ebook img

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

312 Pages·1998·1.37 MB·English
Save to my drive
Quick download
Download
Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.

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

How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World Harry Browne i 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 iv Harry Browne / How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World 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 vi Harry Browne / How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World 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 Freedom in an Unfree World vii 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 1 1 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. 2

See more

The list of books you might like

Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.