Government is Violent Pornography
by William D
Originally posted at The First Creation.
A prostitute asked her customer if he wanted to be bound and gagged, to heighten the excitement of their sex. A man, convinced of his god-given power, asked his neighbors if they wish to be ruled by stone, sword, and gun to make life better for everyone.
Both the customer and humanity had a choice, but it is unlikely that either recognized the grave significance of the decision. Once total control is granted to the dominatrix or king, all consequences to the individual or group under control are determined by the whim of the captor.
Sexual intercourse is the highest form of interaction between two individuals. It is the expression of the love of one's life and for the life of his partner. One's life is his to give. One can choose to relinquish his power, to give someone else the only key to his handcuffs. In the case of the dominatrix, the man would likely have a trusting relationship with the partner. Without complete trust in the woman's good intentions, he probably would decline the request. Even if this is the case, however, there is nothing that stops the dominatrix from taking advantage of the situation (pushing the man too far sexually, killing him, etc). The two may have agreed upon a safe word (a word that is to be said if the encounter becomes unpleasureable, asking the other to stop) before they began. However, if and when the man starts shouting the safe word, there is nothing that compels the woman to stop. Compulsion is the act of force, it means “no choice”. Here, the captor has choice, but the bound man has no choice. By it's nature, a choice of captivity may be made only once.
Life is the greatest right of the individual. One's life is his to give. Hundreds of thousands of years ago, the first kings were given their sanction. These tribe leaders ruled men with the largest gun of the time, their fist. Throughout history, there have been many governments. If one is born into a government, he is forcibly tied to the bed from birth. He had no choice in the matter, it was made for him by his parents or others before him. There were a few times when the right of choice was present. In the beginning, there were no guns and no kings, only men who chose to work together. Those who agreed to trade food, water, skills, time, cooperation, or respect did. But humanity chose. Our predecessors chose to evade. They chose to evade the responsibility of life, granting power to a select few. This choice has been made countless times. So many times, in fact, that there is no where left to go on Earth. Every square meter of this planet is governed by a gun. Whether the gun is held by men representing the American government, the Sudanese military, or the United Nations, we are not free to walk away. We have a safe word in America. It is called a vote. There is nothing that compels the government to listen. I shout the safe word, but my captors have not responded.
Tautology: either those in power are good intentioned or they those in power are not good intentioned.
If those in power have good intentions, then it is likely that they do not hear the safe word. They are deaf to our protests for freedom. They think they have our sanction, and they are acting in our best interest. We must shout louder. We must demonstrate peacefully, we must vote, we must share with others the vision of the world we desire. We must seek leaders who understand freedom, who have the courage to downsize government. In the case of the American government, one man cannot change hundreds of years of wrongs. Some can help, though, and Ron Paul is our best hope for the next presidency.
If those in power do not have good intentions, then they seek more power. More power by the use of a gun is death for those who see the muzzle and those who pull the trigger. Death can take many forms. Stealing one's time or one's money is the theft of life: murder. One's life is his to give, but with the guns of the government, life is forced. Taxes will increase, and the money extorted from each person will exceed fifty percent of income. The highest tax bracket has already reached this unjust level. Because one's money is one's life, it can be only given, not taken. It is taken by our government, and most aid the government in this fraud by writing them a check each year. By volunteering in this way, people evade the fact that the money is taken by gunpoint (see free trade cannot be forced). All of the government's actions are directed toward the increase of power and the increase of death. This would mean that our mala prohibita laws are not for our benefit, but to restrict our liberty. Mala prohibita are laws that prohibit certain actions, not because they are wrong in themselves, but because someone in power doesn't want it to be so. Mala en se crimes are those that are intrinsically wrong. For example: shooting another man in the head without any aggression towards you is murder and a “mala en se” crime. A “mala prohibita”1 crime is one that states that your shotgun cannot be too short or your handgun too long. It is what says your car must have a muffler, but your gun must not. It is the law that determines how much water you can flush in your toilet. These are all steps toward the final goal, which is complete power of the government. Martial law: military control of justice. Justice by gun. Powers granted by the expediency of the moment. We have seen it, but our public schools funded by the government tell us that Japanese internment camps were not restricting liberty, that the restriction of habeas corpus during a time of war is necessary, that a police officer has the right to act as he sees fit with only suspicion and no proof.
The second scenario (where the government does not have good intentions) is truly frightening. Actions of the government would be fundamentally irrational. There is a way to stop this, though. The words of Ayn Rand give us hope: “For that [freedom] which they [freedom fighters] died to save can never perish. Through all the darkness, through all the shame of which men are capable, the spirit of man will remain alive on this earth. It may sleep, but it will awaken. It may wear chains, but it will break through. And man will go on.” -Anthem Today, we wear chains, and the chains are tied to our government, representing our neighbors. The chains are strong, and for one man (the prostitute's customer) it may be impossible to break these chains. But the spirit of man can never die, and any chain that binds men are created by men. Therefore, they can be broken. It takes a man of greater intelligence than those in power, not less to find the weakness of government's chains. The weakness is that power is derived from the sanction of the victim. It is us, the captives, that grant power to the government, and we can rescind our sanction. In this revocation, the most intelligent of men will nearly exclusively be on the side of freedom. The minds of the irrational (governments and terrorists) will go to war with those of reason (the individuals who desire freedom), and reason will win. They must, because reality is on reason's side. Then we will find ourselves in Atlantis.
To get there, each of us must pursue our personal happiness, without forcing (infringing upon the life, liberty and property of) others. We must search for and live our rational self interest. When each of us finds that is in our best interest to work together, we will do so, and regain the freedom of man.
1You and the Police
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