Summler's Notes

In the Daily Freedom, “Be A Ragnar Danneskj�ld,” I recommended both smuggling and the black market as legitimate business possibilities for independent individualists. I am fully aware of the unusualness of that recommendation. I pointed out that these can be perfectly moral activities, but it is not the illegality of such enterprises that makes them moral (thought defiance of that state might in itself be considered moral), but the fact that many legitimate honest businesses become “smuggling” or “black-market” operations only because of oppressive government laws. It is the laws that are immoral, not the activities those laws have made illegal.

The Free Are Peculiar

Just by making these notes I could be accused of breaking the law, just as those who organized the American Revolution were “breaking the law” when they recommended the laws of England be ignored. Nevertheless, these recommendations are going to seem very peculiar to many�and they are.

An independent individualist is a peculiar being. If you choose to be free, you will be very unusual, and however you choose to secure your freedom and live your life, it will not be a “usual” life. Look around you at all those who continue to live in slavery to the state�that is the usual.

If you choose to be free, settle it in your mind, the peculiar things you choose to do, the things you value and your way of life, will be neither understood or appreciated. Only those who understand what true freedom is will be able to understand or appreciate you�and they will. That, however, will be a rare experience for the independent individualist.

Your Product

For some there will be a certain appeal in the idea of doing something forbidden by the state, a certain sense of rebellion and adventure, especially for those who enjoy overcoming risk. Smuggling or providing a product or service on the black market will be appealing for their own sake, and there is certainly nothing wrong with that for those so inclined.

For most independent individualists, however, it is not that aspect that will be the reason for what they choose to do. In most cases, whatever an independent individualist chooses to do to earn his money, he would do whether it were illegal or not. He does not choose his field because it is illegal, but because that is what he wants and chooses to do, because it fits his individual nature, abilities, and objectives. In most cases, he would prefer that his activity not be illegal, government restrictions are never a benefit and always an impediment to true productive and creative activity, but the independent individualist will not let any draconian government laws stand in the way of his own freedom to do what he chooses to do and be what he chooses to be.

Government Permission

In many cases government restrictions are laws requiring some kind of government approval in the form of “permits” or “licenses” before an individual is allowed, legally, to do something he would like to do, from performing a service to providing a product.

The requirement for a government permit or license is itself oppressive, and submitting to that oppression will result in a sacrifice of one’s privacy, and more oppression in the form of “renewals” and “inspections” and a host of other government intrusions into one’s business.

Do not get a license. You can do most things which require a license or some other form of government approval without them. I knew a man who worked for a very large construction company for years as an electrician, supervising very large crews, even though he was never licensed. No one ever asked, he never told them�but he was extremely competent.

The Independent Individualist has no use for the pseudo-science of psychology, but many people go to psychologists looking for help with their problems which oftern amount to little more than working out how to resolve complex relationships or getting out of trouble one’s own bad decisions have produced.

Many times, all that is needed is for someone to be a good listener, someone that is willing to understand what an individual’s problems are, even though it is the individual that must solve the problem themselves. A friend of mine told me about a woman in Australia who has a very successful business as a “listener.” She makes not claim to be a psychologist and makes no promises about being able to solve others problems, she just promises to listen, uncritically, to anything one feels the need to talk about with an understanding listener.

The point is, there are many services one can perform that if named one thing (psychologist) would require a license, but if named something else, (listener), it does not require any kind of government permission.

There is an old expression, “it is easier to get forgiveness than it is permission.” If you want to do something, don’t inquire about the laws, just do it. You will have to be prepared, of course, for the possibility of some busy-body or government agent discovering what you are doing and reporting you to the “authorities.”

That preparation just means assessing the possible consequences of having your business detected by those who would like to control it. In most cases the “penalty” is likely to me no more than a nominal fine. In more serious cases, you might have to be prepared to simply disappear. If the work is what you love, the moral thing is to do what you must so long as the risk does not outweigh the reward.

Not A Short-cut

Neither smuggling nor a black-market enterprise must be used by an independent individualist as a short-cut to wealth. These are ways of avoiding immoral government regulations and red-tape, but the purpose is not to evade effort, but to be free to supply the best product or service one is capable of providing, and of course to prevent the government from confiscating the profit of one’s honest productive work.

The independent individualist will be more competent in the jobs he performs than any individuals performing the same jobs but with government sanction. Working without government approval is not a way to avoid effort, but a way to prevent government intrusion from reducing the efficiency and effectiveness of one’s efforts, and the value of their product or service to one’s customers.