16A001 Freedom in Our Time by Jim Davies, 1/6/2016    

Anarchists and Libertarian writers are pretty good at pointing out what is wrong with government-operated societies, and some have also described well how the alternative of operating without government would work. However very, very few have proposed any way to produce that alternative in practice. The silence is deafening, and suggests it can't be done; some have even signaled surrender by placing a "P" in front of "anarchism" and endorsing Panarchism, the hopelessly impracticable theory that the omnipotent State will permit secession by a set of dissidents. As shown in an earlier ZGBlog, that is for losers.

So how can it be done?

Fact: nobody gets anywhere without a plan. A plan may not be sufficient (it may fail, or need radical modification in the light of changing circumstances) but it is necessary.

A plan has at least two indispensable components:

• a clear definition of what is to be achieved, and
• a description of how to achieve it - with dependencies, resources and milestones.

Not only has the Libertarian movement never had such a plan; there is not even much unanimity about what we want to achieve! - and certainly no coherent and credible plan for achieving it. But TOLFA - The On Line Freedom Academy - changes all that.

What is to be achieved: TOLFA is an interactive, self-directed on-line course in freedom. The student is led logically from an undeniable premise to a radical conclusion: that government must vanish. The aim and purpose of this plan is therefore to implement a society based solely upon voluntary, explicit contracts; a true "free market."

How that is being achieved: This plan relies on the universal human desire to be free, and has three stages...

• Understand what freedom means
• Desire to enjoy that freedom in practice, and then
• Take simple steps to cause it to happen

Those three run concurrently. Since a free society has no obligations except any voluntarily undertaken, it follows that every member must understand that and then desire it - the two go together. When you really understand freedom, you will want it! This radically contrasts with all that the mass of the population has been taught, by government teachers and media puppets; accordingly, TOLFA's first task is to accomplish universal re-education. Of the entire population, that is, excluding the few unable to understand.

So the first step is to introduce one person to take the course and graduate.

The next step is for that person to introduce one of his friends to do likewise.

Then that process (of first learning liberty, then introducing one new student) continues, at the rate of at least one new student each, per year. In that way the alumnus body will double in size every year. Nobody can know how many have already graduated from the Academy; I'm guessing there are more, but if the suggested rate of one per year has been followed since its launch in 2006, already there are nearly 2¹⁰ or 1,024 graduates in America. That very simple process multiplies the freedom-seeking population by 1,000 each decade, until there is nobody left to teach.

To reach the whole US literate population of, say, 270 million will take 28 years, ie 2²⁸. It would be nice if it were faster, but since no other plan exists, that is infinitely faster than any known alternative!

During that period, TOLFA graduates, understanding and desiring freedom and knowing that government is doomed, will walk out of any government job they hold. This is key. The motivation, notice, is in place: any graduate knows that government is a disease, masquerading as its own cure; it will be repugnant to him; he will not wish to support it in any way. So TOLFA proposes that each graduate seek opportunity at once to quit his government job and obtain work in the market sector (which will in due course become the only sector.)

As that moment approaches, therefore, the government sector will progressively lose employees; slowly at first but at an exponentially increasing rate. This is the theme of my Transition to Liberty. Eventually, only the cardboard generals in charge will remain; and they will have no army. The institution will then totally collapse and vanish - Federal, State and local. The multi-thousand-year Age of Government will be over, at least in America. Then the rest of the world's population, as the vast increase in wealth and harmony in America become known, will soon follow.

Some things that are NOT necessary:

What's stated above (first learn, then bring at least one new student per year, then quit any government job) is all that's needed. Nothing else. Examples:

• No politics. It doesn't matter who's in charge, when there's nobody to obey
• No demonstrations. They may boost morale, but achieve very little anyway
• No expense. TOLFA is free (though it's worth buying the books recommended)
• No "selling" or "teaching". All the teaching is done within the interactive course and if a friend declines to join, just move on to the next. Everyone has about 200 acquaintances and eventually (when the writing on the wall for government is seen) each will want "in"
• No violence or defiance - not even refusal to pay taxes, until a rather late stage! Just live a normal life, hone skills useful in a free market, and wait for government to implode for want of employees
• No dependence on the media. TOLFA's expansion is by word of mouth
• No vulnerability. TOLFA has no central "head" for government to chop off

So nothing else is needed, yet nothing less will do. If you're not yet aboard, start now.