My favorite liberty videos of 2010.
#1: Laughing Man hacks Facebook
#2: The Sunset of the State
#3: Pirates and Emperors - Schoolhouse Rock
#4: Uncle Sam Visits Times Square
#5: Laughing Man: The Game is On
#6: RAP NEWS 5: News World Order - the war on journalism (ft. Julian Assange)
#7: The Story of Our Unenslavement
#8: Paying Taxes Activism
#9: The Broken Window Fallacy (no accents)
Friday, December 24, 2010
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
The Laughing Man: The Game is On
Another excellent post by the Laughing Man.
If you haven't seen this yet, check it out.
If you haven't seen this yet, check it out.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Another message from the Laughing Man ...
Re-posted at the request of the Laughing Man.
Please do the same if you are so inclined.
This is the Laughing Man speaking. I did not choose this moniker, but given the direction of human events, I find it wholly appropriate. Our society is an absurd monument to the irrational, and those of us sane enough to see it are laughing like madmen. I do not laugh because nothing remains great; I laugh because something greater is on the horizon. I laugh at the destruction of the unjust, and we are on the brink of a powerful Reawakening.
Old miners brought a canary into the mineshaft as an alarm for dangerous fumes. If the canary died, then the miners had only minutes to escape. This is why I chose the Dead Canary as the symbol of this cause; we can either abandon our present course of action or commit ourselves to destruction.
The people of this nation have become aware of their enslavement, but this is not what frightens the slave-drivers. That you might *choose* to remove your shackles terrifies them in a primal way and shakes them to the very center of their pathology. There is no lock, there is no key, and these men of unjust force have no power over you except that which your fear has allowed. Conflict has always been inevitable, and it will escalate if they do not step aside.
The battle for your mind, your productivity, and your very freedom is being waged here and now. The champions of freedom will ultimately prevail, but not because we have bigger guns. We will win because reality weighs in favor of the rational. Are they willing to walk over all of our corpses in the pursuit of their own suicidal demise? Bet your life on it. But what happens to the parasite when it has no host?
I cannot tell you how to most effectively fight this battle, because you know better than I do where your skills reside. But I can tell you that we have very little time. If I have any advice to offer, it is to arm yourself with the intellectual ammunition of the philosophers of freedom: Locke, Bastiat, Mises, Rand, etc. Freedom is your birthright, but you cannot defend it without the proper foundation of ideas. Your mind is the one weapon that cannot be taken from you; keep it sharp.
I will address those who have taken the tragically cynical view that their fellow men are too low-brow or too lazy to desire freedom and act upon that desire. The fact that this message has propagated voluntarily and so quickly is proof positive that you are mistaken about your fellow men. We possess a recognition of freedom and a strength of will that our enemies will never overcome. Hope is not lost.
Awaken and act. We will meet again on the battlefield for our freedom.
Please do the same if you are so inclined.
This is the Laughing Man speaking. I did not choose this moniker, but given the direction of human events, I find it wholly appropriate. Our society is an absurd monument to the irrational, and those of us sane enough to see it are laughing like madmen. I do not laugh because nothing remains great; I laugh because something greater is on the horizon. I laugh at the destruction of the unjust, and we are on the brink of a powerful Reawakening.
Old miners brought a canary into the mineshaft as an alarm for dangerous fumes. If the canary died, then the miners had only minutes to escape. This is why I chose the Dead Canary as the symbol of this cause; we can either abandon our present course of action or commit ourselves to destruction.
The people of this nation have become aware of their enslavement, but this is not what frightens the slave-drivers. That you might *choose* to remove your shackles terrifies them in a primal way and shakes them to the very center of their pathology. There is no lock, there is no key, and these men of unjust force have no power over you except that which your fear has allowed. Conflict has always been inevitable, and it will escalate if they do not step aside.
The battle for your mind, your productivity, and your very freedom is being waged here and now. The champions of freedom will ultimately prevail, but not because we have bigger guns. We will win because reality weighs in favor of the rational. Are they willing to walk over all of our corpses in the pursuit of their own suicidal demise? Bet your life on it. But what happens to the parasite when it has no host?
I cannot tell you how to most effectively fight this battle, because you know better than I do where your skills reside. But I can tell you that we have very little time. If I have any advice to offer, it is to arm yourself with the intellectual ammunition of the philosophers of freedom: Locke, Bastiat, Mises, Rand, etc. Freedom is your birthright, but you cannot defend it without the proper foundation of ideas. Your mind is the one weapon that cannot be taken from you; keep it sharp.
