|
|
HOW TO GET THERE FROM HERE |
The Best Teacher Notice that these nations did not have to be forced
to adopt the American way. The young United States simply lived its ideals.
At the time, our country was closer to practicing non-aggression than its
contemporaries were. Americans, for the most part, honored their neighbor's
choice. They did not, however, know the power of the other piece of the
puzzle: righting wrongs to make victims whole once again. However, even
partial non-aggression was so fruitful that other countries sought to imitate
our nation. Selfish others do not stand in our way. Indeed, non-aggression will infuse the earth precisely because each of us is a selfish other. Each of us seeks individual happiness with every thought, word, and deed. Just as in the computer games, we are learning that non-aggression (TIT FOR TAT) is a win-win strategy for everyone even the special interest groups. What joy to realize we needn't spend time and effort trying to control others at gunpoint to create a world of peace and plenty! What joy to realize that we live in a win-win world! We need not choose between our welfare and that of others; both are served by the practice of non-aggression. We need not choose between the individual and the common good; both benefit from non-aggression. We need not choose between the environment and our standard of living; both are balanced with non-aggression. We may have created a world of war and poverty, but because it is our creation, we have the power to change it. When we are steadfast in our refusal to use aggression to control our neighbors, the power brokers and special interest groups lose their control over us. No longer will we put the guns of government at the disposal of the powerful. When we refuse to be tempted by the serpent, we cannot be thrown from the garden! When we forsake aggression, we set the stage for cooperation and the innovative creation of wealth. Skilled workers cannot demand artificially high wages when ambitious, unskilled workers can negotiate training wages to learn their trades. Employers cannot exploit employees when the absence of licensing laws gives employees a chance to start a business of their own. Without monopoly by aggression, service providers must please customers or lose them to innovators who will put the customer first. By creating wealth non-aggressively, employers and employees learn that when they take care of each other, there is more profit to share. Service providers learn that they reap profit for themselves by taking care of their customers. As the Wealth Pie grows, so does the realization that by doing unto others, we do unto ourselves. With a society of greater wealth and awareness, the few who cannot create enough wealth for themselves can be amply provided for. When we do not force others to be charitable, giving comes about naturally. Some people in our society may still think that aggression serves them. They might manifest this belief by stealing, defrauding, raping, or killing their neighbors. The most compassionate act we can perform is to allow aggressors to reap as they sow, to experience the consequences of their actions, to right their wrongs. In this way, these individuals undo the harm they have done to themselves as well as to others. We have no need to punish such individuals, only to heal them and those they have harmed. If you have read this far, you probably share this vision, at least in part. Few people see things in exactly the same way. This is as it should be. As we work together, comparing interpretations and strategies, we will come closer to visualizing every aspect of our ultimate dream a world of universal peace and plenty. Clarity is the necessary first step to setting an example.
The bad news is that war and poverty are caused largely by our drive to
control our neighbors. The good news is that what we have done, we can undo.
We are in control. Once our vision is clear, we can change our behavior
to match it. We can honor our neighbor's choice by refusing to support laws
that threaten first-strike force or fraud against others. We can encourage
reforms that substitute restitution instead of punishment for aggressors. Instead of maintaining centralization of power in the hands of the few through the guns of government, we promote decentralization of power by putting it into the hands of every individual. Instead of services provided by regulated government monopolies, we encourage small businesses that compete in the marketplace ecosystem free from aggression to serve the customer best. We reject the idea of taking taxes at gunpoint, if necessary_from our neighbors for public programs. We elect private sector services to lower costs, improve quality, and do away with subsidies. We encourage private ownership of land and sea to stop special interest groups from exploiting the public domain. We reject imprisonment for those who hurt only themselves.
