The whole point of free speech is not to make ideas exempt from criticism but to expose them to it.

Monday, January 2, 2012

Thou shalt not commit aggression or fraud.

The last time a candidate appeared on a ballot in South Dakota as a member of the Socialist Party was in 1932, I've been told. By then, the Democrats and Republicans had co-opted so many of the Socialist positions that there was little left for a Socialist candidate to promise.

Similarly, the political class appears to be co-opting libertarian philosophy by proclaiming its Libertarian "leanings."

According to 1 Corinthians 13:13, "... now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." I could say I have Christian "leanings" because I have hope.

Libertarians hold a lot of views that intersect with the obvious, such as that taxes do get to a point where they are intolerable, or that it is worse than incompetent to pursue public policies that serve to enrich the most vicious people on Earth, or that professional licensing and other regulations can get to the point of oppression. But, verily, I say:

Thou shalt not endorse the commission of aggression or fraud. Thou shalt not vote for those who do. For indeed no one has the right to inflict aggressive blows upon thy neighbor's head, or thy neighbor's ass. Likewise it is immoral to ram it home to thy neighbor by violating his agreement with you. And whenever thy neighbor has inflicted aggressive blows or is inflicting aggressive blows or when thy neighbor is attempting to ram it home by fraud thou hast the right to resist and to assess him for the damage he has caused, or kick the shit out of him, if that will suffice. And whenever the Legions of Suits in Capitol Buildings cause aggressive blows and rammings-home they shall be subject to my wrath.

Without endorsement of the non-aggression principle, you are simply a person who probably has some opinions that intersect with some opinions of some libertarian somewhere.

1 comment:

larry kurtz said...

@DavidCornDC:

"It's a wonderful day in US democracy: when voters who believe in the Rapture have a disproportionate say in who'll lead US before Armageddon."