I will address those who have taken the tragically cynical view that their fellow men are too low-brow or too lazy to desire freedom and act upon that desire. The fact that this message has propagated voluntarily and so quickly is proof positive that you are mistaken about your fellow men. We possess a recognition of freedom and a strength of will that our enemies will never overcome. Hope is not lost.
Awaken and act. We will meet again on the battlefield for our freedom.
Laughing Man hacks Facebook
Re-posted at the request of the Laughing Man.
Please do the same if you are so inclined.
Transcript
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Permit me to apologize for this intrusion
Unfortunately, I'm at a loss for a better way to get your attention.
You'll see that I have made no alterations to your page.
You'll also not worry that I have not taken any liberties with your personal information.
And if you dislike this message, you are always free to delete it.
I think that you will see that I have no malicious intentions.
On the contrary, I'm trying to help you.
I hope this is of some consolation and I hope that you will forgive me.
I think that you have noticed that there is something very wrong with the way that we're living.
Something that goes to the very source of our world view is deeply flawed.
We've learned not to question a very fundamental premise that is harming many aspects of our lives.
Errors in the premises of our thinking will propagate through all conclusions that we draw.
When a structure is built on a poor foundation this error will affect the entire building and result in deep flaws of the finished product.The realm of ideas operates in the same fashion. Bad assumptions will corrupt the conclusions of even the best logic.
We currently stand at Morton's fork.
That is a choice between two alternatives we assume to be unavoidable.
We accept the assumption that in order for men to live peacefully with each other we must divided between either controlling forces and subservient forces. Kings and peasants. Master and slave. Ruler and ruled.
Although we do not have a king in name today, the situation is scarcely changed.
In this country, the founders hoped to create a society of free men but instead of a true revolution we have had a sort of coup of the head of state.
The king has been replaced by this vague idea of the collective - the popular vote - the state.
The end result is a faceless government with the voice of only the most influential.
The existence of this power relationship is a forgone conclusion.
Control is assumed to be essential.
We've lived so long in a Hobbesian myth that we've made ourselves blind to the alternative.
We can scarcely imagine a life without a master of us.
As a result of our flawed premises neither the slaves or the masters are really free.
The course of their lives are determined by the system that they will not deny.
The exigencies in Sparta is a good example.
Sparta's food was produced by the Helots - groups of peoples who the Spartans had subjugated.
Sparta's livelihood was dependent on the food grown by its slaves.
That's why all Spartan men were trained from childhood to be soldiers.
The Spartan army had to be prepared to suppress a slave revolt at any time.
Neither the Spartans nor the Helots were truly free.
The Helots spent their lives working for the Spartans and the Spartans had to spend their lives fighting rebellious
Helots. A Spartan was not free to choose to purse other professions such as blacksmithing, farming or philosophy.
If he did not fight his slaves would rebel and the social order would be undone.
If this status quo comes at such great costs to its servants then why do we not cast it off.
The answer is in the second result of a master-slave society: violence.
Every law and dictate comes with a whisper of a death threat.
If you disobey the and, for instance, refuse to pay taxes because they fund activities you disagree with - like our wars
for example, which you didn't vote on by the way - that you threaten the status quo.
The state can thrive and plunder only if it will harm or kill you for disobediance.
Of course ... The police of course will fine you first but if you resist then you will be imprisoned.
And if you continue to resist the police will kill you.
No exceptions.
Every law, no matter how trivial, will be enforced with violence against you.
Remember those words: AGAINST ME!
A government that operates through coercive force is also pointing its guns at you every single day.
Violence, and the threat of violence, is the only way this system can be maintained.
After all how else can you enforce slavery?
Police don't arm themselves with kind words and flowers.
In this country even talking about resisting the force of government is met with imprisonment or murder.
The precedent has already been set.
American citizens accused of terrrorism - and they don't just mean Muslims - can be indefinitely tortured and killed.
All this based on the mere accusation of resisting the violence of government.
No proof is necessary.
All this has been massively veiled through the guise of our own protection.
None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe that they are free.
It is senseless to live the life of a slave.
We must demand real freedom.
Even if it is met by opposition.
We can begin only by denying Morton's fork.
We do not have to live as either a master or slave - as state or its servant.
We can live with each other as free men.
The shakles of the slave exist only in our mind and that is where this fight begins.
You are soldier on the battlefield of ideas.
Liberate yourself from these tired ideas.
Tear down the assumptions forced upon you by those who would deny you your freedom.
