harry browne's freedom principles

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#FFP05: HARRY BROWNE'S FREEDOM

PRINCIPLES

By Frederick Mann Copyright 1995, 1997 Build Freedom Holdings ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Notice: This report contains copyrighted material. This information is free forpersonaluse only. No part of these materials may be reproduced in any form - except for personaluse - without permission from the copyright holder.

[How I Found Freedom in an Unfree Worldby Harry Browne is back in print. The new387 page hardcover edition has the complete original text, with a new afterword by HarryBrowne. The book is available for purchase athttp://www.bookzone.com/bookzone/10001105.html.]

IntroductionIn his superb classic How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World, Harry Browne definesfreedom as living your life as you want to live it. He claims that you can enjoy a highdegree of freedom right now. He indicates that:

"Hoping to be free, many people engage in continual social combat joiningmovements, urging political action, writing letters to editors and Congressmen, trying toeducate 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 setthem back. The world seems to continue on its path to wherever its going. Until they die,

the hopeful remain just as enslaved as theyve always been.

The plans, the movements, the crusades none of these things has worked. And so theunfree man continues to dream, to condemn, and to remain where he is.

There must be a better way

Fortunately, there is such a way
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Theres a way that depends entirely upon what you choose to do. You can live your lifeas you want to live it no matter what others decide to do with their lives."

By trying to change others in order to become free youre always trying to do somethingout of your control. On the other hand, you can use methods to free yourself that are

completely under your control.

There are two basic reasons why most people remain enslaved:

1. Theyre unaware of the many options and alternatives available to them;2. They accept without challenge certain assumptions that restrict their freedom.

Harry calls these assumptions traps. As long as you dont challenge these assumptions,they can keep you enslaved.

If you want to increase your freedom, Harry Brownes How I Found Freedom in an

Unfree Worldis must reading. I dont know of any other book that even comes close toproviding you with such powerful self-liberating information. Here I can only presentyou with a brief overview.

Traps

Identity Trap #1: The belief that you should be someone other than yourself. You need tobe true to yourself. Find out who you are; be yourself; do things your own way.

Identity Trap #2: The assumption that others will do things the way you would. You cantcontrol others, but you can control how you deal with them. Harry Browne says, "youhave tremendous control over your life, but you give up that control when you try to

control others."Intellectual Trap: The belief that your emotions should conform to an intellectuallypreconceived standard. Emotions are best regarded as signals that tell you how youredoing. (For the most powerful techniques to achieve emotional control, see Report#TL12: How to Achieve Emotional Control.)

Emotional Trap: The belief that you can make important decisions when youre feelingstrong emotions.

Morality Trap: The belief that you must obey a moral code created by someone else. In

order to become more competent (and free) you need to strengthen your understanding ofthe cognitive links between your actions and the consequences you produce. Morality isbasically a set of very general rules concerning what to do and what not to do, generallyinvolving large consequences. Blindly using someone elses moral code, tends to reduceyour competence, because it prevents the forming of proper cognitive links betweenactions and consequences. To be free you need to create your own moral code.
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Unselfishness Trap: The belief that you must put the happiness of others ahead of yourown. A world of maximum value is a function of the total of maximum individual value.You know yourself and what you value far better than you know others and what theyvalue. Therefore, you are much more competent to increase your own value than that ofothers. So, maximum value is achieved by each individual maximizing his or her own

personal value.Because we live in an "expanding-pie" world, its possible to maximize personal valuewhile at the same time adding to the value of others. We maximize personal value bycreating values for others to freely choose. The assumptions that "selfishness" and"greed" are evil need to be questioned. I recommend two books: The Virtue of Selfishnessby Ayn Rand and The Art of Selfishness by David Seabury. Richard Bach, author ofJonathan Livingston Seagull, wrote this testimonial to How I Found Freedom in anUnfree World:

"THE GREATEST GIFTS ARE GIVEN BY THE TRULY SELFISH. FROM THIS

MANS LOVE OF FREEDOM, THEN, HAS COME THIS BOOK, A GIFT OFPOWER AND OF JOY FOR WHOEVER YEARNS TO BE FREE."

Group Trap: The belief that you can accomplish more by sharing responsibilities, efforts,and rewards with others than you can by acting on your own; the belief that anyone canspeak on behalf of another.

To overcome the Group Trap organizations can be organized in such a manner that thelinks between actions, results, and rewards are as direct as possible. For example, insteadof hiring additional personnel, work can be subcontracted.

Government Trap #1: The belief that governments perform socially useful functions thatdeserve your support.

Government Trap #2: The belief that you have a duty to obey laws.

Government Trap #3: The belief that the government can be counted upon to carry out asocial reform you favor.

