Those who believe in government might as well be feeding us all, and turning us all into, Soylent Green. Because the truth of the matter is that their actions grind up individuals to feed others.
Your life is worth only what it can do for "society". You are not worth defending if it means "allowing" you to have an effective gun, and you can be destroyed for daring to disobey. Your property is only yours until it can be taken and given to someone who is better connected, or who will "produce" more in the form of "taxes". And I could go on and on with examples.
The government extremists may claim innocence. They lie.
Each and every individual who believes in The State is showing a willingness to sacrifice YOU for the "common good". They are showing that they value "society" over any individual; not realizing that there are only individuals.
No, this isn't me being "collectivist" in my condemnation. If you support The State with words or deeds, then you share tangible guilt with the worst of the perpetrators. And by "deeds" I don't mean that you fork over money because there is a gun to your head- although we could debate how credible the threat actually is right now, and whether you could refuse to hand it over without any consequences. I'll just say you do what you think is best in that situation.
No, I'm condemning those who say "there oughta be a law", or who think more "government" is a solution for any real-world problem. Or even those who believe that there are some "necessary" things that only government can do. But, I used to believe some of the same things, so I share in the guilt. How many lives did my small bit of support for collectivist coercion ruin? I will never know, but I will spend my life making sure I never fall into that pit again. I want no more individuals put through the grinder on my behalf. Not even if it makes me look like a kook.
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Absolutely, except.... /sarc intended
ReplyDeleteVoluntarists must be willing to kill/root out agressors, banksters, enforcers, gangs of enslavers. You and me need a gang to keep the other gangs from taking our life, liberty, and property. or we are easily enslaved. it's history.
wish I could reason with gangs of agressors, but I can't figure out a way to stop them, except organizing voluntarily for spwcific limited enumerated reasons.
I'm willing.
ReplyDeleteI think organizing is a great idea, for lots of things. But it's not a great idea to coerce the unwilling to participate in any way. It's like if I were drafted into the military, I would probably shoot the guy I considered to be the greatest threat to my life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness- and that might not be who "they" would want me to believe it was. It would probably be the guy who was always yelling at me and telling me when to wake up and how to shine my shoes. If, on the other hand, I voluntarily joined with others in defense of our homes, and knew I could opt out at any time for any reason, my focus would be on the invaders- because there would be no other threat.
It's the razor's edge. Once you take up force, no matter what your purpose, because you create an association between using violence and the good outcome.
ReplyDeleteAs sofa said, gangs against gangs ... At some point, it becomes a problem to ditinguish the good gang from the bad gang.
I am not suggesting that we put down our guns (I never will), but that organizing raises new noral issues. The equivalence between self defense and organized security could become the question that determines either your morality or the lawfulness of whatever acts are commited to defend you or your friends (or me and my friends - which may be part of the whole 'freedom-loving' community).
I don't think it i spossible for a group to act morally - because each man or woman must act by hie/her own judgement. Joining a group menas ceding some decisions to others.
Anyway, that's where things start to go awry.
Please elaborate or explain to me, how - even without coercion - a group of people can act morally. It is not possible.
Liberty or Death
Rich
Rich- You are right: a group of people can't act morally- or in any other way. Each individual's actions are either right or wrong.
ReplyDeleteDon't do anything wrong, no matter what "the herd" is doing, and you'll be fine. It's hard- humans turn off a large part of their brain as soon as they see themselves as part of a group. You can cede decisions, without going along with evil. Accept an order to go from here to there, but refuse an order to "take his gun".
So, unless you can control your actions and refuse to do wrong no matter the peer pressure, don't join a group.
Peer pressure is a terrible thing. It is one manifestation of this "obey" thing that humans do.
ReplyDelete