The arbitrary morality and illogical assumptions of the old status quo will crumble before reason - if only but to question it.
Place within you a principled foundation of ideas.
Your life is your own.
You have a right to your life, liberty and property.
Let the spark of reason illuminate the darkness of willful ignorance.
If you allow it, the spark can become a flame of conviction that even a deluge of dogma, pro-line double-speak, cries of threats will be unable to quench.
You can no longer afford to stand idle.
It's time to take action.
Tell someone.
Put your ideas in writing.
Make yourself heard.
I can't tell what to do next.
And that would completely defeat the purpose.
But for your own sake do something.
We cannot wait for somebody else to save us and this battle becomes more difficult with every minute that we waste.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
QUOTE #1:
Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-incurred immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one's own understanding without the guidance of another. This immaturity is self-incurred if its cause is not lack of understanding, but lack of resolution and courage to use it without the guidance of another. The motto of enlightenment is therefore: Sapere aude! Have courage to use your own understanding!
Laziness and cowardice are the reasons why such a large proportion of men, even when nature has long emancipated them from alien guidance (naturaliter maiorennes), nevertheless gladly remain immature for life. For the same reasons, it is all too easy for others to set themselves up as their guardians. It is so convenient to be immature! If I have a book to have understanding in place of me, a spiritual adviser to have a conscience for me, a doctor to judge my diet for me, and so on, I need not make any efforts at all. I need not think, so long as I can pay; others will soon
enough take the tiresome job over form me. The guardians who have kindly taken upon themselves the work of super-vision will soon see to it that by far the largest part of mankind (including the entire fair sex) should consider the step forward to maturity not only as difficult but also as highly dangerous. Having first infatuated their domesticated animals, and carefully prevented the docile creatures from daring to take a singlestep without the leading-strings to which they are tied, they next show them the danger which threatens them if they try to walk unaided.
Now this danger is not in fact so very great, for they would certainly learn to walk eventually after a few falls. But an example of this kind is intimidating, and usually frightens them off from further attempts. Thus it is difficult for each separate individual to work his way out of the immaturity which has become almost second nature to him. He has even grown fond of it and is really incapable for the time being of using his own understanding, because he was never allowed to make the attempt. Dogmas and formulas, those mechanical instruments for rational use (or rather misuse) of his natural endowments, are the ball and chain of his permanent immaturity. And if anyone did throw them off, he would still be uncertain about jumping over even the narrowest of trenches, for he would be unaccustomed to free movement of this kind. Thus only a few, by cultivating their own minds, have succeeded in freeing themselves from immaturity and in continuing boldly on their way.
--Immanuel Kant
QUOTE #2:
Man can live and satisfy his wants only by ceaseless labor; by the ceaseless application of his faculties to natural resources. This process is the origin of property. But it is also true that a man may live and satisfy his wants by seizing and consuming the products of the labor of others. This process is the origin of plunder.
Now since man is naturally inclined to avoid pain - and since labor is pain in itself - it follows that men will resort to plunder whenever plunder is easier than work. History shows this quite clearly. And under these condition, neither religion nor morality can stop it.
When, then, does the plunder stop? It stops when it becomes more painful and more dangerous than labor.
It is evident, then, that the proper purpose of law is to use the power of its collective force to stop this fatal tendency to plunder instead of to work. All the measures of the law should protect property and punish plunder.
But, generally, the law is made by one man or one class of men. And since law cannot operate without the sanction and support of a dominating force, this force must be entrusted to those who make the laws.
This fact, combined with the fatal tendency that exists in the heart of man to satisfy his wants with the least possible effort, explains the almost universal perversion of the law. Thus it is easy to understand how law, instead of checking
injustice, becomes the invincible weapon of injustice. It is easy to understand why the law is used by the legislator to destroy in varying degrees among the rest of the people, their personal independence by slavery, their liberty by oppression, and their property by plunder. This is done for the benefit of the person who makes the law, and in proportion to the power that he holds.
--Frederic Bastiat
Please do the same if you are so inclined.
Transcript
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Permit me to apologize for this intrusion
Unfortunately, I'm at a loss for a better way to get your attention.
You'll see that I have made no alterations to your page.
You'll also not worry that I have not taken any liberties with your personal information.
And if you dislike this message, you are always free to delete it.
I think that you will see that I have no malicious intentions.
On the contrary, I'm trying to help you.
I hope this is of some consolation and I hope that you will forgive me.
I think that you have noticed that there is something very wrong with the way that we're living.