Government Trap #4: The fear that the government is so powerful that it can prevent youfrom being free.

The above are Harry Brownes Government Traps. I add the following:Government Trap #5: The belief that government people can do anything better thanother people. Government people dont have any special magical powers.

Government Trap #6: The belief that governments will produce beneficial results.Because government people essentially collect their income at the point of a gun, they


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dont have to produce anything worthwhile to survive. In fact, their incentive is to makeall problems worse so they can demand more taxes to "solve" the problems.

Government Trap #7: The belief that government represents the people. Individualsalways represent themselves (Unselfishness and Group Traps). To think otherwise is a

delusion.

Government Trap #8: The belief that government can conjure up resources from thin air.Everything government has, was essentially stolen at the point of a gun.

Government Trap #9: The belief that government provides protection. Just look at thecrime statistics.

Government Trap #10: The belief that certain activities or functions must be done bygovernment. Government consists of people. These people dont have any specialmagical powers.

Government Trap #11: The belief that government must or can control people. Becauseonly individuals control the energy that animates their bodies, its really impossible foranyone to control anyone else. However, people can relinquish self-control by choice orunwittingly.

Government Trap #12: The belief that you have to do something about solving theproblem of government. You are best off solving your own problems. In addition, youmay also want to persuade a few others to solve their own problems. If enough peoplesolved their own problems, the problem of government will disappear.

Government Trap #13: The belief that government exists as a volitional entity. This is anaspect of the Group Trap. When having to deal with "government," you always have todeal with individual human beings. Realizing this helps make you much more effective inwarding off any attempts by individual government people to violate your freedom.Rather than having to handle "the government," you have to handle one or a few specificindividuals. Frederic Bastiat said. "The State is the great fictitious entity by whicheveryone expects to live at the expense of everyone else." [emphasis added]

Government Trap #14: The belief that the governments constitution is a valid, legalcontract. All the government constitutions I know of are fraudulent hoaxes. For a contractto be valid it must be entered into knowingly, intentionally, and explicitly. Have you ever

signed any so-called "constitution" of any supposed "country?" What if all coercivepolitical systems are fraudulent hoaxes? See Report #TL07: The Constitution of NoAuthority.

Government Trap #15: The belief that government can make laws. In the final analysis,the noises and scribbles that emanate from the mouths and pens of government officialsare just noises and scribbles. The power you ascribe to these noises and scribbles is yourchoice.
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Obviously, the vast majority of people believe that the noises and scribbles ofgovernment people constitute "the law." There are also hordes of bureaucrats, police, andjudges who regard "the law" as sacrosanct. If they suspect you disrespect their "law,"they tend to feel very threatened and may become extremely vindictive. There are timeswhen your freedom depends on your ability to convince them that you respect the noises

and scribbles they call "the law." See Report #TL07B: The Nature of Government.Despair Trap: The belief that other people can prevent you from being free. You arealways free to move on and start a new life.

Rights Trap: The belief that your rights will make you free. The U.S.A. is supposed to bea country where certain individual rights are guaranteed by the Constitution andgovernment officials are supposed to swear an oath to uphold the Constitution. Yet thereare thefts, robberies, rapes, murders, etc. every day. Furthermore, government officialsviolate individual rights with abandon in the form of taxation, regulation, more taxation,and more regulation.

In choosing your actions, you are far better off carefully considering the consequences toyourself, rather than acting in accordance with your "rights." As Max Stirner said, "Mightis a fine thing, and useful for many purposes; for "one goes further with a handful ofmight than with a bagful of right."

Utopia Trap: The belief that you must create better conditions in society before you canbe free. Youre far better off and much more powerful if you concentrate on changingand improving yourself and creating your own personal utopia of freedom and wealth rather than trying to transform society. As Harry writes:

"The world-changers are powerless. They dream of remaking the world; but they cant,and so theyve placed their emphasis where they have no power at all.

Free men recognize that they cant change the world. and so they concentrate on thepower they do have which is enormous. They realize that they can choose not to beinvolved in situations that dont suit them.

So they look for situations that do suit them. And they discover far more opportunities forsuch situations than most people imagine exist.

A free person doesnt try to remake the world or his friends or his family. He merely

appraises every situation by the simple standard: Is this what I want for myself? If itisnt, he looks elsewhere. If it is, he relaxes and enjoys it without the problems mostother people take for granted.

A free man uses his tremendous power of choice to make a comfortable life for himself.

The power of choice. You have it. But you forfeit it when you imagine that you canchoose for others. You cant.
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But you can choose for yourself from hundreds of exciting, happiness-producingalternatives.

Why not use that power?"

