Not quite a Box of Rocks post, but you can see it from here:
The state is that great fiction by which everyone tries to live at the expense of everyone else.
What, then is law? It is the collective organization of the individual right to lawful defense. Each of us has a natural right — from God — to defend his person, his liberty, and his property. These are the three basic requirements of life, and the preservation of any one of them is completely dependent upon the preservation of the other two. For what are our faculties but the extension of our individuality? And what is property but an extension of our faculties?
If every person has the right to defend — even by force — his person, his liberty, and his property, then it follows that a group of men have the right to organize and support a common force to protect these rights constantly. Thus the principle of collective right — its reason for existing, its lawfulness — is based on individual right. And the common force that protects this collective right cannot logically have any other purpose or any other mission than that for which it acts as a substitute. Thus, since an individual cannot lawfully use force against the person, liberty, or property of another individual, then the common force — for the same reason — cannot lawfully be used to destroy the person, liberty, or property of individuals or groups.
Such a perversion of force would be, in both cases, contrary to our premise. Force has been given to us to defend our own individual rights. Who will dare to say that force has been given to us to destroy the equal rights of our brothers? Since no individual acting separately can lawfully use force to destroy the rights of others, does it not logically follow that the same principle also applies to the common force that is nothing more than the organized combination of the individual forces?
If this is true, then nothing can be more evident than this: The law is the organization of the natural right of lawful defense. It is the substitution of a common force for individual forces. And this common force is to do only what the individual forces have a natural and lawful right to do: to protect persons, liberties, and properties; to maintain the right of each, and to cause justice to reign over us all.
I can actually only see two ways out: 1. Violence thrust upon us again via terrorism from within, or 2. Violence upon the government by the people OR a national united revolution in terms of tax refusal, non-compliance with certain laws or strictures. Absent those very two shocking and critical actions I don’t see the Quiet Citizens, those who OBEY laws, who PAY the freight, having the ability to perform sufficient actions to enact a major change. We are, in truth, too BUSY doing one primary thing: WORKING so that those in either GOVERNMENT or those parasites who suck from our labors and give back NOTHING may BENEFIT from our labors. And I really do not know how much longer we can keep this country on its current path of fiscal irresponsibility — on both sides. The ONLY politician I’ve EVER heard speak OPENLY about budget cuts, restrictions, paring back, is Fornicalia Senator Tom McClintock — who was running for Governor against Arnold and lost majestically.
I still want to think that Conservatism stands for something, but I’m just not sure such an animal can exist publicly and acquire votes. The electorate simply wants too much mollycoddling, too much “gimme,” too much of what it wants when it wants it. And LAWSUITS drive a MASSIVE amount of what we do in this society in terms of corportions and in terms of how we live and account for our day-to-day lives. I WANT to say I can reliably vote for someone on the GOP side but — I am forced to, as Fred rightly acknowledges — I must consider the person closest, despite any number of failings, CLOSEST to my own core beliefs.
It pains me to read it.
the sad fact is BZ, that each individual needs to be a law unto them self before they can be part of a larger organization, there has to be morality. a shared and common sense of right and wrong. people have to be willing to uphold what is right, not what is convenient. I wrote a similar post a couple of days ago thinking much the same thing. remember this tired old quote:
A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.
it sucks but our civilization is in the process of collapsing. and not from outside forces, but inside ones. the majority now will simply vote for the money, until all the money’s gone. without a major sea change in attitude, the USA is going out with a fizzle.
Mark: I can never remember to whom that quote is attributed and perhaps it has been attributed to many; in any event, I believe it is as true and immutable as death. We cannot be taken down from without; like Rome, we will collapse of our own accord — absent a plotted WMD event — because of our naivete, our stupidity, our wrongheaded thinking, our wishing to “accommodate” and/or be all things to all people. We simply cannot.
BZ
Thank you for the introduction to Claude Bastiat. He was a brilliant individual, and you’re not bad yourself! 🙂
It is a painful post, but it’s unfortunately true, and far to many politicians on both sides of the aisle are corrupt. So what do we, as citizens, do about all of this? Liberals attempt to take away our right to defend ourselves and have done so in many states. I just read that the Liberals in Kansas City are attempting to make it illegal to smoke anywhere. There entire agenda is to control every aspect of the public’s life, except their sex life, of course, but they would have our children learn of the wonderful world of being gay! I know… I’m getting a bit off topic.
Good post, BZ… makes one think.
As I cited Paine before I will only say this: we have seen these conditions in overview before, and we know what happened next.
We are one Shays away from that day. We don’t know who it will be or where. But the conditions are here and those conditions begin to drive events, not the other way around.
Just remember, they have not been teaching you the things that allow civilization to flourish.
Learn them.
So that we may make a more perfect Union on the other side.
I don’t know that a true Conservative could win, probably not.
I don’t know a workable way to fix the problem either.