Something that goes to the very source of our world view is deeply flawed.
We've learned not to question a very fundamental premise that is harming many aspects of our lives.
Errors in the premises of our thinking will propagate through all conclusions that we draw.
When a structure is built on a poor foundation this error will affect the entire building and result in deep flaws of the finished product.The realm of ideas operates in the same fashion. Bad assumptions will corrupt the conclusions of even the best logic.
We currently stand at Morton's fork.
That is a choice between two alternatives we assume to be unavoidable.
We accept the assumption that in order for men to live peacefully with each other we must divided between either controlling forces and subservient forces. Kings and peasants. Master and slave. Ruler and ruled.
Although we do not have a king in name today, the situation is scarcely changed.
In this country, the founders hoped to create a society of free men but instead of a true revolution we have had a sort of coup of the head of state.
The king has been replaced by this vague idea of the collective - the popular vote - the state.
The end result is a faceless government with the voice of only the most influential.
The existence of this power relationship is a forgone conclusion.
Control is assumed to be essential.
We've lived so long in a Hobbesian myth that we've made ourselves blind to the alternative.
We can scarcely imagine a life without a master of us.
As a result of our flawed premises neither the slaves or the masters are really free.
The course of their lives are determined by the system that they will not deny.
The exigencies in Sparta is a good example.
Sparta's food was produced by the Helots - groups of peoples who the Spartans had subjugated.
Sparta's livelihood was dependent on the food grown by its slaves.
That's why all Spartan men were trained from childhood to be soldiers.
The Spartan army had to be prepared to suppress a slave revolt at any time.
Neither the Spartans nor the Helots were truly free.
The Helots spent their lives working for the Spartans and the Spartans had to spend their lives fighting rebellious
Helots. A Spartan was not free to choose to purse other professions such as blacksmithing, farming or philosophy.
If he did not fight his slaves would rebel and the social order would be undone.
If this status quo comes at such great costs to its servants then why do we not cast it off.
The answer is in the second result of a master-slave society: violence.
Every law and dictate comes with a whisper of a death threat.
If you disobey the and, for instance, refuse to pay taxes because they fund activities you disagree with - like our wars
for example, which you didn't vote on by the way - that you threaten the status quo.
The state can thrive and plunder only if it will harm or kill you for disobediance.
Of course ... The police of course will fine you first but if you resist then you will be imprisoned.
And if you continue to resist the police will kill you.
No exceptions.
Every law, no matter how trivial, will be enforced with violence against you.
Remember those words: AGAINST ME!
A government that operates through coercive force is also pointing its guns at you every single day.
Violence, and the threat of violence, is the only way this system can be maintained.
After all how else can you enforce slavery?
Police don't arm themselves with kind words and flowers.
In this country even talking about resisting the force of government is met with imprisonment or murder.
The precedent has already been set.
American citizens accused of terrrorism - and they don't just mean Muslims - can be indefinitely tortured and killed.
All this based on the mere accusation of resisting the violence of government.
No proof is necessary.
All this has been massively veiled through the guise of our own protection.
None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe that they are free.
It is senseless to live the life of a slave.
We must demand real freedom.
Even if it is met by opposition.
We can begin only by denying Morton's fork.
We do not have to live as either a master or slave - as state or its servant.
We can live with each other as free men.
The shakles of the slave exist only in our mind and that is where this fight begins.
You are soldier on the battlefield of ideas.
Liberate yourself from these tired ideas.
Tear down the assumptions forced upon you by those who would deny you your freedom.
The arbitrary morality and illogical assumptions of the old status quo will crumble before reason - if only but to question it.
Place within you a principled foundation of ideas.
Your life is your own.
You have a right to your life, liberty and property.
Let the spark of reason illuminate the darkness of willful ignorance.
If you allow it, the spark can become a flame of conviction that even a deluge of dogma, pro-line double-speak, cries of threats will be unable to quench.
You can no longer afford to stand idle.
It's time to take action.
Tell someone.
Put your ideas in writing.
Make yourself heard.
I can't tell what to do next.
And that would completely defeat the purpose.
But for your own sake do something.
We cannot wait for somebody else to save us and this battle becomes more difficult with every minute that we waste.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
QUOTE #1:
Enlightenment is man's emergence from his self-incurred immaturity. Immaturity is the inability to use one's own understanding without the guidance of another. This immaturity is self-incurred if its cause is not lack of understanding, but lack of resolution and courage to use it without the guidance of another. The motto of enlightenment is therefore: Sapere aude! Have courage to use your own understanding!
