Freedom by Consensus
Sam Aurelius Milam III
Sacrifice
might be demanded of the individual, but never compromise: for though
only the society can give security and stability, only the individual,
the person, has the power of moral choice.
—from The Dispossessed
by Ursula K. LeGuin
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I'd
prefer not to be a revolutionary. I'd prefer, instead, to be a sovereign.
Being a sovereign doesn't necessarily involve any violence or even any
resistance. It involves living outside of the jurisdiction of government.
Any
human being, particularly a sovereign, is well advised to behave with courtesy,
humility, and integrity. He should mind his own business, satisfy
his obligations, leave other people alone, and hope for the same treatment
from other people. Regardless of any such hope, it's more likely
that the various authoritarian reformers and repressive thugs who always
run governments will compel him to behave according to somebody else's
beliefs, and punish him if he refuses to cooperate.
When
a person is forced to behave according to somebody else's beliefs instead
of his own, or is punished for refusing to do so, then he's pushed in the
direction of resistance or maybe even in the direction of violence.
The results are usually counterproductive. That's true because government
is like a muscle. The more you resist it the stronger it will get.
Consider such things as the attack on the Murrah Federal Building.
That attack was tactically successful but strategically disastrous.
It didn't increase the liberty of the people. It didn't increase
the people's understanding of government. It didn't reduce the strength
of the government. It increased jingoism and brainwashing among the
people and it gave the government more justification for additional repressive
powers.
I'm
not objecting, in principle, to people using force or violence to defend
themselves against government. Actually, I'm very much in sympathy
with people who try to do so. I don't have much sympathy at all for
government thugs who're injured or killed during such confrontations.
However, even though such defense is usually appropriate in principle,
it's usually futile in practice. Unless someone can win such a confrontation
without exposing himself to retaliation by government, force and violence
are useful mostly as a deterrent. That is, if people have the ability
to defend themselves against government, which they ought to have, if they're
willing to use that ability, and if the government is aware of it, then
the threat alone might constrain government, at least a little. However,
once people are driven to actually defend themselves against government,
constraint has failed. Given a confrontation, the government usually
wins. Consider the Branch Davidians. Consider MOVE. Consider
the Weaver family. There are many examples.
It
isn't likely that government will be defeated by resistance or even by
revolution but it might be defeated by consensus. It seems to me
that the best way to defeat government, in practice, might be by not resisting
it. That isn't the same thing as submitting to it. The government
has power because people obey it. So, don't obey it. The government
has more power when people try to resist it. So, don't try to resist
it. Instead, ignore it. Evade it. Abandon it. Don't
do anything that would tend to acknowledge it, support it, legitimize it,
or strengthen it. Position yourself, get outside of the jurisdiction
of government, and try to stay there. If enough people do that, then
it might succeed. If too few people do it, then it will fail.
Ultimately,
freedom is a result of consensus. Any real freedom movement has to
result from consensus. Its goal should be political power in
the hands of the people, that is, individual sovereignty. In such
a freedom movement, there can't be any leaders or any followers.
If there are leaders and followers, then it isn't a freedom movement.
It's an organized resistance movement or a revolution, a precursor of the
next government. In a freedom movement, there are only participants.![10x5 Page Background GIF Image](../../Images/10x5_Page_Background.gif)
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July 2012 |
Frontiersman, c/o
4984 Peach Mountain Drive, Gainesville, Georgia 30507 |
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