Liberty in Review Week 2024

Jan 21st, 2024

Janus prompts us to reflect on the year gone by, and anticipate what lies ahead. The recent landscape of liberty looks a little bleak, but there are some bright spots.

The Roman god Janus, depicted with two faces, in various sketches and forms. — Different depictions of Janus from Bernard de Montfaucon’s *L’antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures.*

“I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past.”

- Patrick Henry

January is a time for taking stock. The month derives its name from the two-faced Roman god, Janus. The quality of being two faced—typically understood to mean deceitful—has a different valence with Janus, who looks behind and ahead, and therefore presides over transitions and, by association, doorways and thresholds. Some find it odd that there should be a god that governs doors, but when we pass through doors—literal or symbolic—we step from the familiar to the unknown, and are perhaps most inclined to seek divine support. Janus may descend from the more ancient chthonic gods—understood as animist spirits—that occupied the hearth and the threshold into the home (Men would carry their brides over the threshold so as not to offend the spirits in the doorway, and avoid the bad omen of a newly arrived bride tripping as she entered the adopted home of her spouse).

And so Janus prompts us to reflect on the year gone by, and anticipate what lies ahead. The recent landscape of liberty looks a little bleak, but there are some bright spots. Our introductory video offers a look at five of those wins for freedom. Our articles and podcast remind us that, while we can have developments in favor of liberty, such as the election of Javier Milei in Argentina, very often we have defensive wins for freedom, which mostly consist in staving off encroachments by the state. There have been improvements in residential zoning, school choice, global trade, and select judicial wins across a number of different areas. Many of these defensive moves consist in rolling back the administrative state, or cutting the government off at the pass as it prepares to regulate, tax, or control in the future.

As part of our week’s “Janus content” we have also highlighted some thematically fitting articles and Encyclopedia of Libertarianism entries from the back catalogue of Libertarianism.org. These prompt us to reflect on libertarian strategies for change and review the history of libertarianism. Given that we are about to enter the divisive and distracting circus of the presidential election year, we have also highlighted Gene Healy’s “A Libertarian Vision for the Presidency” to remind us that far too much power and influence is invested in the presidential office.

Janus was also the god who presided over declarations of war—a transition from peace to conflict. When the “gates of Janus” were open the Romans were at war, and when closed they were at peace. Sadly, the gates in Rome were open for over 400 years until shortly after the First Punic War came to an end. Let’s hope that Janus opens many doors to liberty in 2024, and closes all doors to war.

This post will be updated with links to all of the content related to Liberty in Review Week.