Reflections on human freedom's elevator pitch.

Anything Peaceful
By Max Borders


** Reflections on human freedom's elevator pitch.
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Source: fee.org ([link removed])

Those for whom the ends justify the means are not interested in being charitable about your position or trying to pass any “ideological Turing test ([link removed]) .” So it’s incumbent upon us to set the record straight at every turn.

In doing so, it’s important not to misfire the elevator pitch. In other words, if you’ve only got a minute or two, how do you talk about what it means to be a true liberal?

I can think of no better way to sum up a worldview than Leonard Read did with the title of his 1964 book Anything That’s Peaceful ([link removed]) . A few of us have taken to saying “Anything Peaceful” for greater concision, but the idea is simple:
Let anyone do anything he pleases, so long as it is peaceful.

—Leonard Read
For most liberals, ethics, law, and economic thinking more or less originate in this single imperative. Academic philosophers might have a field day with this formulation. Let them blather on in their critiques, counting angels on pinheads while the rest of us widen and deepen our Empire of the Mind. We might have walked many different paths to get here, but we have made this our prime value. And for my money, it’s the easiest and best way to discuss our philosophy between the lobby and the 10th floor.

Now, if you’re new to liberalism, you might be curious about why we are so focused on Anything Peaceful. Here’s a tidy top 10 list that sums up in more detail how libertarians think about things:
1. Free, peaceful people seek out and strive for their idea of flourishing.
2. Free, peaceful people tend to flourish when there is peace and freedom.
3. Free, peaceful people will pursue a billion experiments, any of which could improve human well-being.

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