Burning Issue Trap: The belief that there are compelling social issues that require yourparticipation.

Previous-Investment Trap: The belief that time, effort, and money spent in the past mustbe considered when making a decision in the present. You know the old saying, "Dontthrow good money after bad." Harry Browne says:

"In every case, the question is: With what you have now, what is the best way to use thatto get the most in the future?" What youve paid to get where you are now is irrelevant;those resources are gone and cant be retrieved, no matter what you do."

This is very important in determining your next step for moving forward from where youare now. Its also related in Robert Ringers Present Living Habit see Report#FFP01:Robert Ringer's 'Million Dollar Habits'.

Box Trap: A box is any uncomfortable situation that restrains your freedom. The box trapis the belief that the cost of getting out of a box is too high to consider. The problemsassociated with maintaining a false image are part of the box trap.

To get out of a box, consider three factors, that is, the disadvantages of the box:

1. The price you pay for remaining stuck in the box;

2. The cost of escaping from the box; and3. What you could do after escaping the box, that is, the benefits you gain byescaping the box.

Obviously, a marriage could be a box. Theres a very important principle: the sooner youpay the price to get out of a box, the less it costs you. In other words, the longer youstay in a box the more it costs you.

Certainty Trap: The urge to act as if your information were totally certain. Firstly, ourperception is limited and subject to error. Secondly, information evolves continuously.Tomorrow well know more than today. Some of what we know today will be proved

wrong by what we discover tomorrow.Because we always act on incomplete or on at best partially correct information, we takerisks in everything we do. Harry Browne says:

"The individual who ignores these risks can lose his freedom in three important ways:
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1. Hes likely to take risks that would be unacceptable if he were to recognize them; andby acting rashly he can get himself into boxes that restrict his freedom.

2. When things dont go his way, his previous certainty can turn quickly to despair anddepression: after all, he was "so sure." Now that hes discouraged, his emotions can tempt

him to run from his bad consequences into a worse situation. In other words, hes falleninto the Emotional Trap.

3. By accepting opinions as absolute fact, he can allow his freedom to be restricted byinformation that may not be true."

Harry Browne identifies five "information principles":

1. Popularity isnt proof. The fact "everybody knows" could mean little or nothing.2. Be skeptical about new information.3. Dont expect to have an explanation for everything. To some extent, you always

have to act in the dark.4. You cant see everything; recognize that you see only part of the picture.5. Recognize the risks and liabilities. Action always involves risk.

Harry writes:

"You are the sovereign authority for your life. You are the ruler who makes the decisionsregarding how you will act, what information you will accept. You do it anyway but ifyou recognize that you do it, you can gain much greater control over your future

But whether or not you accept it, you are sovereign. You rule one life and you rule it

totally.You decide which information you will accept or reject. You decide what your nextaction will be. You decide what moral code youll live by

To be free, you have only to make the decision to be free. Freedom is waiting for you anytime youre ready for it."

WHY HARRY BROWNE COULD BECOME THE NEXT U.S. PRESIDENT

by Frederick Mann

Introduction

Throughout much of history and evolution change has occurred very gradually andin small steps. This phenomenon has been called "continuous change."

But sometimes, a major change or upheaval can occur suddenly and rapidly. This hasbeen called "discontinuous change." An earthquake is a discontinuous change.


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If every minute you put an additional straw on a camels back, the load very graduallygets heavier and it slowly becomes more difficult for the camel to carry it. This iscontinuous change. Eventually a point is reached, where if one more straw is added, thecamels back breaks and it collapses the proverbial "last straw that broke the camelsback." This is a discontinuous change.

Harry Browne might just turn out to be the last straw that finally breaks the terrocratsback. (Terrocrat = terrorist bureaucrat.)

Why Harry Browne Could Win

There are a number of reasons why Harry could actually win:

1. A Powerful Message. Harry Brownes basic message is "government doesnt work."I believe the number of people in America who are ready to hear this message isexploding. More and more people are becoming disillusioned and disgusted withgovernment every day.

2. The Democrat Party is Over. The November, 1994 elections demonstrated wide-scalerejection of the "dems." Not even one new democrat was appointed to Congress. Itsunlikely that Clinton and his cronies will be able to reverse this tide away from tax-and-spend big government.

3. The Republicans will Fail to Deliver. Its extremely unlikely that the "gops" (GrandOld Party politicians) will succeed in doing anything that will significantly improve theeconomic situation of the average person. They wont even come close to balancing thefederal budget. When faced with the wrath of powerful special interests, theyll continueto back away from their "contract with America." Theyll continue to violate the U.S.

