Morality and The Libertarian Way
Today I noticed a billboard that had the
following: “Does your vote reflect your morals?”
At first glance it might seem reasonable that an
individual should vote according to their moral
principles. At second glance you might think—that
could be dangerous to the liberty and freedom of
someone who lives by a different moral code.
How do we determine if a system of morality is
conducive to the needs of a rational individual—or
if it is based on myths, illusions and faulty
principles?
There is only one way to determine if a moral
principle is correct or incorrect. It must
correspond to the following:
- Natural Law
- Economic Law
If a moral belief violates either one of these
laws—it is invalid.
A case can be made that Economic Law is derived
from Natural Law. Natural Law starts its reasoning
from axiomatic concepts such as identity,
consciousness and existence. Economic Law’s
starting point in a chain of reasoning is—a priori
categories such as time, change and causality.
Both use deductive reasoning.
The Problem
Unfortunately we live in a society that is called
a “democracy.” The voting process has turned into
predatory means of extracting wealth from one
group and giving it to another—and (or) forcing
the moral beliefs of a majority on the rest of the
populace. Of course, the smallest minority of
all—the individual—has his life, liberty and
freedom sold out wholesale. His property is
consistently violated through taxes, inflation,
prohibitions and regulations. He is even told what
he can or can not consume.
Unknown to most is the fact that our founding
fathers considered the United States of America a
Republic. It was founded as a Republic. They
understood that a democracy always resulted in mob
rule—and had failed everywhere it was practiced.
If they could see and hear the promises of the
candidates for office in modern times—they would
be appalled. Politicians make big spending
promises they can only keep—by stealing from
others through taxes and inflation. In many cases
they end up pilfering the money from the very same
voters that supported them. H.L. Mencken’s
description of an election is “an advanced auction
of stolen goods.”
Natural Law
An individual has a right to life, liberty and
freedom. He also has the right to own property
without anyone infringing on it—and that includes
government infringement. Since all individuals own
their bodies— they can consume anything they
desire.
All moral pronunciations about the so-called evils
of drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, gambling, and
prostitution are irrelevant and downright
dangerous. It may true that a rational individual
could decide to avoid these “vices”. However since
an individual owns his life, which includes his
body, mind and soul, he has every right to indulge
in these activities without the interference of
absolute moralists and governments.
Economic Law
Many people support a system of morality that
completely violates the laws of economics. Once
these faulty moral systems become law—and
governments start enforcing them—nobody’s life,
liberty and property are safe. Wars, atrocities,
economic crisis, mass liberty violations etc.
permeate world affairs. The lone individual is
crucified on a cross of myth and drowned in a sea
of illusion.
The war on drugs has been taking place for
decades. Over half of million Americans have been
incarcerated in a “place of rehabilitation” called
prison for drug offences. Let’s decide if drug use
is moral or immoral—and whether it should be legal
or illegal.
Voluntary and Involuntary Exchange
First you have to distinguish the difference
between voluntary and involuntary exchange. You
must realize it is individuals who are involved in
exchanges. In any two person exchange, one sells
(gives) and the other buys (receives). "Society
can not take part in an exchange—only individuals
can."
A voluntary exchange takes place when two or more
individuals agree to become involved with one
another. Each participates of his own free will.
The exchange could involve anything from giving
and receiving love to buying and selling
commodities. All believe they will benefit.
An involuntary exchange takes place when at least
one party to the transaction is in it against his
(her) will. Examples of this type of exchange are
robbery, rape, assault and murder. Only this type
of exchange can be defined as criminal. All
voluntary exchanges are legitimate and non-
criminal—no matter what the Absolute Moralist and
governments declare.
Since drug exchanges are voluntary they should be
legal—which means that all drug use is perfectly
moral behavior and of course, should be legal
Conclusion
As you can see—a morality that is in violation of
Natural and Economic Law is faulty and
destructive. Just because someone feels something
is immoral or bad doesn’t give him (her) the right
to force their subjectivity on others. A person
must first subject their belief(s) to Natural and
Economic Law.
The Libertarian Way is a system of morality that
corresponds to these laws. And what makes this so
delightful is that all the Libertarian Pleasures
correspond to Natural and Economic law.
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