"No human being has the right, under ANY circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, nor to advocate or delegate its initiation."

The Zero Aggression Principle (ZAP), or the Non-Aggression Principle, is the defining rule of peaceful coexistance.  This version was composed by L. Neil Smith, who says: "A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being, or to advocate or delegate its initiation. Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim." 

This is the basis of a freedom philosophy which respects the rights of everyone.  It applies to everyone equally.  The basic idea has been expressed throughout human cultures across the globe and in every era.  The "Golden Rule"* and "The Wiccan Rede"** are just two examples among many.  Each culture has its own way of saying basically the same thing. Even very young children have an innate understanding of this one "law of humanity".  In any dispute they always cry "He started it!"  I think that this idea is part of what makes us philosophically human.

Notice, too, that advocating the initiation of force against others is understood to be wrong.  You can not threaten to use force to coerce someone’s compliance.  Prohibited as well is using thugs (such as government agents) to impose your coercive desires upon the unwilling, yet otherwise peaceful, person.

This is how you show your respect for the self-ownership of those around you. If you follow this principle, you may not be a perfect person, but you would probably be a pretty good neighbor. You would definitely be a good example of true libertarianism….Continued:

http://www.kentforliberty.com/zap.html

So, what do you think? Feel free to leave some comments below!

Well, certainly not this guy:

 Florida Candidate For Mayor Wants 1,000-Strong Youth Spy Force

Falconer proposes swarms of citizen informers casing neighborhoods looking for suspicious behavior…"Matthew Falconer, who professes to be a Libertarian, has been handing out a business card to potential voters outlining his platform." You can read more here:

http://www.prisonplanet.com/florida-candidate-for-mayor-wants-1000-strong-youth-spy-force.html

I really wish that people who are not libertarians would stop calling themselves libertarians! Just go find another word to describe yourself. And if you’re not a libertarian – go find another party.

This is the definition that the real Broward LP uses -

Zero Aggression Principle ("Zap"):
A libertarian is a person who believes that no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being for any reason whatever; nor will a libertarian advocate the initiation of force, or delegate it to anyone else. 

Those who act consistently with this principle are libertarians, whether they realize it or not. Those who fail to act consistently with it are not libertarians, regardless of what they may claim. 
— L. Neil Smith, Formerly called the "Non-Aggression Principle", or "NAP" source -http://www.ncc-1776.org/whoislib.html

And it works. It separates the posers from the libertarians.

Comments? Questions? Feel free to leave a comment. You could be a winner!
 

Is life imitating art?

Howard Roark understands. Those who understand Roark should understand as well.

These are some of the excerpts that I think are both important, and timely.

Excerpts from Howard Roark’s Courtroom Speech
From _The Fountainhead_, by Ayn Rand

Read the whole speech:
http://www.nasonart.com/personal/lifelessons/fountainhead.html

“I came here to say that I do not recognize anyone’s right to one minute of my life. Nor to any part of my energy. Nor to any achievement of mine. No matter who makes the claim, how large their number or how great their need.”

—–

“Now, in our age, collectivism, the rule of the second-hander and second-rater, the ancient monster, has broken loose and is running amuck. It has brought men to a level of intellectual indecency never equaled on earth. It has reached a scale of horror without precedent. It has poisoned every mind. It has swallowed most of Europe. It is engulfing our country.

“I am an architect. I know what is to come by the principle on which it is built. We are approaching a world in which I cannot permit myself to live.

“Now you know why I dynamited Cortlandt.

“I designed Cortlandt. I gave it to you. I destroyed it.

“I destroyed it because I did not choose to let it exist. It was a double monster. In form and in implication. I had to blast both. The form was mutilated by two second-handers who assumed the right to improve upon that which they had not made and could not equal. They were permitted to do it by the general implication that the altruistic purpose of the building superseded all rights and that I had no claim to stand against it.

“I agreed to design Cortlandt for the purpose of seeing it erected as I dedigned it and for no other reason. That was the price I set for my work. I was not paid.

…..

The love of a man for the integrity of his work and his right to preserve it are now considered a vague intangible and an inessential. You have heard the prosecutor say that. Why was the building disfigured? For no reason. Such acts never have any reason, unless it’s the vanity of some second-handers who feel they have a right to anyone’s property, spiritual or material. Who permitted them to do it? No particular man among the dozens in authority. No one cared to permit it or to stop it. No one was responsible. No one can be held to account. Such is the nature of all collective action.

…..

“I came here to say that I do not recognize anyone’s right to one minute of my life. Nor to any part of my energy. Nor to any achievement of mine. No matter who makes the claim, how large their number or how great their need.”

“I wished to come here and say that I am a man who does not exist for others.

“It had to be said. The world is perishing from an orgy of self-sacrificing.

“I wished to come here and say that the integrity of a man’s creative work is of greater importance than any charitable endeavor. Those of you who do not understand this are the men who’re destroying the world.

“I wished to come here and state my terms. I do not care to exist on any others.

“I recognize no obligations toward men except one: to respect their freedom and to take no part in a slave society. To my country, I wish to give the ten years which I will spend in jail if my country exists no longer. I will spend them in memory and in gratitude for what my country has been. It will be my act of loyalty, my refusal to live or work in what has taken its place.

“My act of loyalty to every creator who ever lived and was made to suffer by the force responsible for the Cortlandt I dynamited. To every tortured hour of loneliness, denial, frustration, abuse he was made to spend—and to the battles he won. To every creator whose name is known—and to every creator who lived, struggled and perished unrecognized before he could achieve. To every creator who was destroyed in body or in spirit. To Henry Cameron. To Steven Mallory. To a man who doesn’t want to be named, but who is sitting in this courtroom and knows that I am speaking of him.”