For those who aggress against others, we substitute restitution for
punishment. Through these reforms, we keep the marketplace ecosystem
free from aggression and protect ourselves from those who would trespass
against us. The Health Care Crisis The costs of medical care are skyrocketing because of the heavy regulation of the health care industry, including the licensing of physicians and pharmaceuticals. Should we consider using the aggression of taxation to subsidize national health insurance until deregulation? Once again, using the guns of government to solve the problems created by aggression only makes matters worse. As we've learned, subsidies encourage waste. In countries with subsidized national health insurance, people demand care for minor ailments they used to treat themselves. As a result, patients wait for critical care. In Newfoundland, a patient needing cardiac surgery waits an average of 43 weeks. (1) Affluent Canadians cross the border to our Cleveland Clinic; (2) the poor suffer. The waiting lists for all surgeries have doubled since 1967. (3) Canadians don't have better health care for less money, they just have less health care! This is not the solution we seek! In Britain, the availability of health care may be even more limited. British doctors see five times as many patients as their American counterpars. (4) Thirty-five percent of kidney dialysis centers refuse to treat patients over 55 years of age! (5) While the elderly are denied access to health care, the poor are neglected as well. Studies in Britain, Sweden, Canada, and New Zealand indicate that people with high social standing receive 2-6 times more health care than the less affluent. (6) National health programs even fail to deliver equal care! These findings should hardly surprise us. More aggression cannot solve problems caused by aggression; it can only make matters worse. The Veterans' Administration hospitals are a good example of what national health care will bring. The recent movie, Article 99, depicted the poor care a person can expect under such a system. Only non-aggression can turn the tide. When we deregulate medical care, as proposed in Chapters 5 (Harming Our Health) and 6 (Protecting Ourselves to Death), we will make health care costs affordable. Until then, we will have to pay the price for our aggression. The Faltering Economy As always, more aggression only makes the problems caused by aggression worse. If we raise taxes or increase deficits to help those harmed by aggression, we will only strange the economy further. Many more people will become unemployed. Government- sponsored "aid" is a cure worse than the disease. Non-aggression, however, works almost instantaneously to
bring prosperity to all. When we take away the restrictions that keep the
disadvantaged from working, poverty becomes optional. Government enforcement
agents who were creating no new wealth can turn their skills to creating
useful goods and services. As our national Wealth Pie grows, everyone's
standard of living increases. Non-aggression makes us all winners! The proponents of political non-aggression can be found in virtually every country of the world. In 1989, Leon Louw and Frances Kendall, two white South Africans, were nominated for the Nobel peace prize for their book on applying the principles of non-aggression to their troubled country. (4) In the United States, this book is entitled After Apartheid.(5) A best seller in South Africa, its ideals were endorsed by blacks and whites alike. Only time will tell if its wisdom will be adopted. Kendall and Louw found that the Swiss people are the best practitioners of the ideals of non-aggression. The Swiss national government posts are part-time positions. Most decisions are made at the canton (state) level. Swiss per capita income is the highest in the world,6 showing that non-aggression pays. How did the Swiss come to adopt a relatively non-aggressive constitution in an aggressive world? In the mid-1800s, they imitated our constitution and stuck with it! Louw and Kendall found that the ideals of non-aggression are easily shared in a group meeting at someone's home. The Advocates for Self-Government, (7) a group of people dedicated to spreading the practice of non-aggression, have similar programs here in the U.S. In San Francisco, the International Society for Individual Liberty (8) coordinates contacts among proponents of non-aggression worldwide. Along with Jan Sommerfelt Pettersen, the Society publishes the Index on Liberty (9) which lists groups active in the movement to promote non-aggression (also known as "libertarianism" or "classical liberalism"). Many countries boast a political party that advocates non-aggression. In the United States, the Libertarian Party (10) challenges our two-party system. Toni Nathan, the 1972 Libertarian vice-presidential nominee, became the first woman to receive a vote from the Electoral College. In 1980, Libertarian candidate Ed Clark was on the ballot in all 50 states. Alaska has had three state representatives elected under the Libertarian label; New Hampshire elected four in 1992. In 1987, Big Water, Utah, elected an all-Libertarian city council and mayor. A former Republican congressional representative, Ron Paul, became the Libertarian presidential nominee in 1988. By 1990, more than 100 Libertarians had been elected to local office. Presidential candidate, Andre Marrou, had served earlier in the Alaskan State House as a Libertarian, making him more qualified than independent presidential hopeful Ross Perot. Nevertheless, Mr. Marrou and his running mate, Nancy Lord, were excluded from the televised debates, while millionaire Perot was invited. Perot advocated acceleration of aggression-through-government. Did money and special interests determine whom American voters were exposed