It's a hard one because we were not born equal. Meaning that we did choose our parent, how wealthy they are or the country of our birth. That single factor determines what opportunities are available to us and the ease of getting them.
It is only when you look at this issue can you make a framework for what liberty is. If you want to look at where your political alignments actually lie it is worthwhile doing the Political Compass.
The rest of the site is interesting too as it pitches political philosophers on the chart too. I come out sitting on top of Thomas Paine ....maybe a hairbreadth to the left.
There are my results. I'm not surprised by them at all. Thanks for the link to the test!
I was born dirt poor. I guess I won the lottery DNA wise and geographically though, because hard work has paid off. This is one reason I'm all for open travel by peaceful people too. If you are born and raised in a lousy place, move to a better place. Instead, we are locked into different tax farms, and people are often stuck where they are born.
I was born in a country which is bottom of the OECD developed nations social mobility rankings. ie if you were born poor you aren't going anywhere. When I was a small kid I went to a primary school in a really bad area. We moved simply because my parents jumped on an opportunity. At 28 there was a class reunion. My best friend from that time was a grandmother 3 times over (boggle at the fact she was 28)and all the boys in the year except for three were dead. The cleverest boy in the class wasn't dead but wasn't at the reunion. He was selling stolen car batteries in the local bar. Rather colored my viewpoints on wealth, liberty and opportunity.
But... you're here. You're talking to me, and we are very far apart geographically I'm guessing. You can read, write, and speak my language (not saying it's best or anything). Just the fact that you're talking to me in this discussion means you've "made it" in a sense. You're not quitting, you've worked hard in the right ways, and you're not giving up.
I'm an agorist too, so we could discuss the cleverest boy a bit more too if you ever wanted. I don't agree that people should steal other people's property, but even that has qualifications. I wouldn't blame a starving man from taking from my field of food in other words. I might however ask him to work that field in exchange for the food. Have you shared your story at all on here?
The reason I'm here is purely luck rather than good judgement. I also don't think of it as a story as it is rather everyday for a lot of people in the world. It is just that the chattering classes tend to walk round in blinkers and shout down anything that does not conform to a set of narratives that they have built up over the years. Having said that I have built up my own set of narratives and while I do try to listen it is rare that I actually divert from them.
I'm also not big on philosophers and economists from a wealthy background creating solutions for poverty as they generally don't understand the implications of their actions.
Every action has consequences. You've made a lot of good choices, or you would not be here writing to me. That's not luck. Fortune favors the prepared. I don't believe in luck.