Rush & The Activist's Ideal of Love

 

Here's a deep question: what kind of relationship is most ideal for free individuals?

If classical liberalism is fundamentally all about personal agency for everyone then it should follow that a libertarian and anyone wholly concerned with freedom would be unhappy with a relationship that exists on a master/slave basis.

This sounds obvious, but is it? Many traditional concepts of relationships and marriage depend on subservience and also on the male public world/ female domestic world roles. If this upsetting to you as a conservative female activist, pause and think that under some of these older roles, you would most probably not be an activist of any sort. It is also worth noting the long and noble history of radical libertarians in the 19th century fighting these norms, specifically marriage that absorbed women as legal entities and condoned rape.

I think that an activist, a person who is really trying to better the world, seeks a companion as an equal. It would be strange to demand liberty in the outside world and then to have a different standard in one's personal life. But what does that look like?

A few things most activists are probably looking for:

1. Someone that does not think they are nuts
2. Someone who understands what they are doing
3. Someone who understands why what they are doing is important to them.

I think this is summed up nicely in Rush's forgotten love song "Madrigal". Here are the lyrics:

"When the dragons grow too mighty
To slay with pen or sword
I grow weary of the battle
And the storm I walk toward
When all around is madness
And there's no safe port in view
I long to turn my path homeward
To stop a while with you

When life becomes as barren
And as cold as winter skies
There's a beacon in the darkness
In a distant pair of eyes
In vain to search for honor
In vain to search for truth
But these things can still be given
Your love has shown me proof"

To back up my point is tonykz1100's comment:

"I wrote the words from this song and sent them in a valentines card and married the girl ten years later I have 2 boys and sometimes think maybe they would never have existed had rush not but she drew the line I wanted to call my first geddy"

What someone who fights the whole world and usually comes up short really really needs is a shoulder to lay their chin upon who then whispers in their ear, "Everything is fine.", even though outside that moment everything is not fine. The world may be falling apart at the seams, but that moment is forever and unbreakable.

So if you are having trouble finding someone this Valentines day, worry not. Nice guys and gals do not finish last. It is also true that plenty of jerks think they are nice guys/gals. So when approaching the puzzle of romance try approaching it not as a search for some sucker dumb enough to put up with you, but from the standpoint of seeking an equal partner in thought-crime.

Regular Columnist, THL
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