Libertarians Should Avoid “NAP” in origin and meaning historically). Favor of “NIF” To me, this “Non-Initiation of Force” principle always by Curry B. Taylor sounded just, fair, and almost unassailable even when you got into the nitty-gritty of how it might be applied in the most About 6 or 7 years ago, by esoteric cases. I know some these days tend to feel the same my recollection, I started way about the “NAP”. To be sure, both phrases are alike in hearing this term “NAP” in many ways. Both refer to avoiding conflict, being thoughtful libertarian circles. I hadn't before being forceful or violent, and (implicitly) respecting heard that specific term other human beings and their rights. So what is the major before, although I have difference between the two phrases? Well, the “Non-Initiation been in the Party since the of Force” implies that there are cases in which force is early 2000s, and a justified. In my opinion, there are many such cases. Self- libertarian for a few years defense from an aggressively violent person is one obvious before that. The “Non- case. Self-defense from an aggressively violent state may also Aggression Principle”, or be such a case (again, subject to the definition of “force” and “NAP”, sounded well- perhaps “initiate”). A third case might be self-defense from an meaning but immediately invading army, and so forth. strange to me based upon my libertarian knowledge, readings, and introspection up until that point. The reason is simple, and I'll explain it here.
In the inception days of the Libertarian Party in the early 70s, many of those folks who represented the core of the movement discussed a concept called the “Non-Initiation of Force”. That is, all actions were moral, and therefore legally justifiable, if they did not involve the initiation of force against another individual. (Of course, what constitutes “force” may be the subject of eternal debate, although I personally think it is clear if one takes the Lochean definition of individual rights: Life, Liberty, and Property, and understand what each of those terms objectively means. But I You can see the difference already: the Non-Initiation of Force digress.) This core group of premise includes the possibility of force in particular founders of the Libertarian Party situations, usually those involving self-defense of some kind. thought it extremely important This is completely consistent with libertarian values and that all stakeholders revere the ethics, in my view. By contrast, the “NAP” seems to imply that “Non-Initiation of Force” as the there are no situations at all in which aggression is justified. I highest ethical tenet in have heard defenders of the phrase “NAP”, when confronted Libertarian politics. So, they with this dilemma, freely admit that there are self-defense encapsulated the “Non-Initiation exceptions to the phrase. But they seem to lack concern about of Force” idea inside the Party's perhaps trying to find an alternative phrase, perhaps one with a basic infrastructure and few more decades of robust testing. In the worst case, the documents. It still exists today inside the Party's Statement of “NAP” appears to make libertarians look like pacifists, which Principles and inside the Party pledge, or oath, which all new we decidedly are not. (Some may argue for militia defense members must sign to affiliate with us (although the language versus state-controlled standing army defense, for example, behind the latter document may have a different pragmatic but that is beside the point.)
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Kingdom, Canada, I propose that we readopt the India, etc.). In a “Non-Initiation of Force” recent parliamentary principle, with brand spanking- election, third party new catchy abbreviation “NIF” to candidates won 87 be super trendy in readying seats in the British ourselves to appeal to GenZ and House of Commons. the generation which comes after it. It has more history within the 4. I’ve seen LP, it's more accurate to speculation over why libertarianism, and it's more fun to the United States is say than “NAP”, which just makes different: control of you want to go to sleep and let the ballot access rules by government do what it wants. D and R legislators (I (Arguably, of course.) wonder if other countries do this too. Apparently it wasn’t Want to help with local LP activities? always this way in the U.S.); D and R The Marketing, Outreach, and Candidate Recruitment control of debate Committees are looking for more warm bodies to help participants; a with their efforts to build our party. There are a lot of ideas presidential instead of a parliamentary system; “a political to work on, but we need your help! Click on the link for plutocracy” without campaign spending limits, etc. I think we the committee you're interested in to e-mail the committee need to look more carefully at why the United States is chair! different.
