From: glenne@csd4.csd.uwm.edu (Neuromancer )
Newsgroups: alt.society.anarchy
Subject: Re: OPEN LETTER TO THE LIBERTARIAN LEFT
Date: 5 Oct 1992 16:41:05 GMT
Organization: Computing Services Division, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
NNTP-Posting-Host: 129.89.7.4

>Why can't you accept injustice?
I _can_ accept the unjust actions of others because I do not believe
in the principle of retaliation.   However, I should not accept any
violence or coercion on my own part, but since I own property I do
participate in economic coercion.  Justice is far to _low_ of a moral
standard.  Such a low moral standard is the basis of retaliation.
This standard resulted in the L.A. riots.  The higher standard of
Compassion would have prevented the riots, but more importantly would
have  _prevented_the_suffering_that_led_to_the_riots.
 
>What is wrong with the concept that my freedom is based on your unfreedom;
>my wealth is based on your exploitation; my power is based on your oppression?
Because I have a brain which makes me aware that people are suffering.
I am a human being, so I feel thier pain.  I can never live in comfort so
long as there is one person in need.
 
If 50% of people lived by these principles,  society would not be a
bunch of people running around naked and hungry.  On the contrary,
people would work harder than ever before to help meet each others
needs. Rather than dragging themselves to work to collect a paycheck,
and feeling like a cloud was hanging over their heads but not knowing
why (because they know in the back of their minds that other
people are going without things that they need),  people would
JOYFULLY work not to get paid (money would be eliminated) but because
they knew they were doing all they could toward meeting peoples needs.
And they wouldn't have to live in fear of not being able to support
themselves should they lose their ability to be as productive as
they once were.
 
At this point when the libertarians tell me that people need an incentive
to work, I feel extremely disgusted with them, because it is as if
they cannot even begin to conceive of a non-selfish incentive.  What
a bunch of half-evolved apes....
 
Sure the libertarians are correct.  We have no right to
tax them.  But this is exactly like a pacifist who tells
someone who is raping and torturing his loved ones that he
has no right to harm the rapist.
 
Property is theft...  Property is rape...  Let's not beat
around the bush,  what makes property possible is violence
and coercion.   In order for property to exist, you will
either need a government, or a libarbarian's hired thugs.
 
Property is the antithesis of freedom.  Property is the
single greatest obstacle to Anarchy.  So what is the solution?
Take the property from the libarbarians?  NOT!  We have to
give the libarbarians the _freedom_ to decide whether or not
they want to give their property away.  (Did anyone see
Blade-Runner?   Remember the scene where the nasty replicant
saves Harrison Ford's life, even though Harrison Ford was trying
to kill him?   The replicant values life so much that he
even saves the life of someone who is trying to kill him.)  The
principle is the same.  We have to value freedom so much, we have
to give it to those who want to take it away from us.   My
radical pacifism is based on the same principle.  I value
non-violence so much, I give it to those who are trying to take
it away from me.
 
So the only thing we can really do, if we value freedom, is to
give all of our property away (giving to those that need it most
would be the most compassionate, humane thing to do).  Any
volunteers?  I actually know someone who has done this, although
now he owns a car, and he feels like he has backslided.  Giving
all my property away is not something I can just jump into at this point.
I am going to have to gradually work myself into it, as my subconscious
values catch up with my conscious ones.  The battle for freedom
lies not with other people, but within oneself.
 
Glenn                                      glenne@csd4.csd.uwm.edu
 
P.S.  Did you ever wonder why we say MY children, MY wife, MY friend?
We subconsciously treat those who are close to us as if they are our
property.  Aldous Huxley has a nifty solution to the family problem.
Have different adults take turns raising children, and give children
equal say in who they want to spend most of their time with.
 
P.P.S.  Vote for the canditate who will most likely allow you to
accumulate the most property.  NOT!
Newsgroups: alt.society.anarchy