Non-Aggression

The primary principle to which all libertarians - and, in our humble opinion, all persons - must be at all times committed is the principle of non-aggression. This is simply the conviction that all persons have rights, and that no person has the prerogative to violate the rights of anyone else. Bastiat argued that there are three fundamental human rights, from which all others derive. First and foremost is the right to life, an extension of which is the right to liberty, and the third, arising from the exercise of the first and second, is the right to property.

There is no excuse to violate another person's life, liberty, or property, ever. Self-defense, it may reasonably be argued, is not in fact a violation but an effort to prevent violation, or to restore rights once violated. In the context of this basic statement, however, let us leave aside the question of what types of actions may be justified as self-defense. It is sufficient to say that in the first place, no one ought to kill, injure, enslave, or rob from anyone else, and that this principle is the foundation of libertarianism.

Violations of people's rights come in a wide array of forms, in this dark and sinful world. Not only outright murder and slavery, but also coercion by threat of such harm, and all kinds of restrictions on the freedom of thought, word, choice and action, are so thoroughly ubiquitous that quite possibly no one has been entirely secure in his or her rights, ever!

Yet, we would like to work toward a free society. We are not Utopians, as we know our only hope for true freedom is in the Kingdom that is not of this world. Yet we do want to limit the power that people can have over each other, that is, by definition, the power to violate others' rights. This is why we are opposed to centralized, State power. It is not so much that we are anti-government, at least not as a first principle. Rather, it is that we are anti-violence, anti-force, anti-coercion, anti-theft, and anti-war. In short, we are anti- all the things the State does best, and in fact depends on for its existence. We have been accused of promoting chaos, revolution, and all manner of violence. It cannot be denied that pretenders to our philosophy have engaged in these wretched acts, but let us be clear: our first principle is non-aggression, and so we resolutely disown all aggression as patently unrelated to our cause.

Welcome to the new blog. Truth Liberty Peace. I hope we can speak the truth in love, help in a small way to advance the cause of liberty, and uphold a thoroughgoing commitment to peace.