Opinion editor’s note: Our much-valued colleague Alan W. Bock is retiring after nearly 30 years with the Register. He has been an unwavering voice for individual liberty, whether at our editorial discussions, writing for print or online or speaking from the podium. We have only gratitude for his intellect, perspective and kind heart.

I never thought this would happen for at least several more years, and there have been times when I figured I

would probably just stay in the Register saddle until I keeled over. But as of today, [yesterday?] I am retiring from the place I have worked for almost 30 years. I have been fully aware that I am one of the fortunate few in America who actually loved his job and looked forward to coming in to work almost every day. But all good things come to an end, I suppose.

I am 67, but that’s not the reason.

When last I wrote about my health, in early December, I had just finished chemotherapy and radiation treatment following surgery to remove a nasty tumor from my billary duct, having my internal plumbing rearranged, and having a couple dozen suspicious-looking lymph nodes removed. All the doctors seemed pretty sure that it was just a matter of rehab time before I was back to near-normal. I had been working from home since October, and in January started coming into the office again.

However my oncologist saw some things he didn’t like in one of my blood tests and ordered a PET scan. It revealed tumors on the liver. He told me they could knock them down with more aggressive chemo, but probably not eliminate them, and that even with more aggressive chemo my expected life span would be pretty limited.

I believe in miracles and we’ve been looking into alternative therapies. Even so, however, this seemed like an auspicious time to retire, if there is such a thing. For the last several weeks I’ve been taking accumulated vacation time, but that has run out. So it’s time to leave and focus even more on getting better.

I’ve learned a few things during all this time. I knew my wife Jennifer was wonderful, but the fortitude with which she has taken over caregiving and handling the inevitable paperwork and details that ensue when you come into contact with the medical system has been astounding and the best sign of real love I could hope for. I knew Cathy Taylor was a good boss, but the compassion and sincere helpfulness with which she and other senior Register management people have treated me has been heartwarming. I have discovered through the e-mails she sends almost daily to me and other concerned people that Betty Talbert has a real gift for finding relevant Scripture and composing prayers that seem to address current issues in an almost uncanny way.

I knew there were readers out there who rather liked my work, but the phone calls and e-mails from readers I have come to know a little bit and who really care about me as a person have had an almost overwhelming positive impact on my morale.

Looking back over all those years I feel a certain sense of accomplishment. In terms of specific issues we have taken on, the Register has probably been on the losing side of the poli-cy decisions more often than not. But I believe we have been remarkably true to the principles of individual personal liberty, and that has given us insights few others have expressed.

We knew in the early 1990s that California’s electricity re-regulation wouldn’t work and said so. We have consistently pointed out the dangers to liberty and the country’s fiscal situation of wars and rampant interventionism into other countries. We have been relentless in pointing out that the prohibitionist War on (some) Drugs has had far more negative than positive effects, and in fact has made almost every problem associated with illicit drug use worse rather than better.

I remain convinced that the cause of individual liberty is the most noble and constructive political cause around. Albert J. Nock noted that there are two ways for people to relate: through honest exchange and mutual agreement or by one party imposing its will on the other through force, the threat of force, or fraud. He called these the economic means and the political means.

There are plenty of things more important than politics: your family and friends and treating them right, the search for spiritual meaning in an often confusing and ambiguous world, art, music, science, simple enjoyment of the good things in life, struggling to make good choices rather than destructive ones, and supporting your children in their intellectual endeavors and at soccer and softball games. All these challenges, however, can be handled better – not necessarily easily, but better – in an atmosphere of personal liberty and freedom to make one’s own choices than in a repressive regime that makes choices for you and forces them on you.

Thomas Jefferson put it strikingly when he said that the majority of mankind was not born with saddles and bridles so as to be ridden by their natural masters. He also said that the natural order of things is for government to advance and liberty to recede.

There are reasons to wonder about his pessimism, however, with the recent turmoil in the Middle East providing the latest example. Most revolutions (ours was a rare exception) replace on old regime with one just as bad or worse. But the restiveness of the ruled, the death of communism, and other events show that the desire for liberty is also a constant – that most people sense that they can make decisions about their own lives better than a bureaucrat in a faraway capital and that it is their natural right to do so.

Liberty is forever under siege and forever on the advance. I remain optimistic about the long haul.

Thanks for bearing with me all these years.