Violence vs. Voluntaryism: There's Always a Better Way

Have you ever examined the basic mechanisms of the society in which you live?  From my perspective, there are two basic ways to organize society: Voluntary cooperation, or violence and coercion.

Most of us experience some mix of the two.

In our interpersonal lives - usually up to the neighborhood level - societies are largely based on voluntary cooperation, or at least the Non-Aggression Principle.  In other words, on this level, people know it is unacceptable to initiate violence against one another to force desired behaviors.  People know that if they do start a fight, the person they are starting it with is completely justified in using aggressive defensive force.

In America today, this is where civility and voluntary cooperation end.  There is still a thin veneer of civility; some illusion of the absence of violence underpinning the functions of society.  But that's all it is - an illusion.  From the town level on up to the Federal, the rest of American society has its basis completely in coercion and threats of violence, up to and ultimately including deadly force.

Don't believe me?  Try not paying property taxes.  Or refusing to comply with local government workers who order you to stop doing construction on your own house without their holy permission.  Or refusing to pay income taxes to the IRS.  Or consuming a plant deemed "dangerous" by the FDA.  The initial contact by government workers on all levels might start out civilly enough, but if you don't comply with their demands, it won't be long before they show up with an armed person to forcibly extract your wealth or put you in a cage.

And if you don't want to have your property stolen or to be kidnapped?  The person with a gun will shoot you dead.  This is the ultimate conclusion of every "law" now on the books.  This is the reality of how American society is now organized.  There is no element of voluntary cooperation - either you will do what your rulers say, or they will put you down.  In my view, this is an absolutely unacceptable way to behave towards other human beings.

Any human interaction that is not voluntary is inherently wrong.  If your ideas are good enough to be followed, you will not need to employ people with guns to force your neighbors into compliance.  And if you do need to employ such people, your ideas really sucked to begin with.  This is true whether you are homeless and on the streets or the President of the United States.

Bottom line: There is ALWAYS a better way to get things done than by using force.  The only time violent force is legitimate is when it is used in self defense or the defense of another.  Anything else is just plain wrong.

"The problem isn't the person who is sitting on the throne.  The problem is that the throne exists at all." - Larken Rose