I'm a hardcore libertarian - I want everything legal - but I also

Hear now the words of Penn Jillette, the conjurer of illusions yet speaker of unvarnished truths: “I’m a hardcore libertarian—I want everything legal—but I also believe that you have the right to free association.” At first these words seem simple, even playful, as if cast off by a performer in passing. Yet within them lies a philosophy as old as civilization: the eternal struggle between law and liberty, between what is permitted and what is chosen. It is not only a personal creed, but a torch held high for those who seek to live freely, while respecting the choices of others.

The meaning rests in the heart of libertarianism—a belief that individuals should be unshackled, free to act, speak, and live without the heavy hand of government binding their every motion. When Penn says, “I want everything legal,” he proclaims that prohibitions, bans, and punishments often strangle rather than protect, that laws meant to guard can too easily become chains that bind. To him, liberty is not granted by rulers, but inherent to every soul, and the fewer the restrictions, the greater the flourishing of the human spirit.

Yet he does not stop at lawlessness or chaos. He tempers his creed with the principle of free association. For freedom does not mean forced communion; it means the right to choose with whom one will stand, live, and build. If all is legal, still one may refuse to bind themselves to those they do not trust, admire, or love. Thus liberty is balanced: the government may not forbid, but the individual may still decide. This balance is the essence of Jillette’s vision—a society wide open, yet still defined by the voluntary bonds of its people.

History offers us the lesson of the early American republic, where the founding fathers, fresh from the fires of tyranny, proclaimed the Bill of Rights. They knew the danger of kings who forbid and rulers who command. They enshrined freedoms of speech, assembly, and belief. Yet they also understood that no citizen could be compelled into fellowship against their will. Churches, clubs, and movements rose not by decree, but by the power of association freely chosen. This delicate dance between total liberty and voluntary unity is the foundation of democracy itself.

But history also warns us of the dangers when either side of this balance is ignored. In Prohibition-era America, the attempt to outlaw alcohol only fueled black markets, crime, and corruption, proving that to forbid often breeds more chaos than to permit. Conversely, when societies have forced associations—whether in the gulags of Stalin or the cultural dictates of Mao—individual freedom was extinguished, and with it, the dignity of the human soul. Penn Jillette’s creed reminds us that freedom and choice together form the soil in which a just society may grow.

The lesson is clear: guard both liberty and choice. To demand that everything be legal is to fight against overreach, yet to defend free association is to ensure that freedom does not devolve into coercion of another kind. Let every man and woman be free to act, yet also free to walk away, to choose their circle, their kin, their community. Only in this harmony does freedom become more than chaos—it becomes dignity.

What then must you do? Live as though liberty is sacred. Defend the rights of others to speak and act, even when you disagree. Do not cry out for bans simply because something offends you. At the same time, protect your right to say no, to walk away, to form bonds by consent rather than compulsion. In your daily life, honor choice—your own and that of others—as the highest mark of freedom.

Thus remember Penn Jillette’s words: “I’m a hardcore libertarian—I want everything legal—but I also believe that you have the right to free association.” Let this wisdom be passed down like the sayings of the ancients, for in it lies a call not only to resist tyranny, but also to embrace responsibility. For freedom is not only the absence of chains, but the power to decide where, and with whom, you will stand.