to? Inside the Republican Party, the Republican Liberty Caucus (15) is attempting to promote non-aggression within the establishment. The Competitive Enterprise Institute, (16) based in Washington, D.C., lobbies Congress to keep the marketplace ecosystem free from aggression. Throughout the country, a number of organizations publicize the benefits of non-aggression. The Reason Foundation (17) specializes in demonstrating how services that are now provided by government through aggression can be supplied better and less expensively in the marketplace ecosystem free from aggression. The Political Economy Research Center (18) pioneers the "New Resource Economics," the term given to the ecological application of non-aggression. The Journal of Libertarian Studies (19) provides a scholarly format for continued research. The National Center for Policy Analysis (20) issues extensive research papers on a wide variety of applications; the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy Research publishes books involving timely topics as well. (21) The Heartland Institute (22) in the midwest focuses on regional issues. In addition to research, the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, (23) the Liberty Fund, (24) the Institute of Humane Studies, (25), the Foundation for Economic Education (26) and the Cato Institute (27) conduct conferences and seminars on non-aggression and human rights. Michigan's Mackinac Center (28) briefs high school debate teams on non-aggressive approaches to their annual topic. Another Michigan institution, the privately-funded Hillsdale College, (29) practices non-aggression by refusing to take tax subsidies. It sponsors conferences and publishes books on the marketplace ecosystem free from aggression. Hillsdale will send you its newsletter, Imprimis, free of charge at your request. The Institute for Justice takes on legal cases of individuals or groups victimized by aggression-through-government. (30) Several of these cases have involved fighting the licensing laws that attempt to shut down small businesses employing the disadvantaged. The Madison Group (31) networks with more than 60 organizations working toward a world of peace and plenty through non-aggression. A new group, the 21st Century Congress (32) networks with activists to integrate the spiritual aspects of community and individual sov-ereignty with the practice of non-aggression. Freedom Now (33) is attempting to form a critical mass of non-aggressors in Fort Collins, Colorado. A high percentage of non-aggressors in a small community creates more cooperative interactions. Other such communities with more deliberate integration are being considered by other groups as well. Non-aggression is an idea whose time has come. The above
contacts represent a cross-section of people dedicated to creating a win-win
world. In your efforts to bring about the healing of our world, you are
not alone. Never doubt that your contribution is just as important. Remember that the family and friends who talk with you about the win-win world possible through non-aggression will in turn talk to others, who will share the good news. Like a chain reaction, your message of hope will spread throughout our country and the world, bearing fruit in the most unexpected ways. If you do nothing more than extol the virtues of non-aggression to those around you, you will have done much toward manifesting it! Of course, you needn't stop there. The many groups cited
above would welcome your participation. Are there any that excite you? Would
you like to join a political campaign or speak on college campuses? Do you
perceive a need for other strategies that you could initiate on you own
or with others? Can you implement non-aggressive solutions in the midst
of aggression- through- government, much like Guy Polheus and Kimi Gray
did (Chapter 11: Springing the Poverty Trap)? All these things and
more are needed to help others recognize that non-aggression is in everybody's
best self-interest. We each have a part to play, a gift to the world that
will one day be reflected back to us as a better world. |
I wonder if we in the United States were to concentrate... on making ourselves the best possible society we can be, whether the nations of the world might once again, without any pressure except the influence of example, begin to emulate us. - M. Scott Peck, THE DIFFERENT DRUM
...the power system continues only as long as individuals try to get something for nothing. The day when a majority of individuals declares or acts as if it wants nothing from government, declares that it will look after its own welfare and interests, then on that day the power elites are doomed. - Anthony Sutton, author of THE BEST ENEMY MONEY CAN BUY
...a next major step toward peace is the creation of an image of a future world of peace, an image that is widely credible and is ever-more-widely held. - Richard Smoke and Willis Harman, PATHS TO PEACE
Canada spends less of its GDP on health care not because we have found a way to produce health care at lower unit cost but because we have found a way to limit the total supply of services made available... we ration the supply, denying treatment to some and making others wait. - Michael Walker, Executive Director of the Fraser Institute in Vancouver
Nationalized health is synonymous with delays, waiting lists, rationing, and high taxes. - Christopher Lyon, M.D., ex-Englishman
The basic premise of libertarianism is that each individual should be free to do as he or she pleases so long as he or she does not harm others. - Internal Revenue Service.
Legalize freedom-vote Libertarian! - slogan of the Libertarian Party, U.S.A.
Never doubt that a small group of committed, thoughtful citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has. - Margaret Mead, American anthropologist |