Constitution and the Bill of Rights, as they did in their legislation to allow governmentagencies (except for some limits on the IRS and ATF) to search private property withoutwarrants and to use anything found as evidence.

4. Collapse of the US$. The gradual collapse of the dollar, pushed by the trade andfederal deficits, will continue and neither the gops nor the dems will be able to doanything about it. At some stage its likely that Greenspan and his buddies will feelcompelled to raise interest rates in an attempt to bolster the US$. This could plunge theeconomy into recession. Harry Browne could blame it on the gops and dems.

5. Harry Browne is Well-Known and Respected. Harry will be the most credible

candidate by far that the Libertarian Party (LP) has ever fielded. Hes written severalbest-selling books and has made hundreds of radio and TV appearances. His book on thebreakdown of government will be published by a major publishing house later this year.Harry probably has a greater ability and potential to turn millions of people onto freedomthan anyone else. Harry is also one of the most eloquent and persuasive spokesmen forfreedom.


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6. Harry Browne Can Raise the Money. Harry is a member of an "inner circle" ofwealthy, influential, freedom-loving investment advisers with thousands of wealthycontacts. I expect theyll be able to raise at least $10,000,000 for an extensive campaign.

Given the above factors, and the fact that there have occasionally been huge political

swings in the past, its certainly possible for Harry Browne to win. The extent of thesupport for third-party candidates such as John Anderson and Ross Perot also indicatethat its possible for someone like Harry Browne to win.

The Major Obstacle

Most American political elections are rigged. I strongly recommend that you readVotescam: The Stealing of America by James M. Collier and Kenneth F. Collier (VictoriaHouse Press, NY; 1993). The terrocrats in control can press a few buttons, make "vote-counting" computers "break down" at strategic times, and in many cases make the "vote"come out as they want. In most American political elections there isnt necessarily anycorrelation between the reported vote counts and the actual votes.

What Harry Browne has to Do to Win

The foundation for Harrys campaign is already in place. All I want to suggest here aretwo factors I believe warrant careful consideration.

1. Rigged Elections. It may be possible to develop a strategy to use the rigged-electionsfactor to greatly increase the general disgust with the dems and gops, and swing theirsupport to the Libertarians. I have no idea what this strategy might be.

2. Irwin Schiff as Running Mate. Irwin Schiff is also running for Libertarian President.Whereas Harry is the libertarian intellectual, Irwin is the battle-hardened fighter whos

taken on the beast, namely the IRS, in the trenches. Hes lost some and won some. Theycouldnt crush him and hes stronger than ever. Hes selling tens of thousands of hisuncompromising books and reaching more thousands via talk radio.

Harry should persuade Irwin to run as his vice-presidential candidate. Harry Browne canget the Libertarian vote. Irwin can add a big slice of the Patriot vote. I believe thecombination greatly increases the probability of victory.

Moral Arguments

In the March, 1995 issue ofLiberty magazine theres an article by John Pugsley under thetitle "Harry, Dont Run!" This isnt the place to systematically address all Johns

arguments, however, I would like to indicate the following:1. The falsely-called "U.S. Constitution" was never signed or adopted by anyone in anymanner to make it a legal contract binding anybody. (See Lysander Spooners NoTreason: The Constitution of No Authority.)


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2. The entire political system in this part of the world has been a hoax and a fraud sincethe outset. As Spooner indicated, all the pretended "presidents," "secretaries," "generals,""ambassadors," etc. have been liars and impostors.

3. Again, as Spooner indicated, all the supposed "oaths" of these liars and impostors have

been meaningless and "given to the winds."

4. Playing along with this farce by "running for office" or "voting" does not appointanybody to anything or authorize anybody to aggress against another or others.

5. If Harry Browne were indeed to "become President," we should simply regard him asthe latest in the line of "nobles." And if he were to take an "oath of office," nobody intheir right mind should regard it as anything but a farce "given to the winds." (AsDouglas Casey wrote in the March, 1995 issue ofLiberty magazine, "Politics is a dirtybusiness, but somebody has to undo it.")

6. The compelling reason to participate in this farce is to turn millions of people ontofreedom while we have this wonderful opportunity.

7. Then we can turn them onto Build Freedom and real freedom! (What could bemore moral?)

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Before leaving this site, please have a quick look at the highlights below to appreciate the scope and value of our informationand activities:

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-- Basic, Practical & AdvancedFreedom

Financial Independence ForFreedom Lovers-- LibertyMoney Machines -- Millionaire

Reports -- BusinessOpportunities

Website Design & Promotion-- Website hosting -- How todesign websites -- How to

promote websites -- How tomake websites profitable

Make the FWO /BuildFreedom website thestartup page for your browser

--click here.(Check it out tosee why)
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