Since September 11th, the libertarian community has faced setback after setback. The American people, who haven’t given much credence to libertarian theory in the past hundred and fifty years, have now discarded liberty entirely - trading it in for another definition of “freedom” entirely.

Once upon a time, “freedom” meant something - to actually be free of government tyranny. No longer. Now it is a simple buzzword, a synonym for obedience. Wars are no longer fought for territorial and material conquest, but rather, to “defend freedom.” Many of our prized possessions must be sacrificed in the glorious struggle for “freedom” - including our money, our firearms, and our Founding Fathers’ definition of the term. And Americans, incredibly, accept this unmitigated tyranny as “the cost of freedom.”

What happened to the feisty citizenry of America’s past? Once, Americans knew the harsh whip of tyranny for what it was. When they could no longer withstand British offenses, the citizens of Boston rose in revolt - and, soon enough, this spirit of rebellion spread across the colonies. In the face of impossible odds, simple farmers and craftsmen took arms against oppression. Their bravery and strength would pay great dividends - after much bloodshed, the British departed from their rebellious colonies. And, for but a moment, there was hope.

At the time, it looked as if freedom had triumphed. Men such as Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry, men who valued the human spirit and its natural rights, vowed to build a better State. Perhaps they could build a government that didn’t rob, cheat, and murder its citizens. Perhaps the people who had sacrificed so much for liberty might actually get to experience it. For a few blissful seconds, humanity had triumphed. Nothing would stop us now.

And yet, a few generations later, this proud and noble dream lay in ruins. Abraham Lincoln had launched a massive invasion of the newly-minted Confederacy, killing and looting the very citizens he claimed to rule. Americans were once again being taxed into serfdom by their government, with most of the proceeds from this larceny going to the murder of their countrymen. Citizens who expressed views opposed to those of the administration soon found themselves exiled indefinitely to government dungeons. Thousands of men and women died in the conflagration and, it seemed, so did the ideals of liberty.

But it’s not so easy to destroy an idea so appealing as freedom.

In his work, The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude, Etienne de la Boetie writes:

"There are always a few, better endowed than others, who feel the weight of the yoke and cannot restrain themselves from shaking it off… Even if liberty had entirely perished from the Earth, such men would reinvent it. For them slavery holds no satisfaction, no matter how well disguised."

Now, a hundred and thirty-seven years later, the light of hope begins to shine again, if dimly. Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry are dead and gone, but their spiritual descendants have seized the banner and carried it steadfastly forward. Men like Lew Rockwell and Thomas DiLorenzo tear gaping holes in America’s State-nurtured preconceptions, while Jason Sorens and the Free State Project prepare for more direct action. Make no mistake, freedom eludes us still - but the seeds are being replanted, and from them we shall reap a grand harvest of sweet liberty.

After the spectacular failure of the American Republic, true liberty could not be found in a single nation on the face of the Earth. It seemed that serfdom was simply mankind’s destiny - man could not govern himself, and hence needed a shepherd to guide his every action. And yet, in this day and age, a new generation of Minutemen have arisen from the ashes of the old, ready and willing to stand tall and demand what is theirs. Liberty had perished, but they have reinvented it.

I am only seventeen, and am just now approaching my adult years. I can honestly say that I value nothing more than my natural rights as a human being - and, for this, I owe my thanks to the Rockwells and Rothbards of the world. Like the Elders of ancient Israel smuggling the Torah out of the burning temple, these men have preserved the ideals of freedom for my generation to inherit.

With our faith in freedom secure and our desire for victory resolute, the Minutemen of today are prepared to win their freedom. We will not be cogs in a machine; we will not live like veal. When I grow up, I want to be free; at the same time, I recognize the odds arrayed against us. But with good men and strong ideals, sooner or later, freedom will triumph. We may labor under the boot-heel of oppression for all of our lives - but we will labor for our liberty,  and for the liberty of millions yet unborn. To live in true freedom is divine - but, in the absence of such freedom, participation in the grand, eternal struggle to secure it is a reward in and of itself.

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John Newman is a 17-year-old full-time rabble-rouser living in Rochester, Minnesota. He graduates from high school in 2003, and afterward hopes to study Political Science. He has been published previously at Anti-State.Com, as well as at his own site, "Mad As Hell, And Not Gonna Take It Anymore."

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