Laziness and cowardice are the reasons why such a large proportion of men, even when nature has long emancipated them from alien guidance (naturaliter maiorennes), nevertheless gladly remain immature for life. For the same reasons, it is all too easy for others to set themselves up as their guardians. It is so convenient to be immature! If I have a book to have understanding in place of me, a spiritual adviser to have a conscience for me, a doctor to judge my diet for me, and so on, I need not make any efforts at all. I need not think, so long as I can pay; others will soon
enough take the tiresome job over form me. The guardians who have kindly taken upon themselves the work of super-vision will soon see to it that by far the largest part of mankind (including the entire fair sex) should consider the step forward to maturity not only as difficult but also as highly dangerous. Having first infatuated their domesticated animals, and carefully prevented the docile creatures from daring to take a singlestep without the leading-strings to which they are tied, they next show them the danger which threatens them if they try to walk unaided.
Now this danger is not in fact so very great, for they would certainly learn to walk eventually after a few falls. But an example of this kind is intimidating, and usually frightens them off from further attempts. Thus it is difficult for each separate individual to work his way out of the immaturity which has become almost second nature to him. He has even grown fond of it and is really incapable for the time being of using his own understanding, because he was never allowed to make the attempt. Dogmas and formulas, those mechanical instruments for rational use (or rather misuse) of his natural endowments, are the ball and chain of his permanent immaturity. And if anyone did throw them off, he would still be uncertain about jumping over even the narrowest of trenches, for he would be unaccustomed to free movement of this kind. Thus only a few, by cultivating their own minds, have succeeded in freeing themselves from immaturity and in continuing boldly on their way.
--Immanuel Kant
QUOTE #2:
Man can live and satisfy his wants only by ceaseless labor; by the ceaseless application of his faculties to natural resources. This process is the origin of property. But it is also true that a man may live and satisfy his wants by seizing and consuming the products of the labor of others. This process is the origin of plunder.
Now since man is naturally inclined to avoid pain - and since labor is pain in itself - it follows that men will resort to plunder whenever plunder is easier than work. History shows this quite clearly. And under these condition, neither religion nor morality can stop it.
When, then, does the plunder stop? It stops when it becomes more painful and more dangerous than labor.
It is evident, then, that the proper purpose of law is to use the power of its collective force to stop this fatal tendency to plunder instead of to work. All the measures of the law should protect property and punish plunder.
But, generally, the law is made by one man or one class of men. And since law cannot operate without the sanction and support of a dominating force, this force must be entrusted to those who make the laws.
This fact, combined with the fatal tendency that exists in the heart of man to satisfy his wants with the least possible effort, explains the almost universal perversion of the law. Thus it is easy to understand how law, instead of checking
injustice, becomes the invincible weapon of injustice. It is easy to understand why the law is used by the legislator to destroy in varying degrees among the rest of the people, their personal independence by slavery, their liberty by oppression, and their property by plunder. This is done for the benefit of the person who makes the law, and in proportion to the power that he holds.
--Frederic Bastiat
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
How to end the state
“There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.”
~Henry David Thoreau
The intense passion which drives anarchists to oppose the existence of the state invariably springs from our deep compassion for the suffering of its many victims. The state robs huge portions of the income of all who reside within its borders and utilizes the loot to finance all manner of force on all manner of victims both at home and abroad - ultimately escalating to the mass murder of millions in senseless wars.
Though passionate, we who seek to end the state seem to struggle over how to actually realize the dream. Many strategies have been tried – from running in elections to civil disobedience – to no avail. What all of these strategies have in common is that they all seek to end the state by engaging it directly in some form of conflict.
But when we battle against the state directly we invariably lose. This can at times lead to a feeling of despair. The state seems so powerful and we seem so weak by comparison. But I believe very strongly that both the perceived strength of the state and that of our weakness are illusory.
The state is actually a lot weaker than we think it is. I am in fact convinced that the state is so weak that it can be permanently ended in our life-time. But only if we focus our passion and our resources on the real force that gives rise to and sustains its existence.
What is this force? Do you know? Are you sure? If you do not know, why? How many of us who are engaged in struggle with the state have actually taken the time to stop and think deeply about this fundamental question?
How can we seriously expect to defeat an enduring institution without being absolutely certain about why that institution exists in the first place and why it seems to be so resilient? How can we defeat an enemy that we do not truly understand?
The state is organized coercion. When citizens line up to vote they do so because they are either seeking to impose their will on their neighbors or to prevent their neighbors from imposing their will on them or both. Are not the hearts and minds of those who seek to use coercion the force that breathes life into this thing we call the state?
