Libertarian? Say what?

"I hereby certify that I do not believe in or advocate the initiation of force to achieve social or political goals. " This is the ethical heart and axiomatic foundation of libertarianism.

Somebody else's rhetoric, shamelessly borrowed:

"Libertarianism is ultimately not an economic philosophy, although rigorous economics bears it out. I would still be a libertarian if Marxian economics were correct. Nor is libertarianism a political philosophy. That it co-incides with the highest law of the land, the Bill of Rights, is nice. But I would be a libertarian even if the constitution forbade it. "Thou shalt not commit aggression".

Libertarianism is a moral philosophy. It has one ideal, one rule. If libertarianism had any truck with commandments, it would have this one: "Thou Shalt Not Commit Aggression." That would be its first commandment, its last commandment, and its only commandment. All else is an exercise for the student. "Thou shalt not commit aggression".

That one commandment, so simple yet so ineluctable, can be derived from so many sources. There are christian libertarians, atheist libertarians, buddhist libertarians, crowleyite libertarians, taoist libertarians, pagan libertarians. So it isn't an axiom, just a theorem. A commandment for people who do not suffer commandments. "Thou shalt not commit aggression".

Libertarianism does not arrive at drug legalization because the cost in constitutional rights is not worth the candle, however true that may be. Libertarianism arrives at drug legalization because the alternative, prohibition, is countless thousands of aggressions against the rights, the properties and the lives of millions of people. "Thou shalt not commit aggression".

Libertarianism does not excoriate all gun control because it contravenes a 200 year old scrap of paper, however true that may be. Libertarianism does not oppose gun control because it concludes that a free people, trained to arms, are the best way to stop aggression, including governmental aggression, however true that may be. Libertarianism opposes gun control because gun control is enforced at gunpoint. "Thou shalt not commit aggression".

It is a universal commandment. It commands the rich, it commands the poor. It commands individuals, it commands groups. No exceptions. Even to that institution which is often defined as a monopoly on the use of force, government, libertarianism says, "Thou shalt not commit aggression".

In an instant in time, one image was graven on the hearts and souls of the world. One man, nameless, weaponless, standing against three tanks in a street all others had fled. In that instant, that man, whatever else he has done, whatever else he does in the future, stood forth as libertarianism in all its glory. That man with his arm upraised told those tank crews: "Thou shalt not commit aggression". "

Go here and find out--you might already be one. Horrors, what will the neighbors think? (Why and since when do you care? It's not like you're eating babies or something.)

The Declaration of Independence of thirteen American colonies from Britain, one of this countries seminal documents. It's very short. When was the last time you read it? Have you ever read it? Here's an modernized version I picked up somewhere on the net. I wonder how many people would even recognize it. While we're at it, and lest we forget, the Bill of Rights .

Here is as good a Net-place as any to start finding out about the L word.

And here's a nice place to think about doing something. Liberty Round Table is kind of an anarchic un-organization doing, well, just go look.

"You're wasting your vote." I'm tired of bad choices.

My vote is wasted anyway when I don't have someone to vote for that stands for what I want. I don't have an acceptable choice. I'm tired, very tired, of voting for the lesser of two evils. I couldn't handle voting for George Bush when he was up for president all on his own, so I voted for Ron Paul. It felt right, and I haven't looked back since.

To be obsessed with voting and the results of elections is to buy into their way of thinking. Voting has little to do with this. This is about living free, about being free to steer your life towards your own good ends and not interfering with others doing the same.

I'm not a member of the Libertarian Party. I'm not much of a joiner, I'm not a "people person", I don't have the time or money to contribute and I can't function in committee meetings. I do sign their ballot access petitions, every chance I get, before they get a chance to get 5 words out. The value that I see in the Party is not in winning elections, because by and large they won't. Even if they did, what then? "The System" would turn them into some kind of mushy compromised Republican. The value of the Party is memetic--it keeps the ideas in Joe Public's consciousness somewhere. As such, it should try to be a true "Party of Principle".

"If you don't vote you don't have any right to complain." Balderdash! Wrong is wrong. Voting for the least offensive of two evils lets them say we approve of it.

What's this thing? I've seen it a couple places elsewhere on this site. If in fact the first 10 amendments to the U. S. Constitution, AKA the Bill of Rights have any meaning, any legal force at all, then those who rule us, or want to, should be judged and if appropriate punished on the basis of how well they have upheld those rights. After all, they swear an oath to uphold it. Simple idea, yes? It's at the meme-spreading phase now. Broad hint: the picture's a link, click on it.

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