Ironically, one of the founding tenets of anarchy is the non-aggression principle (NAP). I say ironically because our overlords have convinced us that anarchy is synonymous with violence and chaos. The truth is that NAP tells us that it is never OK to initiate force or aggression upon another human being. This is not the same as pacifism because it is OK to forcefully defend yourself and your property. Basically don't ever put your hands upon me or any of my possessions unless I have physically interfered with another's body or possessions. There are never scenarios where it would be OK for anyone to violate the NAP.
And just let me say that I personally try to uphold NAP and pacifism. But I am a large man who doesn't really care about possessions and would prefer to live life like a hobo. So it is easier for me to take a punch or have people steal from me and not feel the need to retaliate. I have seen what these hands can do and it is difficult to forget that as well. Having said that, it is a daily practice to keep the beast in its cave and be like Jesus.
The NAP goes beyond one on one physical confrontation and golden rules though. In regards to governance, you wouldn't want to craft laws that would require another human being (police) to break the NAP by doing their job. For example I would not want a law that would require police to lock up other human beings in cages by forcefully removing them from their homes or anywhere if they consumed something I didn't like. Regardless if what they consumed did physical harm to their own body. No harm was done to other human beings. So all drug laws violate the NAP. In fact, all non-violent offenses violate the NAP. Tax evasion, traffic violations, zoning violations, etc. These laws are inherently violent in nature and cause more violence. If we were to uphold the NAP it would require most of government institutions to dismantle and give the people their money back.
The primary arguments against anarchism derive from the lack of faith in the goodness of people by some people (supporters of the state). Some people say that civility would fall apart if we didn't have the state and enforceable non-violent laws and standards. We wouldn't have society and would return to the animal kingdom if we didn't have these laws. Those of us that dream of less government intervention and personal freedoms know this is a trick the overlords have always played upon us to keep us under their heel. The truth is that we can govern ourselves. There are far more civil, moral, righteous and upright citizens who would follow natural laws regardless of what some politician or some piece of paper said. There would still be laws covering violent offenses and how we would collectively handle violent people, but we would allow individuals to govern themselves.
My well intended liberal friends would immediately ask me who would protect the environment? I think the environment would vastly improve under NAP and anarchy by arguing that pollution is aggression upon all. If you produce something and the byproduct of your production causes illness to the rest of us, you aggress upon all of us and we would be allowed to lock you up or punish you accordingly. If you spray something on your field and it ends up in our town drinking supply, you poison all of us so you aggress upon all of us. Imagine biology students at local colleges constantly testing the air and water around manufacturing plants and farms doing their civic duty to protect the rest of us against environmental aggression. Instead of a gangster EPA in bed with the chemical companies and manufacturing companies to keep the economic charade going we could have true local environmental protection. And within industries the competition would all check each other to make sure the others aren't cheating to get the advantage so essentially everyone would police the environment and we would see drastic improvement. And the same would hold true for the FDA and USDA food police and just about every other national government agency that really suppress small businesses and by their existence ensure environmental degradation.
The NAP is the primary argument for limited national governments. In the case of the USA, there are very few things that 300 + million people could all agree upon, so we want our national laws to reflect this. At a national level we should only have laws that determine how the states interact with each other and how all the states protect themselves from outside forces. States would have laws to determine how the cities within the state interact with each other and cities would have laws to determine how the individuals freely choosing to live within the boundaries of that city would peacefully live together. So more laws at the local level. More tax money kept locally. Each city would be like its own country. This is how we have a peaceful society of free individuals living happily together upholding the non-aggression principle. Don't lose this dream because it is what we all deserve and will have someday soon.
And just let me say that I personally try to uphold NAP and pacifism. But I am a large man who doesn't really care about possessions and would prefer to live life like a hobo. So it is easier for me to take a punch or have people steal from me and not feel the need to retaliate. I have seen what these hands can do and it is difficult to forget that as well. Having said that, it is a daily practice to keep the beast in its cave and be like Jesus.
The NAP goes beyond one on one physical confrontation and golden rules though. In regards to governance, you wouldn't want to craft laws that would require another human being (police) to break the NAP by doing their job. For example I would not want a law that would require police to lock up other human beings in cages by forcefully removing them from their homes or anywhere if they consumed something I didn't like. Regardless if what they consumed did physical harm to their own body. No harm was done to other human beings. So all drug laws violate the NAP. In fact, all non-violent offenses violate the NAP. Tax evasion, traffic violations, zoning violations, etc. These laws are inherently violent in nature and cause more violence. If we were to uphold the NAP it would require most of government institutions to dismantle and give the people their money back.
The primary arguments against anarchism derive from the lack of faith in the goodness of people by some people (supporters of the state). Some people say that civility would fall apart if we didn't have the state and enforceable non-violent laws and standards. We wouldn't have society and would return to the animal kingdom if we didn't have these laws. Those of us that dream of less government intervention and personal freedoms know this is a trick the overlords have always played upon us to keep us under their heel. The truth is that we can govern ourselves. There are far more civil, moral, righteous and upright citizens who would follow natural laws regardless of what some politician or some piece of paper said. There would still be laws covering violent offenses and how we would collectively handle violent people, but we would allow individuals to govern themselves.
The NAP is the primary argument for limited national governments. In the case of the USA, there are very few things that 300 + million people could all agree upon, so we want our national laws to reflect this. At a national level we should only have laws that determine how the states interact with each other and how all the states protect themselves from outside forces. States would have laws to determine how the cities within the state interact with each other and cities would have laws to determine how the individuals freely choosing to live within the boundaries of that city would peacefully live together. So more laws at the local level. More tax money kept locally. Each city would be like its own country. This is how we have a peaceful society of free individuals living happily together upholding the non-aggression principle. Don't lose this dream because it is what we all deserve and will have someday soon.
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