Freedom is the absence of coercion. Freedom is the decision to stop imposing our will on each other and to live and let live. The voluntary society to which we aspire is one in which interactions between people are voluntary, based on mutual consent and free from coercion.
By why does coercion exist in the first place?
To answer this question you need only introspect.
Have you never felt the urge to impose your will on another human being? What was the force that drove you to do so? Was it not fear? Is not all coercion rooted in fear?
Have you ever felt the urge to impose your will on another human being but resisted the temptation to do so? What was the force that drove you to resist? Was it not empathy for the person(s) whose freedom that you would be restricting? Was it the knowledge that harming another to alleviate your fear would put you into conflict with your conscience?
Is not the force that gives rise to and sustains the existence of the state uncontrolled fear? Is it not the case that this thing we call the state is merely the physical manifestation of the collective uncontrolled fear of a society? When fear grows does not the power of the state grow? When fear recedes is not the power of the state weakened?
Is this not the crux of the matter?
Is not the root of all that is evil the decision to respond to the impulse of fear with coercion?
Is not the root of all that is good the decision to resist the temptation to respond to the impulse of fear with coercion and to seek instead to use the power of empathy for those who would suffer from it to face and overcome the fear itself and thus remain in harmony with our own conscience?
Is this not obvious to us all?
Why then do we continue to hack at the branches of evil instead of striking at the root?
Who among us has not convinced countless supporters of the state that using coercion against our fellow human beings who have done us no harm is morally wrong only to witness them continuing to support the state?
Human beings are not driven by logic. We are driven by emotion. People behave this way when they are driven by fear. Their fear can be so overwhelming that they will tell themselves whatever lies they have to in order to morally justify coercion to themselves because the coercion serves to alleviate their fears.
Importantly, however, when they choose the path of self-deception, they are choosing the immediate gratification of relief from fear at the expense of the long term suffering of living in disharmony with their own conscience.
All human beings are naturally driven to act in harmony with their conscience because all human beings are driven to be happy. And one cannot be truly happy if they are in disharmony with their conscience because their conscience will punish them relentlessly for the harm that they are causing to others.
This is why we can be absolutely confident that we will ultimately win the struggle. Humanity is destined to exit the age of barbarism and to dispense with the state and other forms of organized coercion because human beings are driven to be happy and they can only be truly happy when they are acting in harmony with their conscience by not causing harm to others. Our very biology compels us to do so. The end of the state is pre-ordained by evolution.
Voluntaryism is nothing more than the natural philosophy that human beings choose to follow when they are acting in complete harmony with their conscience.
Our task then is to help those who are willing to find happiness by choosing to stop harming others either directly or indirectly through their support of coercive institutions like the state and to instead harness the power of empathy to choose to face and overcome the fears that give rise to the urge to control their environment. The task of bringing about an end to the state then is actually a joyous one because it requires us to help people become more happy and self-confident in order to do so.
The question must be asked though… Why are so many people so fearful? Why are there so many souls with such low self-confidence? Why do so many people see the world as a fearful place from which they need to be protected? They certainly were not born that way. One need only watch a child at play to realize that we are all born fearless, self-confident and joyful.
Some would say it is the conditioning that people receive from their environment. This is a critical error. It is not what happens to us that defines us but rather how we choose to think about what happens to us. It is the *choice* to think of ourselves as victims and to re-tell our victimhood stories to ourselves over and over again that dis-empowers us. When we do so we create a powerful emotionally charged image of ourselves as weak and powerless victims who are unable to protect ourselves against a hostile world where threats lurk around every corner.
It is victimhood thinking that not only zaps our self-confidence but drives millions into debilitating depression and to seek solace in various unhealthy forms of immediate gratification. It is victimhood thinking that must be overcome in the mind of the individual in order to rebuild their self-confidence to the point where they will be strong enough to face and conquer their fears and thus lose their desire to impose their will on their fellow human beings, or to stand idly by while others do so.
This then is the task at hand. A permanent end to the state can only be achieved by attacking the force that gives rise to it. That force is uncontrolled fear. In the mind of a healthy individual empathy/love is far stronger than fear and can easily contain it. The fear that gives rise to and sustains the state can only be conquered by ending the underlying self-inflicted suffering of victimhood thinking from which it spawns. This is what must be done by those who truly wish to strike at the root of evil.
