How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World: A Handbook for Personal Liberty

312 Pages·1998·1.37 MB·English

by  Harry Browne

How I Found Freedom
in an Unfree World
Harry Browne
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ii Harry Browne / How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World
HOW I FOUND FREEDOM IN AN UNFREE WORLD © 1973, 1998, 2004 by Harry
Browne.
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without
written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles
or reviews.
For information, contact: Pamela Wolfe Browne @ HarryBrowne.org.
ISBN 0965603679
First edition: 1973
Second edition: 1997
Internet edition: 2004
Freedom in an Unfree World iii
to Pamela
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Also by Harry Browne
How You Can Profit from the Coming Devaluation (1970)
You Can Profit from a Monetary Crisis (1974)
The Complete Guide to Swiss Banks (1976)
New Profits from the Monetary Crisis (1978)
Inflation-Proofing Your Investments (with Terry Coxon, 1981)
Investment Rule #1 (1985)
Why the Best-Laid Investment Plans Usually Go Wrong (1987)
The Economic Time Bomb (1989)
Why Government Doesn’t Work (1995, 2003)
Fail-Safe Investing (1995, 2003)
The Great Libertarian Offer (2000)
Liberty A to Z (2004)
Freedom in an Unfree World v
Contents
Foreward to 2004 Edition ........................................... 7
Prologue
1 Freedom in an Unfree World .................................... 2
Part I — Why You Are Not Free
2 The Identity Traps ..................................................... 10
3 The Intellectual and Emotional Traps ........................ 21
4 The Morality Trap .................................................... 29
5 The Unselfishness Trap ............................................. 39
6 The Group Trap ....................................................... 45
7 The Government Traps ............................................. 54
8 The Despair Trap ..................................................... 71
9 The Rights Trap ....................................................... 75
10 The Utopia Trap ....................................................... 81
11 The Burning-Issue Trap………………………………….. 89
12 The Previous Investment Trap …………………………....96
13 The Box Trap ........................................................... . 99
14 The Certainty Trap ................................................... 107
15 You Can Be Free ..................................................... 117
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Part II — How You Can Be Free
16 Freedom from Government ...........................................126
17 Freedom from Social Restrictions ..................................137
18 Freedom from Bad Relationships ...................................145
19 Freedom from Marriage Problems .................................151
20 Freedom from Jealousy Problems ..................................165
21 Freedom from Family Problems .....................................172
22 Freedom from Business Problems ..................................184
23 Freedom from Insecurity ...............................................190
24 Freedom from Exploitation ............................................198
25 Freedom from the Treadmill ..........................................204
26 Freedom from Pretense .................................................214
Part II — How You Can Be Free
27 Who Are You? ............................................................. 224
28 Your Own Morality ...................................................... 232
29 Is Your Life What You Want It to Be? ......................... 239
30 A Fresh Start ................................................................ 246
31 A Fresh Start (continued) ............................................. 254
32 Making Changes .......................................................... 259
Epilogue
28 Freedom in an Unfree World ....... ................................ 272
Appendices
A. Afterword to the 1997 edition .......................................283
B. Acknowledgments .........................................................288
C. Glossary ........................................................................290
D. Recommended Reading .................................................294
E. About the Author ..........................................................300
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Foreword to the 2004 Edition
This book was first published in 1973. The hardcover edition fell out of print in the
early 1980s, and the paperback version went out of print around 1990. After that is
was available only through used book dealers.
So I was very pleased when LiamWorks published a new edition in 1997.
After rereading the original edition, I was happy to see that the book still
reflected my view of how the world works and the principles that guide my actions.
By and large I resisted the temptation to tinker with the text for the 1997, and I
again resist that temptation in 2004. I know from experience that any attempt to
make changes would have led to my writing a whole new book. And that isn’t how I
want to spend the next few years of my life.
I corrected some grammatical flaws, and I rewrote a few phrases that seemed
ambiguous. I also eliminated references to books and other sources that are no longer
available. And in 1997 I replaced the Recommended Reading section with a new list
prepared by Michael Cloud. It contains books available now that provide additional
insights and strategies related to the ideas presented in this book.
But the rest of the words remain as they were in the first edition. I haven’t
rewritten the examples to make them more contemporary, nor have I adjusted any
money amounts for the intervening years of inflation. And I didn’t change words to
conform with today’s fashions; thus I still use “he” to refer to someone who could be
of either sex.
The book’s only new element is an Afterword that updates my thinking on some
subjects.
So this is essentially the same book published in 1973. I happily stand by it. And I hope
you enjoy it
Prologue
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Freedom in an Unfree World
Freedom is the opportunity to live your life as you want to live it.
The urge for freedom is so much a part of human nature that it can never be
suppressed by laws, slogans, or commandments. There is a difference, however,
between the urge and the reality.
For most people, freedom remains a pleasant fantasy — something to dream of
while carrying out daily obligations in the real world. They spend their lives talking
vaguely of what they want in life, what they think they’re missing, why they don’t
have it, and who it is that prevents them from being free.
For most people, freedom is an “if only.” “If only it hadn’t been for my wife, I would
have been a success.” Or “If only it hadn’t been for Roosevelt (or Nixon or
whomever), the country would be free.”
The unfree person can never fully repress his urge for freedom — whether he
considers his jailer to be his family, his job, society, or the government. And so, from
time to time, halfhearted attempts are made to break free from the restrictions.
But unfortunately, those attempts usually depend upon the individual’s ability to
change the minds of other people — and so optimism eventually turns into frustration
and despair.
Hoping to be free, many people engage in continual social combat — joining
movements, urging political action, writing letters to editors and Congressmen, trying
to educate 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
set them back. The world seems to continue on its path to wherever it’s going. Until
they die, the hopeful remain just as enslaved as they’ve always been.
The plans, the movements, the crusades — none of these things has worked. And
so the unfree person continues to dream, to condemn, and to remain where he is.
There must be a better way.
There must be a way to be free without having to wish for a miracle. It must be a
way by which an individual can change things without having to rally the rest of the
world to his side.
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