5. The third parties that do best tend to be geographically concentrated (The Scottish Nationalist Party, George Wallace’s Some Brief Observations on the 2018 American Independent Party in the American south, and La Election Raza Unida in the American southwest). This is also often related to ethnic or nationalist “tribalism”. by Barry V. Smith 6. For whatever reason, people in the United States tend to see Some Brief Observations on the their party as an essential part of their personal identity. 2018 Election (And Third Parties Changing parties is almost unthinkable to them. in Other Elections): 7. Third parties with celebrity 1. An article in the current issue of candidates (Jesse Ventura, Ralph Reason, and other sources (I Nader, Teddy Roosevelt, Ross haven’t included footnotes) have Perot) tend to be more successful pointed out that although polls in the United States. show that many Americans want a third party, this hasn’t translated 8. Warning: When American third into more votes for third parties parties are successful, they have a (the recent election is an example). way of self-destructing. La Raza Unida fell apart because of 2. “Duverger’s Law” predicts that in a single-member-district, internal conflict, and internal winner-take-all (first-past-the-post) elections, such as we have conflict resulting from Jesse in the United States, voters will be reluctant to vote for third Ventura’s election as governor of party candidates, because it’s hard for more than two parties to Minnesota tore the Reform Party have a good chance to win a plurality vote. apart. Even when the Libertarian Party is most successful, our 3. However, the evidence is that, among countries with this success seems to aggravate our voting system, Duverger’s Law holds only in the United internal conflicts. States. Third parties win a significant number of elections in other countries with such an electoral system (United Obviously, these are just quickly dashed off observations, and Page 2 Libertarian Party of Dallas County, Texas December 2018
I haven’t had time to develop them, but I think they are worth those standards, and they write them in a way that best looking into. benefits themselves. The politicians simply rubber stamp the results. LPDC Membership Program!
Want to help out the LPDC and at the same time get some Book Break: Your Libertarian Opinionizer’s Pick cool libertarian swag? Check out our contributor membership program! Bottleneckers: Gaming the Government for Power and Private Profit
Written by the legal minds at the Why Libertarians Reject Government libertarian Institute for Justice (IJ) Building Codes and Licensing this book documents the many cases in which entrenched interest groups by Garry Reed manipulate the monopoly powers of government to block small companies and entrepreneurial Commentary From Your newcomers from competing with Libertarian Opinionizer them.
“Licensing: when the “Bottleneckers” are the politically government takes away connected professionals and industry leaders who collude your right to do something with politicians to create the occupational licensing and sells it back to you.” — specifically designed to destroy jobs and business Internet meme opportunities in the name of “protecting” consumers.
They make earning an honest living nearly illegal. IJ was created to fight them. Since 1998 the country of Haiti has been hit by ten hurricanes and other tropical storms and in 2010 it was devastated by a Buy Now massive 7.0 earthquake, followed by some 52 aftershocks. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest in the world. Since most of its homes are ramshackle dwellings and its infrastructure is inadequately built the result has been widespread destruction and thousands Get Government Monopoly out of Licensing of lives lost. Yet most people are apparently convinced that if government doesn’t license everything everyone does buildings will fall These natural disasters have prompted some observers to down, restaurants will poison people, doctors will kill people, wonder how a libertarian society would handle building codes lawyers will lose all their cases, haircutters will scalp us and and whether individual builders would be free to use the same everyone will drive drunk, drugged and distracted on the materials and foundational designs as buildings in Haiti, with wrong side of the roads. the same results. “Matt and Eric canvased neighborhoods To begin with, no piece of paper such as a building code can stop earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanoes, and shoveled snow for money, until they widespread forest fires or other natural disasters that destroy were stopped by police” because they buildings and infrastructure and kill people. All licensing does didn’t have a license. — Bottleneckers in these cases is limit the legal liability of the owners and investors of the construction companies. There are three kinds of people who have a deeply vested interest in preventing these things from happening to the All that government does is to enforce the standards that the fullest extent possible: Customers and consumers of products providers and their insurers have already come up with. While and services, people who create and sell products and deliver government agencies may demand certain standards it’s still services, and the insurance companies who insure the always the professions and the industries who ultimately write providers of those products and services.
