Conor at 00:49, 19 February 2011

2011-02-19T00:49:00Z

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	From Murray Rothbard, "For A New Liberty" (http://mises.org/books/newliberty.pdf), 1973. p. 27ff:		From Murray Rothbard, "For A New Liberty" (http://mises.org/books/newliberty.pdf), 1973. p. 27ff:

67.233.72.237: Created page with 'From Murray Rothbard, "For A New Liberty" (http://mises.org/books/newliberty.pdf), 1973. p. 27ff: THE NONAGGRESSION AXIOM The libertarian creed rests upon one central axiom: t...'

2009-04-21T22:04:30Z

Created page with 'From Murray Rothbard, "For A New Liberty" (http://mises.org/books/newliberty.pdf), 1973. p. 27ff: THE NONAGGRESSION AXIOM The libertarian creed rests upon one central axiom: t...'

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From Murray Rothbard, "For A New Liberty" (http://mises.org/books/newliberty.pdf), 1973. p. 27ff:

THE NONAGGRESSION AXIOM

The libertarian creed rests upon one central axiom: that
no man or group of men may aggress against the person
or property of anyone else. This may be called the
“nonaggression axiom.” “Aggression” is defined as the initiation
of the use or threat of physical violence against the person
or property of anyone else. Aggression is therefore synonymous
with invasion.

If no man may aggress against another; if, in short, everyone
has the absolute right to be “free” from aggression, then
this at once implies that the libertarian stands foursquare for
what are generally known as “civil liberties”: the freedom to
speak, publish, assemble, and to engage in such “victimless
crimes” as pornography, sexual deviation, and prostitution
(which the libertarian does not regard as “crimes” at all, since
he defines a “crime” as violent invasion of someone else’s person
or property). Furthermore, he regards conscription as
slavery on a massive scale. And since war, especially modern
war, entails the mass slaughter of civilians, the libertarian
regards such conflicts as mass murder and therefore totally
illegitimate.

All of these positions are now considered “leftist” on the
contemporary ideological scale. On the other hand, since the
libertarian also opposes invasion of the rights of private
property, this also means that he just as emphatically opposes
government interference with property rights or with the freemarket
economy through controls, regulations, subsidies, or
prohibitions. For if every individual has the right to his own
property without having to suffer aggressive depredation,
then he also has the right to give away his property (bequest
and inheritance) and to exchange it for the property of others
(free contract and the free market economy) without interference.
The libertarian favors the right to unrestricted private
property and free exchange; hence, a system of “laissez-faire
capitalism.”

In current terminology again, the libertarian position on
property and economics would be called “extreme right
wing.” But the libertarian sees no inconsistency in being “leftist”
on some issues and “rightist” on others. On the contrary,
he sees his own position as virtually the only consistent one,
consistent on behalf of the liberty of every individual. For how
can the leftist be opposed to the violence of war and conscription
while at the same time supporting the violence of taxation
and government control? And how can the rightist trumpet his
devotion to private property and free enterprise while at the
same time favoring war, conscription, and the outlawing of
noninvasive activities and practices that he deems immoral?
And how can the rightist favor a free market while seeing nothing
amiss in the vast subsidies, distortions, and unproductive
inefficiencies involved in the military-industrial complex?

Nonaggression Axiom - Revision history

Conor at 00:49, 19 February 2011

67.233.72.237: Created page with 'From Murray Rothbard, "For A New Liberty" (http://mises.org/books/newliberty.pdf), 1973. p. 27ff: THE NONAGGRESSION AXIOM The libertarian creed rests upon one central axiom: t...'