CHAPTER 17
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
How We Went Astray The second principle of non-aggression was not so well established, however. When individuals stole, defrauded, or attacked an innocent neighbor, they were not usually required to right their wrongs. The focus was on punishing the criminal without necessarily restoring the victim. When wrongs were not righted, crime paid, so it grew and flourished. In frustration, Americans tried to fight fire with fire, but they only increased the size of the blaze. Those who lied about their medical credentials were not required to make their victims whole again. Instead, the guns of government were used to enforce licensing laws for medical practitioners. Those who sold untested medicines while claiming they were safe paid fines to the government, but rarely compensated their victims fully. Trying to make up for a breadwinner's death might take a lifetime. Such a penalty would effectively deter those who would harm others. Instead of requiring aggressors to experience the fruits of their actions, Americans tried to deter aggression by becoming aggressors themselves. Aggression- through- government was instituted in an attempt to deter aggression by individuals. As always, more aggression only made a bad situation worse. In the field of health care, medical practi-tioners became expensive and less available, innovation was stymied, and the introduction of new pharmaceuticals was delayed or prevented. Licensing laws in other areas had the same adverse affects. The guns of government were used to prevent homesteading over vast areas of the country. The Pyramid of Power grew, giving control of our destinies to a powerful elite. Wealth creation slowed. Naturally, the poor were most adversely affected as the Wealth Pie shrank. Aggression- through- government limited wealth-creating options of the poor. If they could not gain a foothold on the Ladder of Affluence, they more frequently turned to stealing or drug dealing. Still others surrendered themselves to the elusive pleasures of mind-altering drugs. The justice system focused on enforcing aggression- through- government instead of defending against individual aggressors. Consequently, fewer thieves, murderers, and rapists were apprehended. Because taxpayers, not criminals, had to pay for the prisons, victims were robbed twice. Prisons became overcrowded and reduced sentences became common. Crime paid and so it flourished. As crime grew, the police and court systems were unable
to cope. As an exclusive, subsidized government monopoly, the justice system
was less efficient and more costly than it otherwise would have been. When
justice was slow, criminal activity became more profitable and widespread.
Fear of others permeated our culture. Once we have rejected aggression, we make it easier for others to do so. When we allow the disadvantaged to create wealth for themselves, they don't need to steal. As the Wealth Pie grows, more is available to help the truly needy. Fewer people choose a life of crime when they can get ahead without it. Those who do seek to exploit others would be brought to justice more rapidly in a country that practiced non-aggression. With more wealth available and fewer criminals to apprehend, capture would be more likely. When criminals pay the costs of their trial, capture, and imprisonment, justice would not be limited by the amount of money that the innocent were able to pay. Righting our wrongs is less expensive than trying to control anyone who might harm us. We focus on the guilty few instead of the innocent many. Crime is effectively deterred when the probability of being caught and made to pay the full costs of one's crime is high. Deterrents are especially important for polluters. When people know they will pay for the harm done to another's body or property, they are more careful. When criminals fully compensate their victims, they have
truly paid their debt. A restored victim is a victim no longer. Bygones
can truly be bygones when the damage is fully undone. By practicing both
aspects of non-aggression, we take responsibility for our choices and allow
others to do the same. We treat all people as equals - equally free to chose
and equally responsible for their choices - and ourselves! Type C victim personalities are susceptible to cancer. They feel that they are helpless to acquire whatever they associate with happiness.1 In a socioeconomic context, Type C people may believe themselves incapable of creating enough wealth to sustain themselves and their loved ones. They feel that they are victims of the system. Sometimes they might use this feeling of victimization as a justification for stealing and harming others. These unhealthy attitudes fuel each other in a positive feedback, A/C Loop. Type A beliefs lead to the aggression of licensing laws, which prevent the disadvantaged from creating wealth for themselves and their loved ones. Type C people who can't reach the first rung of the Ladder of Affluence feel helpless to control their own destiny. Type A's then blame the plight of Type C individuals on the selfishness of others and propose the aggression of taxation to provide for these unfortunates. Charity by aggression ensnares more people in the Poverty Trap, reaffirming in the poor a Type C belief in their own helplessness. Could this be why cancer is our Number 2 killer2 and why the poor are more susceptible to it? (3) People who tend to live the longest ("Type S," for self-actualized) believe that their happiness (or unhappiness) results from their own choices.1 Because Type S people do not blame selfish others for their plight, they focus on doing whatever they can to help themselves. Since this attitude is most likely to result in accomplishing their goals, self-actualized people feel competent rather than helpless. In a political context, Type S personalities honor their
neighbor's choice, because they do not see selfish others as the cause of
their woes. In a society where aggressors right their wrongs, victims are
restored. Consequently, there is little reason to feel like a helpless victim.
Non aggression sets the stage for the evolution of the healthy Type S societal
personality. Can a nation that practices non-aggression long survive in a world that does not? Once again, the computer games suggest that TIT FOR TAT (non aggression) is highly likely to spread in a population of aggressors. Even a cluster of non-aggressors that make up only 5% of the population is able to accomplish this.4 If the aggressors can't be converted, those people who practice non-aggression do so well with each other that they still come out ahead! Aggressors end up teaching aggression. In the computer games, the best the aggressors can do after teaching aggression to those they interact with is one point each round. TIT FOR TAT practitioners, however, get three points apiece. To the extent that real life has similar payoffs, non aggression is many times more profitable than aggression. Selfish others will be converted to non-aggression because it pays off on an individual level; altruists will practice non-aggression because it brings widespread peace and plenty. No matter how you look at it, non-aggression wins the game! The Practice of Non-Aggression
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Center your country in the Tao and evil will have no power. Not that it isn't there, but you'll be able to step out of its way. - Lao-tsu, TAO TE CHING
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free. - THE HOLY BIBLE, John 8:32
...mutual cooperation can emerge in a world of egoists without central control by starting with a cluster of individuals who rely on reciprocity. - Robert Axelrod, THE EVOLUTION OF COOPERATION |
