Manifesto to an Obama Supporter

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Thu, 18 Sep 2008 12:55:49 GMT  <== Politics ==> 

A friend of mine sent out an email urging a large list of recipients to vote for Barack Obama. I replied that I could not support either major party, and that I intended to stay home in November. She pressed the issue, so I wrote the following:

Palin is the only one of the major party presidential and vice-presidential candidates that does not completely disgust me. But she's a war-monger, so I can't support her.

I'm an agorist/anarcho-capitalist. I want the state to end. I will not participate in the madness. I'm also a libertarian. I do my best to uphold the Zero Aggression Principle (ZAP): "A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, or to advocate or delegate its initiation. Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim." Initiation of force is never OK by anybody, no matter how many people vote for it, no matter which fancy uniform, funny hat, or shiny badge the initiator happens to be wearing. If you don't have the right to do it yourself, you don't have the right to delegate it to somebody else by voting.

Taxation is theft. It must end.

Any kind of prohibition of anything between consenting adults is initiation of force. It must stop. That means the end to drug prohibition and drug prescription mandates. That means the end to the prohibition of gambling and prostitution. Do I want to take recreational drugs, or gamble, or engage a prostitute? Of course not. But the unintended consequences of prohibition are much worse.

ZAP means the end of driving licenses and automobile registration, except for competence certificates to lower your insurance rates, and private registries, to help find your car if it's stolen.

ZAP means the end of any kind of gun control. Being a libertarian does not mean you don't believe in self defense. Exactly the opposite. Initiation of force is not OK. Not by you or me or a cop or an army. Stopping an attacker, with whatever force is necessary, is encouraged. Every man, woman, and responsible child has an unalienable individual, civil, Constitutional, and human right to obtain, own, and carry, openly or concealed, any weapon -- rifle, shotgun, handgun, machinegun, ANYTHING -- any time, any place, without asking anyone's permission. Those weapons may be used for self defense, or for hunting, but the reason the Second Amendment of the US Bill of Rights says that "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed" is so that we the people are always prepared to defend ourselves against a tyrannical government, should it become necessary.

That should give you some idea of where I'm coming from. I have arrived where I am through many years of hard thought. You're not likely to change my mind any time soon.

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Comments (3):

'Nuff said!It will be

Submitted by Pat on Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:08:43 GMT

'Nuff said!

It will be interesting to see what response you get.

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Dead On!

Submitted by Kent McManigal on Thu, 18 Sep 2008 15:58:08 GMT

Excellent response. It inspires me! That's "change" right there.

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Amazingly, she didn't get it

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Fri, 19 Sep 2008 19:34:21 GMT

Amazingly, she didn't get it from this. She wrote back saying that if taxes were my issue that Obama would cut my taxes. So I told her that I'd gladly volunteer for the firing squad to execute Obama or McCain for treason. That finally convinced her that I really wasn't going to vote for her guy.

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