However, in order to effectively help others to re-build the fearless self-confidence that they were born with, we must do so for ourselves as well. As Gandhi said … “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” How many of us have dis-empowered ourselves by choosing to think of ourselves as victims of the state? Has that type of victimhood thinking not zapped our self-confidence in our own ability to achieve the dream?
What if we chose to think about the situation differently? What if we saw the truth that all force springs from fear and sought to cultivate compassion for the fearful instead of anger for the force that resulted from it? When we see the truth that behind all acts of aggression is uncontrolled fear we see the truth of how weak the state really is and how easy it actually would be to bring about its downfall by simply choosing to help people to overcome their fears.
What if we realized just how incredibly powerful we are? A single individual can change the world. There exists a ripple effect for everything that we do which we are almost never aware of because we can only see our effect on those with whom we interact directly. We do not see the bigger picture. We don’t see how helping one statist to find happiness by choosing to live in harmony with their conscience for the rest of his life affects all of his subsequent interactions with people and how these, in turn, affect their interactions, and so on and so on. In this fashion, our small ripple in the pond of humanity can grow into a great wave that sweeps the world affecting countless lives of which we will never be aware.
The state is a manifestation of those who live in fear. We are the fearless. The state is weak and we are strong. The future belongs to the fearless.
The end of the state is at hand. We need only channel our passion such that we are striking at the root of evil instead of hacking at its branches. With every person who we help to become more self-confident the state becomes weaker and we become stronger.
An end to the existence of the state and the age of barbarism as a whole is pre-ordained by evolution. Our choice is merely whether we would like to bring it about in our life-time?
~Henry David Thoreau
The intense passion which drives anarchists to oppose the existence of the state invariably springs from our deep compassion for the suffering of its many victims. The state robs huge portions of the income of all who reside within its borders and utilizes the loot to finance all manner of force on all manner of victims both at home and abroad - ultimately escalating to the mass murder of millions in senseless wars.
Though passionate, we who seek to end the state seem to struggle over how to actually realize the dream. Many strategies have been tried – from running in elections to civil disobedience – to no avail. What all of these strategies have in common is that they all seek to end the state by engaging it directly in some form of conflict.
But when we battle against the state directly we invariably lose. This can at times lead to a feeling of despair. The state seems so powerful and we seem so weak by comparison. But I believe very strongly that both the perceived strength of the state and that of our weakness are illusory.
The state is actually a lot weaker than we think it is. I am in fact convinced that the state is so weak that it can be permanently ended in our life-time. But only if we focus our passion and our resources on the real force that gives rise to and sustains its existence.
What is this force? Do you know? Are you sure? If you do not know, why? How many of us who are engaged in struggle with the state have actually taken the time to stop and think deeply about this fundamental question?
How can we seriously expect to defeat an enduring institution without being absolutely certain about why that institution exists in the first place and why it seems to be so resilient? How can we defeat an enemy that we do not truly understand?
The state is organized coercion. When citizens line up to vote they do so because they are either seeking to impose their will on their neighbors or to prevent their neighbors from imposing their will on them or both. Are not the hearts and minds of those who seek to use coercion the force that breathes life into this thing we call the state?
Freedom is the absence of coercion. Freedom is the decision to stop imposing our will on each other and to live and let live. The voluntary society to which we aspire is one in which interactions between people are voluntary, based on mutual consent and free from coercion.
By why does coercion exist in the first place?
To answer this question you need only introspect.
Have you never felt the urge to impose your will on another human being? What was the force that drove you to do so? Was it not fear? Is not all coercion rooted in fear?
Have you ever felt the urge to impose your will on another human being but resisted the temptation to do so? What was the force that drove you to resist? Was it not empathy for the person(s) whose freedom that you would be restricting? Was it the knowledge that harming another to alleviate your fear would put you into conflict with your conscience?
Is not the force that gives rise to and sustains the existence of the state uncontrolled fear? Is it not the case that this thing we call the state is merely the physical manifestation of the collective uncontrolled fear of a society? When fear grows does not the power of the state grow? When fear recedes is not the power of the state weakened?
Is this not the crux of the matter?
Is not the root of all that is evil the decision to respond to the impulse of fear with coercion?
Is not the root of all that is good the decision to resist the temptation to respond to the impulse of fear with coercion and to seek instead to use the power of empathy for those who would suffer from it to face and overcome the fear itself and thus remain in harmony with our own conscience?
Is this not obvious to us all?
Why then do we continue to hack at the branches of evil instead of striking at the root?
