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;-) 1996



The other day an (un) "civil servant" asked me why I had a problem with government.

I replied my objection to the concept of "government", as it applies to social relations and organization, is rooted in the underlying premise of coercion or force. This fundamental premise blatantly violates the universal concept of self-ownership and it's concomitant, the equality of all individuals. All "law" enforcement involving offenses which are malum prohibitum, or wrong because they are prohibited, is merely cleverly disguised politically "correct" behavior control. The intent of which is not defending the victimized, but rather victimizing the otherwise peaceful individual. There can be no natural right to initiate violence or aggression among peaceful people. Nor can it be claimed that "governments" are delegated the power by "the people" to compel obedience. As no individual has a right to compel obedience, this is a power never possessed, individually or collectively, and therefore could not possibly be delegated. This is the power "government", once sanctioned, grants to itself by means of legislative fiat, and the power to "make law" is the power to destroy. So why would any rational person give their servant the power to destroy them? Unless they had been duped into believing that "laws" can be made rather than only discovered.

For me it is not a question of transgressing any particular law or edict. It is a matter of conscience and principle, i.e. an essential truth upon which other truths are logically based. This essential truth of self-ownership is unequivocal and inescapable. Each individual alone controls, and is responsible for, the energy that animates their being. This principle has motivated my own complete and explicit rejection and withdrawal of all sanction and support for the concept of "government" in any form, regardless of the stated purpose or whether it is global, national, state, or local. My position is based upon the realization of the paradox of the political means, i.e. might can make right, by definition this position is inherently illogical, contradictory and immoral, and therefore must ever prove to be utterly ineffectual as a method for advancing the evolution of peaceful relations among the aggregate of society. Compulsion necessarily precludes morality and at best produces only a mixture of hypocrisy and rebellion. I find the ratio of the former to the latter to be a reasonably accurate indication of the overall intellectual integrity of the individual. If an individual is willing to consistently and repeatedly compromise their principles, can they truly claim to have any? Further, "government" being the product or offspring of "politics", i.e., the art of compromise, can it ever be construed as principled?

This is the problem I have with the concept "government", it is self-evidently unprincipled.


Which is worse the desire to command or the will to obey?

Just Dave - Peace