What Is The Non-Aggression Principle?

“The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations.” -David Friedman-

Don’t hurt people and don’t take their stuff. It’s a simple rule we all live by- with one big exception.

From a young age, we are taught not to hit. We are taught not to take other kid’s toys without asking. Parents and teachers spend a lot of time and energy teaching kids to respect other people and their property.

These simple rules can be boiled down to what we libertarians call the non-aggression principle. According to this principle, it’s never justified to initiate force against someone else or their property. Self-defense is a justified response to violence that has either already been initiated or is imminent.

Simply put, each of us has the liberty to do what we wish as long as we do not infringe upon the equal liberties of any other person.

Although this seems to be an incredibly simple idea around which any society would wish to build around, it is often difficult for people to fully and actively accept.

We live in a world where no one thinks it’s ok to aggress on another person’s rights to life, liberty or property. But we make a huge exception if that person happens to have a certain government office or is wearing a special badge.

I am not allowed to coerce my neighbor into giving me a portion of his paycheck each month, no matter what good I intend to do with it, yet we accept the non-existent right of someone else to do the same simply because they have a badge that says IRS.

I do not have the right to break down my neighbor’s door, shoot his dog and lock him up in a cage for smoking a plant, but if someone with a DEA badge does it, it is considered legal and even good.

If I don’t like my neighbor growing vegetables in a planter box in her front yard, I can’t force her to get rid of it, but I can lobby for anti-gardening zoning laws so that men with badges will violate her tomatoes for me.

If government derives its powers from the consent of the governed, but I don’t have the right to tax or trespass, where does the power of the badge come from? You cannot delegate a right you do not have.

I have the right to self defense, and so I can delegate it to someone to defend me. I do not have the right to withhold a portion of my neighbor’s paycheck, so I cannot delegate the job to the IRS.

At a fundamental level, people believe that government acts as a protector, an entity to which we have delegated our right of self-defense in order to free up our time so that we don’t have to sit on our front porch all day with a shotgun just to keep our property safe. But government certainly doesn’t limit itself to protecting us against the aggression of others. Instead, it commits the very aggression it claims to protect us from.

You have been conditioned to believe that this is not only acceptable, but inevitable- provided the aggressor is wearing the appropriate badge. The gov’t officials should live by the same rules that they learned in Kindergarten. Don’t hurt people and don’t take their stuff.