Thursday, July 17, 2014

Politics

John Locke wrote that all government authority comes from the people:
"The essence of freedom is in limiting the power of government to exercising no more authority than the individual. John Locke explained, “For no Body can transfer to another more power than he has in himself...”"
And since people have no power to initiate coercion or violence against others, government claims on that power are illegitimate.

What distinguishes states?
"A partial answer: They can get away with murder that individuals cannot. Their status as “states” gives them a discretionary, albeit evil, position of broad scope in murdering innocent people, thereby overcoming and overriding a wide range of moral teachings and conscience."
But not just murder. First and foremost is theft, then all kinds of other aggressions.

It is amazing how controversial the non-aggression principle is.

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