I know my own experience was shared by at least one other mover in this movement, and that was what gave me the idea for the song “Choices,” which I’ve posted elsewhere. While helping that same person move this weekend, I was surprised how prophetic the song I’d written earlier that week proved to be, particularly in the sixth verse. The title popped into my mind — one of those slight variants on a familiar phrase that appeals to the inner (and my case, overly outer) paronomastic, and it seemed like a good topic for what I call “commercials for liberty.”
I GAVE MY LIFE TO LIBERTY AND HAPPINESS PURSUED
I held a near monopoly on freedom ideology.
Lonely and reclusive nights were warping my psychology.
Discussing my ideas with the hometown population
Earned me reactions ranging from bewildered to abusive;
A few sincere discussions gained me quite a reputation.
At work I kept my mouth shut and grew ever more reclusive.
My life was one dull cycle of work, shelter, clothing, food.
Frustrated with my anomie, I’d sit at home and brood.
I scrutinized my memories and parsed my own emotions:
The standard value-inculcation in the home and school
Made me a proud American, and grateful to be here.
As life went on, that patriotic pride beneath their rule
Seemed more like blind obeisance, reinforced with threats and fear.
Public “servants” — all! — are arrogant, dishonest, rude.
The State’s brand of “protection” is irrevocably skewed.
I’m haunted by the specter of the government, it seems,
All day, each day, from wake to sleep–and often, in my dreams!
Unknown — unknowable — restrictions stifle honest trade.
Courts are now casinos . . . with deceitful croupiers.
Police, not crooks they never catch, make citizens afraid.
War — on drugs or Muslims — furnishes excuse to raise
The cost to fund my own demise. What else could I conclude?
A life lived under government will only get you screwed.
I hoped I could avoid their ills (at least the most excessive).
My conscience, though, would bother me if life grew more oppressive.
The caveats of history point out the blatant error
Of those who turned their backs on tyranny, and ran and hid.
To stop a future ten times worse, I overcame my terror
And tried to force some changes, just to one day say I did.
I acted, using action to elevate my mood —
I gave my life to liberty, and happiness ensued.
Simply taking action won’t suffice — though it’s a start.
Working hard is not enough, if you’re not working smart.
I boosted liberty ideas on the hometown front.
The locals didn’t do so much as toss me out a bone.
I figured, when my efforts were dismissed as just a stunt,
I might as well do nothing as continue on alone.
Then I looked to New Hampshire, where activism brewed.
I gave my life to liberty, and happiness pursued.
You’re provided proper rite of passage right away: to prove
Your loyalty to liberty, you have to make a move.
You’ll have the help you need, and more — and all for beer and pizza.
Within about an hour, you’ll feel valued, safe and free.
Best of all is, every just-arrived new mover meets a
Wide array of confreres who soon feel like family.
From my own experience — advice that you can use:
Give your life to liberty, and happiness pursues.
Your solo’s soon accompanied by new concordant voices;
Where once you wondered what to do, you now are swamped with choices.
You find and build your special place on freedom’s new frontiers.
Chart exponential growth in innovations you conceive,
And put them into practice with your activist compeers
With whom you do; with whom you’d die; with whom you can achieve
The fully realized potential that defines success.
Give me life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness!
I’m sure that in this audience are lots of other hermits
As sick of cops, courts, judges, taxes, regulations, permits.
A few are on the borderline, unready to concede
That what the State does for them isn’t worth what it does to them.
The price will soon outdistance what they misperceive as need —
Try getting back what you’ve put in! (It sure won’t work to sue them.)
For those who give to government, receiving less and less:
Give your life to liberty in the pursuit of happiness!
And if any musicians care to try writing a melody to this off-the-beaten-path rhyme scheme (which this particular computer program doesn’t allow me to properly indent for best effect), get in touch!
