The_Dunedan

OK. Repeatedly, on this board and others, I've been confronted by Statists of various stripes demanding, suggesting, and otherwise ordering that I and my family submit to various types of laws. Some of these laws make sense and seem permissible to me; most do not.

Some explanation. A Law is permissible and Moral if it is designed to protect either Life, Liberty, or Property. These are the three Cardinal Rights which every person posesses by virtue, simply, of being Human. For example: a law forbidding murder is permissible and moral, a law forbidding smoking in a private space is not.
Law is Force. This Force is brought to bear against a Lawbreaker in order to bring him to Justice. If the Law is unjust, then so is the Force used to enforce that law: few people would argue with this.
I would therefore argue that any law which does not protect Life, Liberty and Property from direct, physical harm caused by Malice or Negligence is Unjust.

Note that I said "protect," not "Gaurantee." Any law which purports to gaurantee any of these things is not only unenforceable, but logically impossible. Therefore, laws gauranteeing healthcare, car insurance, etc etc do not fall under the "Protection Doctrine" as I call it. They do not protect against Malice or Negligence on the part of an outside party, but rather purport to protect someone against his own bad luck or stupidity.

If any law which does not fall under the Protection Doctrine is immoral and unjust, then it is our responsibility to resist it. Again, I think few would disagree with this.

Now we come to the meat of the arguement. If it is our responsibilty to resist any Immoral law, while obeying Moral ones, what is the situation for a thinking, rational person? For -this- thinking, rational person, at least, it is as follows.

1: I will obey all Moral laws.
2: I will disobey, at every opportunity, all Immoral laws.
3: I will resist, by any means nessessary, any attempt to force me to violate my conscience by following Immoral laws, or to force me to force others to do so.

Many Statists do not grasp the practical applications of this. They simply say, when asked "How are you gonna make me?" "Well, we'll just pass a law, and then you'll..." No. I won't. See ( 2 ) above. Moreover, I will resist, perhaps violently, if any attempt is made to -force- me to do so.

The practical applications are these:

I will keep the fruits of my labour. ALL of them. This means no Infernal Revenue Service prats crawling all over my income and stealing 40% of it through threat of force. On the street, that's known as Armed Robbery, and my response will be the same as if such an attempt was made on the street.

I will keep my weapons. ALL of them, in whatever configuration, shape, and type I please. I will use such weapons only in defense of Life and Liberty, but I will keep them. Since weapons are the means through which we ultimately secure our Liberty, any attempt to take them from me will be seen as a direct assault upon that Liberty.

I will eat, drink, and smoke whatever I wish. If I get cancer, get fat, or just get stoned and drive off a cliff, it's my problem. If I injure or kill someone else, fine: throw me in jail, shoot my ass, whatever. But so long as I harm no-one else, do not attempt to stop me from eating, drinking, and smoking whatever I like. Any attempt to do so will be seen as a direct assault upon my Liberty, and be dealt with as such.

I will marry whom I wish, as many of them as I wish, as often as I wish, and will have as many children as I wish. Provided that all parties to such a marriage are consenting adult Humans, it is nobody's buisness but mine and my spouses. Any attempt to forcibly divorce us or divest us of our Parental Rights will be seen as a direct, physical assault upon my family and will be dealt with as such.

Perhaps this sounds ominous. It's not meant to be; if I, and people like me, are left alone, we are perfectly peaceable. However, should any person, agency, or Government attempt to infringe upon any of these; to force me to follow an Immoral Law, will bring dire consequences. In other words:

If you infringe upon my rights, I WILL SHOOT YOU. If you send someone else to do it for you, I will shoot HIM and then I WILL SHOOT YOU. No law, edict, or statute will change this. I will not obey an Immoral law, and I will kill anyone who tries to make me obey such a law. Pass all the laws you want; I will ignore them. It all comes down to this: I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK. I don't care. I won't be made to care: not by you or anyone else. Ban my guns: I won't care, and I won't obey. Tell me to surrender some of my income: I won't care, and I won't obey. Tell me I have to marry one woman or nobody at all: I won't care, and I won't obey. Tell my I can't have my steak, my Vodka, or my Ganja: I won't care, and I won't obey.

I am perfectly content to be left alone with my disobediance. I don't -want- a fight. But if the fight is brought to me, if Force is brought to bear against me, I will resist. I may die for such resistance, I may lose the Freedom I hold so dear, but at least I will go to my grave or my cell knowing that I did what was right, that I did not fail in the face of fear, and that I was true to myself, at the last. I do not fear to die; I fear only to lose myself, and to stand ashamed for it when I face my ancestors and my God.

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the silent, desperate face of huge numbers of Americans who only want to live their lives in peace. Leave us alone, and we will leave you alone, and at peace. Please; do not force our hands on this. Because we will not quail, we will not back down, and we will not die easily or quietly. We do not wish to fight you. Please, don't make us.