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What government licensing actually does is to socialize financial efficiency, accountability, governance, and enforcement so providers can privatize their profits. Without fundraising to ensure that they keep their promises and taxpayers covering the costs of enforcement insurance reputations clean or lose donations, contributions, offerings, companies would have to do their own inspecting and gifts, bequests and sponsorships. enforcing, meaning that providers would have to pay higher premiums to cover the extra expense and consumers would Eleven-year-old Madison Root “sought to have to pick up the extra expense passed down to them. sell Christmas mistletoe in a local park to pay for her braces. She was told that while The offsetting reality here is that in a free society consumers she could not sell her wares without a would be paying for the extra expenses instead of taxes. license, she was free to beg for money.— Bottleneckers The premise here, as ever, is that if government doesn't control everything there will be chaos. The alternative, of course, is If professional business people in all areas of the private sector neither government nor chaos but freedom. fail to develop a positive reputation, or worse, gain a negative status in the eyes of their customers, employees and suppliers Freedom Protects You Best they will rightfully lose those relationships to competing businesses that deserve to be recognized and patronized.
If private vetting organizations screw up they quickly lose their credibility and their funding and get replaced by more trustworthy sources. If government agencies fail in their mission to protect the public, congress passes even more meddlesome controls, their administrators get promotions and praise ("Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job."—Bush to FEMA director Michael Brown following the government Katrina debacle) and their budgets get doubled.
Self-Interest Protects Everyone
In a libertarian society contractors will create standardized construction codes just as Underwriter's Laboratories standardized electrical codes and the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) established digital protocols and the Society of Automotive Engineers codified oil viscosity (those SAE numbers on oil cans). But the real question isn't about standards; it's about Just as in the commercial sector today the Good Housekeeping enforcement. Seal of Approval vets household products and the American Automobile Association inspects and recommends hotels and In a libertarian society everyone connected with construction, motels and Consumer Reports and Edmunds Used Car Pricing including people who buy, sell and live in buildings, will guide and many others have developed many standards in enforce the standards in their own self-interests. many different fields. Contractors who knowingly build shoddy structures that fall Just as in the voluntary sector groups today like Charity down and kill people will be sued into bankruptcy and, since Navigator, CharityWatch and GuideStar review and rate non- there will be no shield law treating a corporation as a government organizations and charities and religious societies "fictional person" for contractors to hide behind they'll face and nonprofit providers concerning their openness, honesty, the prospect of personal bankruptcy and prison time.
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Self-interest. Remember that career politicians care about votes and campaign donations. Career bureaucrats care about their Mortgage, homeowner, commercial, life, accidental death and power, incomes, benefits, privileges and guaranteed dismemberment insurance companies will suffer losses from retirements. They will forever claim to “care” about you only payouts and lawsuits over personal and property damages, so to the point that it benefits them to do so. If their jobs and they will have a powerful incentive to enforce meaningful positions are protected by laws or unions they won’t “care” so standards. much about you even while they’re saying they care about you. Self-interest. Yes you can find individuals who care. You can walk into a Structural and electrical and plumbing and every other kind of post office and encounter a cheerful, friendly, helpful inspector will be held accountable since they will be required employee behind the counter. You can always find caring by the building and insurance and lending industries to certify individuals who work within an uncaring bureaucracy. that standards have been met. But you can never find a “caring” bureaucracy. “Caring,” after Self-interest. all, is a human quality while “bureaucracy” is a conceptual entity, not an individual person. A bureaucrat can care, a Even real estate agents will face lawsuits if they misrepresent bureaucracy cannot. the safety of the homes and businesses they're selling. This holds true in all other forms of government licensing Self-interest. from manicurists to brain surgeons.
Freedom and responsibility are inseparable concepts. Why would you trust career politicians and bureaucrats in Everyone, having a vested interest in one's own success your state or federal capitals who may be hundreds or becomes, ipso facto, responsible for everyone else. thousands of miles away instead of trusting the people you know and deal with on a regular basis? Will there still be quick-buck fly-by-night builders? Inspectors looking for bribes? Insurance agents indemnifying bad Do you really think your favorite restaurant wants to drive you buildings just to make a monthly bonus? away by serving you food that might make you sick? Don’t trust big corporate nationwide chains? Remember that nearly all are owned and managed by small local business people Sure. But that already happens today under our government- who will lose their franchises if they can’t please their enforced licensing, inspecting and enforcement system. customers. Still don’t trust them? Then support your local mom-and-pop stores and family-owned restaurants. So you can either be protected by professionals with everything to lose or by career government bureaucrats Ultimately, you, the customer are the licensor. You decide who protected by their politically connected public employee union you trust and who you don’t and then act accordingly. bosses.
