2006 December 18
Copyright © Brian Wright

Sacred Nonaggression Principle, Part 2
Solving some technical issues

I ended the first part with an argument that by making the simple nonaggression principle sacred we make that idea far more acceptable to large numbers of real, nonideological people.  Most people, especially in the USA today, are inclined to go along with you, or at least let you be.

For example, a friend of mine, when they ask for his Social Security number, says “My religion doesn’t use Social Security numbers.”  I.e. “my sacred belief system doesn’t accept whatever.”  And it works.

The government doesn’t like to mess with people’s sacred belief systems, no matter what the beliefs.  If we can wrap secular (especially red-white-and-blue) holy cloth around the nonaggression principle, we will see a sea change in world politics. 

I mentioned technical issues in Part 1: In order for the SNaP to carry the day, in my judgment large numbers of regular individuals must:

1) Overcome inertia
2) Grasp and agree with the NaP
3) Imagine a future w/o coercion

Or to briefly expand on the above assertions:

1) Overcome inertia—Say you draw government welfare
    payments—either in the form of individual checks or
    corporate subsidies—that exceed what the government
    takes from you.  Then as a net beneficiary you will have
    trouble letting go of your apparent favored status.

2) Grasp and agree with the NaP—The nonaggression
    principle (NaP) simply states nobody initiates force against
    anyone else.  Whatever you do that requires others, you
    must get the everyone’s voluntary consent.  Government
    overriding that consent by law is the worst violation of all.

3) Imagine a future w/o coercion—Think of it: no taxes
    withheld from your paycheck; when you pay off the
    mortgage your home is yours free and clear; no one
    impresses your children into state indoctrination centers;
    you may inhale or ingest any substance you want; nobody
    may foul your air, land, or water…

I can go on forever on number 3, because I've been acquiring a lot of imagination since coming to the Free State.  But here is a practical list of things we can do to “SNaP out of it:”

• Withdraw one’s moral sanction.  Without your consent, the
   state is dead in the water.  A tax strike would be ideal. 
• Restore habeas corpus and the Bill of Rights to all.
• Legalize all consensual behavior, especially drugs.  Wasting
   half a trillion dollars on the drug laws in an age of terrorism
   is immoral.
• Separate the state from schooling.  To send your kids to
   school, write a check.  Leave me (and my kids) out of your
   government’s plans.
• Similarly, separate the state from charitable giving. 
   Americans give $300 billion a year in charity.  Stop welfare,
   they’ll give more.
• Eliminate corporate privileges; end vast political
   concentrations of wealth in the hands of those who use it
   to scorch the earth.

Okay, the list is necessarily brief.  But you see where I’m going with it. 

My six-point program sounds fairly radical UNLESS you can let go of any special state bennies, get right with the nonaggression principle, and imagine how wonderful your life can be when you give up the sword. 

It has to happen… soon.  Then any political figure who wants a chance of gaining office in 2008 will feel compelled to affirm five out of six of them.  This leads me to an immediate form of social protest that could be pointedly effective... in Part 3.