AbolishTheGovt
10-05-2008, 04:35 PM
For those who have been on these forums since October of 2007, you may have seen me around as "aspiringconstitutionalist." I decided I could no longer post my views under that name. Here's why:
In 2004, I cast my first vote for George W. Bush for President and Dick Cheney for Vice President. I was raised in a very [neo]conservative family and in a church whose members often espoused Christian Reconstructionist ideas. I based my vote on how Christian the candidate was, how socially conservative the candidate was, and how eager to make war the candidate was (the more eager, the more likely to get my vote).
In 2007 (after it became clear that my first choice, Condoleezza Rice, would not be running), I began to support Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign. I even started a political organization of social conservatives supporting Rudy for President. In the South Carolina debate, Ron Paul stood up against Rudy Giuliani. I sided with Giuliani at the time, but after spending the summer of 2007 researching Ron Paul and his views, by that Autumn, I had become a Ron Paul Republican. I sealed the deal with my first donation to the Ron Paul campaign in October of 2007, and it was at that time that I joined Ron Paul Forums under the username of "aspiringconstitutionalist." I really was an aspiring constitutionalist at the time. I was new to the whole constitutionalism thing and I was astonished to keep finding so many government programs so blatantly in violation of the Constitution. I was still learning about what the Constitution actually says, what it actually meant, and which government actions were really constitutional or unconstitutional. Over the past year, I've gotten a very good handle on those things, but within the past few months, my continual studies have lead me even further than I ever expected.
This decision has been a long time in the making, and it's been one that I've been afraid to openly admit to, but I am no longer merely a constitutionalist (although I do believe that those politicians who take an oath to abide by the Constitution, should do so). I am, truly, an anarchist in the mold of such great thinkers as Murray Rothbard.
In less than two years, I have gone from a big-government neoconservative to a libertarian minarchist to a free market anarchist. It's been a bit of a whirlwind intellectual journey for me, but what pushed me from minarchist to anarchist was this point:
Involuntary government is essentially an aggressively-maintained monopoly on a few specific services (defense, courts, money, etc.), which is no different from a group maintaining a monopoly on other goods like food, water, or cars through the use of illegitimate force. This is a violation of the non-aggression axiom.
There are many other watertight arguments against the very concept of involuntary government. My first reaction upon learning of these arguments was a deep, deep sense within me that these arguments were dead on, but an intense fear of admitting the truth of the matter to myself. I imagine many will have the same feeling upon reading this post. Ludwig von Mises once said, "Government is essentially the negation of liberty," and he was absolutely right.
After some research, I have seen how free market anarchism has worked in the past (history is rife with examples), and how it is the only system truly compatible with liberty.
Admittedly, I could settle with a representative republic in the mold that our US Constitution prescribes, but that's not going to happen, and there is really no way to truly ensure that that form of government is kept in place, even if we could pare our government back down to a Constitutional size.
This bailout fiasco was the last straw. It has totally exposed how completely unaccountable this government is to the People. Ninety percent of Americans were against this, and the government just went ahead and did it anyway. They just stole $850 billion from us like it was a drop in the bucket (not including all the purchasing power the Fed has stolen from us in recent weeks--about $1 trillion--by mere printing up more money and credit).
I layed out my thoughts in another thread, entitled, "What if we abolished the United States government on the Fifth of November? (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=160959)"
I encourage you to read that post as well, and offer your thoughts.
I think it's time to end this charade, once and for all.
In 2004, I cast my first vote for George W. Bush for President and Dick Cheney for Vice President. I was raised in a very [neo]conservative family and in a church whose members often espoused Christian Reconstructionist ideas. I based my vote on how Christian the candidate was, how socially conservative the candidate was, and how eager to make war the candidate was (the more eager, the more likely to get my vote).
In 2007 (after it became clear that my first choice, Condoleezza Rice, would not be running), I began to support Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign. I even started a political organization of social conservatives supporting Rudy for President. In the South Carolina debate, Ron Paul stood up against Rudy Giuliani. I sided with Giuliani at the time, but after spending the summer of 2007 researching Ron Paul and his views, by that Autumn, I had become a Ron Paul Republican. I sealed the deal with my first donation to the Ron Paul campaign in October of 2007, and it was at that time that I joined Ron Paul Forums under the username of "aspiringconstitutionalist." I really was an aspiring constitutionalist at the time. I was new to the whole constitutionalism thing and I was astonished to keep finding so many government programs so blatantly in violation of the Constitution. I was still learning about what the Constitution actually says, what it actually meant, and which government actions were really constitutional or unconstitutional. Over the past year, I've gotten a very good handle on those things, but within the past few months, my continual studies have lead me even further than I ever expected.
This decision has been a long time in the making, and it's been one that I've been afraid to openly admit to, but I am no longer merely a constitutionalist (although I do believe that those politicians who take an oath to abide by the Constitution, should do so). I am, truly, an anarchist in the mold of such great thinkers as Murray Rothbard.
In less than two years, I have gone from a big-government neoconservative to a libertarian minarchist to a free market anarchist. It's been a bit of a whirlwind intellectual journey for me, but what pushed me from minarchist to anarchist was this point:
Involuntary government is essentially an aggressively-maintained monopoly on a few specific services (defense, courts, money, etc.), which is no different from a group maintaining a monopoly on other goods like food, water, or cars through the use of illegitimate force. This is a violation of the non-aggression axiom.
There are many other watertight arguments against the very concept of involuntary government. My first reaction upon learning of these arguments was a deep, deep sense within me that these arguments were dead on, but an intense fear of admitting the truth of the matter to myself. I imagine many will have the same feeling upon reading this post. Ludwig von Mises once said, "Government is essentially the negation of liberty," and he was absolutely right.
After some research, I have seen how free market anarchism has worked in the past (history is rife with examples), and how it is the only system truly compatible with liberty.
Admittedly, I could settle with a representative republic in the mold that our US Constitution prescribes, but that's not going to happen, and there is really no way to truly ensure that that form of government is kept in place, even if we could pare our government back down to a Constitutional size.
This bailout fiasco was the last straw. It has totally exposed how completely unaccountable this government is to the People. Ninety percent of Americans were against this, and the government just went ahead and did it anyway. They just stole $850 billion from us like it was a drop in the bucket (not including all the purchasing power the Fed has stolen from us in recent weeks--about $1 trillion--by mere printing up more money and credit).
I layed out my thoughts in another thread, entitled, "What if we abolished the United States government on the Fifth of November? (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=160959)"
I encourage you to read that post as well, and offer your thoughts.
I think it's time to end this charade, once and for all.