Who among us has not convinced countless supporters of the state that using coercion against our fellow human beings who have done us no harm is morally wrong only to witness them continuing to support the state?
Human beings are not driven by logic. We are driven by emotion. People behave this way when they are driven by fear. Their fear can be so overwhelming that they will tell themselves whatever lies they have to in order to morally justify coercion to themselves because the coercion serves to alleviate their fears.
Importantly, however, when they choose the path of self-deception, they are choosing the immediate gratification of relief from fear at the expense of the long term suffering of living in disharmony with their own conscience.
All human beings are naturally driven to act in harmony with their conscience because all human beings are driven to be happy. And one cannot be truly happy if they are in disharmony with their conscience because their conscience will punish them relentlessly for the harm that they are causing to others.
This is why we can be absolutely confident that we will ultimately win the struggle. Humanity is destined to exit the age of barbarism and to dispense with the state and other forms of organized coercion because human beings are driven to be happy and they can only be truly happy when they are acting in harmony with their conscience by not causing harm to others. Our very biology compels us to do so. The end of the state is pre-ordained by evolution.
Voluntaryism is nothing more than the natural philosophy that human beings choose to follow when they are acting in complete harmony with their conscience.
Our task then is to help those who are willing to find happiness by choosing to stop harming others either directly or indirectly through their support of coercive institutions like the state and to instead harness the power of empathy to choose to face and overcome the fears that give rise to the urge to control their environment. The task of bringing about an end to the state then is actually a joyous one because it requires us to help people become more happy and self-confident in order to do so.
The question must be asked though… Why are so many people so fearful? Why are there so many souls with such low self-confidence? Why do so many people see the world as a fearful place from which they need to be protected? They certainly were not born that way. One need only watch a child at play to realize that we are all born fearless, self-confident and joyful.
Some would say it is the conditioning that people receive from their environment. This is a critical error. It is not what happens to us that defines us but rather how we choose to think about what happens to us. It is the *choice* to think of ourselves as victims and to re-tell our victimhood stories to ourselves over and over again that dis-empowers us. When we do so we create a powerful emotionally charged image of ourselves as weak and powerless victims who are unable to protect ourselves against a hostile world where threats lurk around every corner.
It is victimhood thinking that not only zaps our self-confidence but drives millions into debilitating depression and to seek solace in various unhealthy forms of immediate gratification. It is victimhood thinking that must be overcome in the mind of the individual in order to rebuild their self-confidence to the point where they will be strong enough to face and conquer their fears and thus lose their desire to impose their will on their fellow human beings, or to stand idly by while others do so.
This then is the task at hand. A permanent end to the state can only be achieved by attacking the force that gives rise to it. That force is uncontrolled fear. In the mind of a healthy individual empathy/love is far stronger than fear and can easily contain it. The fear that gives rise to and sustains the state can only be conquered by ending the underlying self-inflicted suffering of victimhood thinking from which it spawns. This is what must be done by those who truly wish to strike at the root of evil.
However, in order to effectively help others to re-build the fearless self-confidence that they were born with, we must do so for ourselves as well. As Gandhi said … “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” How many of us have dis-empowered ourselves by choosing to think of ourselves as victims of the state? Has that type of victimhood thinking not zapped our self-confidence in our own ability to achieve the dream?
What if we chose to think about the situation differently? What if we saw the truth that all force springs from fear and sought to cultivate compassion for the fearful instead of anger for the force that resulted from it? When we see the truth that behind all acts of aggression is uncontrolled fear we see the truth of how weak the state really is and how easy it actually would be to bring about its downfall by simply choosing to help people to overcome their fears.
What if we realized just how incredibly powerful we are? A single individual can change the world. There exists a ripple effect for everything that we do which we are almost never aware of because we can only see our effect on those with whom we interact directly. We do not see the bigger picture. We don’t see how helping one statist to find happiness by choosing to live in harmony with their conscience for the rest of his life affects all of his subsequent interactions with people and how these, in turn, affect their interactions, and so on and so on. In this fashion, our small ripple in the pond of humanity can grow into a great wave that sweeps the world affecting countless lives of which we will never be aware.
The state is a manifestation of those who live in fear. We are the fearless. The state is weak and we are strong. The future belongs to the fearless.
The end of the state is at hand. We need only channel our passion such that we are striking at the root of evil instead of hacking at its branches. With every person who we help to become more self-confident the state becomes weaker and we become stronger.
An end to the existence of the state and the age of barbarism as a whole is pre-ordained by evolution. Our choice is merely whether we would like to bring it about in our life-time?
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