“The Liberty Movement has sparked something in many that we all know deep down to be true. Freedom will eventually replace force and coercion. Liberty is inevitable.” – Adam Kokesh
As far back as I can remember, I always thought it was strange that someone needed to be violent or deliberately coercive to get their way when the far superior alternative of voluntary interaction through persuasion provides a much clearer and peaceful path. Speaking from experience, I recall in 3rd grade history lessons discussing the topic of World War 2 and the nuclear bombing of Japan. My teacher mentioned how much the bombs cost and a question came to mind, “If the world is in such danger from the Japanese, why didn’t people build the bombs for free or better yet, trade with the Japanese so we didn’t have to fight?” I still wonder exactly what was going through my mind at that time, but that question has stuck with me all these years. Just the idea of questioning authority appealed to me at an early age.
Of course I have a much different position on war in general at the age of 27, but my point in revealing that moment in my childhood is to show how even as a child, and perhaps because of being a child, the idea of using force and coercion deserves, in my mind, to be questioned and challenged. When people call me nuts or paranoid or become aggravated when I suggest an alternative to either force or coercion, I feel it is their failure to live up to the natural inclinations of most people to be polite, persuasive, non-aggressive, and willing to work and share well with others around them. How often did our mothers, guardians, friends, or family try to teach us The Golden Rule? Have those teachings failed us or have we failed to live up to them?
The idea of non-aggression seems to be such a simple ideology, mundane and perhaps boring to a lot of people. But I find it fascinating and exhilarating to be on the scene with others who may be behaving in an aggressive manner and being there to provide the alternative and do everything you can to persuade others to behave peacefully and voluntarily. This action will not always work out in the end, some people seem to be so far gone that the only thing they know is to be violent and coercive with those around them. We might call these people bullies, jerks, or assholes. I call them confused.
I believe the choice to be non-violent came easier to me than being non-coercive. As I become more familiar with these philosophies, I came to realize just how often I would lie to myself about my life and the world I live in simply to have an emotional gratification. It seems so much easier to take the supposed easy route where you lie, set people up to fail, and convince yourself that it’s for the greater good to stifle peoples ideas and productivity in life. But at some point you must realize that if you’re living in a fantasy land of deceit, nothing good can come of it other than your own ignorant bliss which harms so many around you. Of course you remain oblivious to this fact until you begin the process of peeling the onion of your life. The more you peel the onion, the more full of shit you realize you are. This is a very unpleasant realization to have about yourself, but the pain you feel about it doesn’t mean you’re a wimp or crazy, it merely means you are conscious and human. Peel away until you get to the heart of the onion, where your tears will flow with the realization that when you get to the center of it, you can discard it forever. Liberty is achieved at this point when you’ve decided to peel back the layers and discard that which held you and others around you down in the box of complacency and lies.
Once you’ve freed yourself from the ideas of force and coercion totally and completely, you begin to realize just how much more powerful the alternatives are. In my experience, I took on a much more logical point of view when it came to navigating through life. The ability to control my emotional responses to situations makes it much easier to communicate with others and deal with life’s many challenges. Before I made these hard decisions in life, I would frequently yell at others for not agreeing with me, become extremely defensive, and would even lie just to be right. I even convinced myself I was right, but all of that comes back on you later, when you think you’re so right that there are no other ideas in the world other than yours that someone or something comes along and challenges you in a way you cannot escape any longer. It is best to CHOOSE the peaceful alternative now while you are reading this, before you find yourself trapped in the web of your own deceit and violent behavior. Once caught in that web it is very difficult if not impossible to free yourself, so be expedient about this and make the right decision for yourself before the real pain begins.
I wish I knew exactly what causes us to grow up into apathetic shells of our childhood. I’m sure of some things being relevant to the issue at hand, like abuse during childhood for example. However, I believe there is also a much broader and sweeping ideology in the world which not only fosters violent and coercive behavior, but relies on it’s existence to thrive. I believe this ideology to be statism. The ideology which proclaims that all things exist because of state. The belief that without a state, our weather would not work correctly our food would be rotten our water would become acid, our lives would be chaos, and that society would collapse due to lack of order. All of this being forced upon you without your direct consent of course.
With just a little research into history it can be easily proven that the state has been extremely violent and secretive with it’s populations. My point in opposing this ideology is not to bring about chaos through anarchy. It is to recognize that we as a species are evolving past this ideology in many ways through the use of technology and the spreading of a consistent message of non-aggression. Which leads me to ask you one final question.
When it comes to society evolving into the future, which path would you prefer to take? That of violence and coercion where humanity as a whole is impeded upon by sociopaths who will lie, cheat, and steal to keep their power and wealth? Or persuading yourself and others around you to use their power and wealth to enhance your life and empower those around you to rise to the heights of society as individuals able to think critically and responsibly about the world we live in. Choosing never to bring violence or lies to the table when trying to figure out how best to deal with a challenge.
This is merely my attempt to bring the very best of what liberty and freedom can offer when looked at through the scope of non-aggression. I realize that people are not free enough that they are simply allowed to kill and steal and just get away with it. That is why the Non-Aggression Principle is such an integral and powerful philosophical stand point. I strongly believe that the future of humanity is bright indeed, that what we think of as society today will be but a distant and laughable memory to humanity in the distant future. The idea of controlling others will simply be rendered obsolete due to the nature of the philosophy I’m espousing so boldly. When enough people take this on as a fact of life a tipping point will be reached and it will become very difficult to behave in any other way, not through force, but persuasion and voluntary interaction.
“A day will come when there will be no battlefields, but markets opening to commerce and minds opening to ideas.” – Victor Hugo
Ampersand Quest 