyone's musical  morality become more-or-less subject to his approval, or face eviction. Suddenly, everyones morals become subject to one man... the land lord. While this sounds tyrannical, it remans just because the apartment building is owned by him, paid by him, and kept by him. Staying in his apartment building is not to dissimilar to staying in his house. Depending on who's land you are on, or who's house you are inhabiting, the owners morals come foremost. 

The question then arises "what is one person owns everything?" In that case either his ownership is unjust or completely just. If unjust, then relating your morals to him would not be called for; if just, then his morals come foremost as well. Although it is hard to comprehend anyone short of God being justified with the ownership of everything.

If God is taken into the equation, who in his might created and organized the world and placed man upon the worlds surface, then clearly all morality becomes relative to him and his commandments. This moral standard would be universally true but for the fact that God has not made himself publicly known, nor are his words and scriptures translated the same way twice. 

Who then sets the bar for morality? Does everyone decide for themselves? Society? Private men on private property? Kings? Governments? Nations? God? Could a standard be found in theory? Could a standard be found in objective science? Perhaps, perhaps. In any event, despite what morals are relative to, it is essential that we all try to be honest and true the best we can to the knowledge we have.

Libertarianism+Conservatism=Classical Liberalism

Do you know why traditional Conservatives find Libertarianism so fundamentally repulsive? It's because they feel that Libertarianism rejects God and objective morality. While yes, this is a misconception of what the definition of Libertarianism really stands for (that man is free and should not be coerced), this judgement does have some truth to it. Libertarian culture often rejects the idea of God and universal morality, saying that "God is a religious invention made to oppress" and that "A man can sin if he want's to." While it is true that a man can sin if he chooses and that religion at times is tyrannical, Libertarians need to realize that ideally man should choose righteousness and that religion aids him in that quest. What Conservatives need to realize is that, despite reason, man has the ability to sin against even his own self interests; and that God obviously has not and will not trample upon this innate right. God damns no man, but man may damn himself by choosing evil over goodness. Here is what John Locke, "The Father of Classical Liberalism (Libertarianism)" actually addressed the matter of self-destruction in his Second Treatise of Government: 

"Sec. 6. But though this be a state of liberty, yet it is not a state of licence: though man in that state have an uncontroulable liberty to dispose of his person or possessions, yet he has not liberty to destroy himself, or so much as any creature in his possession, but where some nobler use than its bare preservation calls for it. The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions: for men being all the workmanship of one omnipotent, and infinitely wise maker; all the servants of one sovereign master, sent into the world by his order, and about his business; they are his property, whose workmanship they are, made to last during his, not one another's pleasure: and being furnished with like faculties, sharing all in one community of nature, there cannot be supposed any such subordination among us, that may authorize us to destroy one another, as if we were made for one another's uses, as the inferior ranks of creatures are for our's. Every one, as he is bound to preserve himself, and not to quit his station wilfully, so by the like reason, when his own preservation comes not in competition, ought he, as much as he can, to preserve the rest of mankind, and may not, unless it be to do justice on an offender, take away, or impair the life, or what tends to the preservation of the life, the liberty, health, limb, or goods of another."

Therefore, Libertarian, realize that while man is in a state of liberty, if he shall sin against nature, his fellow man, God, and reason, he shall lose his liberty. If any man pervert nature, he shall be subject to nature's punishing hand of pestilence and death. If any man harms his fellow, he shall become a prisoner of the law. If any man sins against his God, he shall be rendered to His jurisdiction. If any man offends reason, he will be cast into the depths of enslaving insanity. While a man is free to sin against all of these, he head better not unless he wants to impair his liberty. Libertarians need to realize this. Conservatives need to realize this. All need to realize this.

Furthermore, Conservative, realize that while evil is evil and good is good, man can choose between both, and make of himself as he will; righteous or wicked. Such is his right, and God respects it. However, no man is free from the consequences of his free choice, and every man is subject to the repercussion of his actions. If Libertarians were to realize this, and conservatives were to realize this, perhaps we can be once more called classical liberals together.

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