Government Doesn’t Care About You Government Licensing Protects Cronies
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Building codes are just a form of occupational licensing. competitive licensing, certifying, verifying, guaranteeing, What’s true for building codes is also true for all other forms warranting, accrediting, endorsing of all goods and services of occupational licensing. under the spirit of the libertarian non-aggression principle will reveal that it’s all gain and no loss for free individuals The real reason for licensing is to control entry into a everywhere. profession or industry. The stiffer the licensing requirements, typically controlled by high fees, training and testing, the References and Links fewer people there will be who can get into an occupation, which restricts competition, which keeps profits high for the Last Home Standing That Mexico Beach house in Florida people already in those occupations. withstood Category 4 Hurricane Michael because it was built to personal standards that went beyond government codes that the owner said “weren't very expensive” and "totally worth it." “In 1776, the economist Adam Smith observed that trades conspire to reduce the How Good are Government Building Codes? This recent availability of skilled craftspeople in order article that cites a University of Georgia study found that to raise wages.”—Bottleneckers houses built prior to the federally mandated codes were more resilient in hurricanes than houses built under the codes. Licensing is also a way of hiding corporate wrongdoing. Ouch! When something goes seriously wrong, people are grievously injured or killed, how many times have we heard company Government Occupational Licensing Kills jobs, destroys mouthpieces whine “We have met and exceeded all minimum competition, keeps wages artificially high, raises prices and government requirements.” It’s always assumed, in people’s hurts poor and low-skilled workers the most because they are minds and in courts of law, that complying with a government the least able to pay the high costs of licensing, testing and license, rule, regulation or policy, lets the wrongdoer off the training. hook. Libertarian Licensing Voluntary associations, ratings and If a company gets sued in today’s government-corporate world review services, noncompulsory, competing accreditors are it’s the company, not the owners or investors that gets sued. more than capable of furnishing the information that They’re protected by law. consumers want and need to make safe, smart decisions, especially in the Information Age. In a free society there is no “corporate person,” no “limited liability,” no government-created "Corporate Shield" law. The Video Break: Your Libertarian Opinionizer’s Pick: actual human owners are subject to lawsuits for their actual actions and it’s up to them to carry their own lawsuit insurance instead of being protected by a taxpayer-paid piece of political paper.
And remember most of all: In a free society whatever extra expenses for all of this gets passed down to consumers in the form of increased prices comes to everyone instead of taxes. Everyone pays for what they actually use, not for what everyone else uses.
Remember too that government licensing can only punish wrongdoers with fines and threats of jail terms while a voluntary libertarian post-statist society can both punish and reward providers by raising or lowering insurance premiums, by granting or taking away approvals and recommendations, by always spontaneously generating emerging and motivating Editor's note: Re-published from the Libertarian Opinionizer existing competitors to move in and offer better alternatives to with permission from the author. Editor's comment: This failing providers. article was among the half-dozen very good choices from Garry's regular assortment of blog submissions. Check out his blog; you'll become a fan! A little serious thinking about the true differences between politically-driven governmental licensing schemes and fully privatized, transparent, free market private sector driven
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◦ Free Talk Live Want to write about libertarianism, but aren't ready for ◦ The Cato Institute major publications? Want to test your articles first among ◦ Molinari Institute friends? Submit your articles bimonthly to the LPDC newsletter! It's painless, I promise! ◦ Objectivism In-Brief
Upcoming Events LPDC Officer List Chair – Curry B. Taylor Vice-Chair – Eddie Allen • LPDC Quarterly Executive Committee Meeting Secretary – Eugene J. Flynn ◦ December 9th, 4:00 PM – 6:00 PM Treasurer – Elle Rosen ◦ California Pizza Kitchen LPDC At-Large Directors ◦ 8411 Preston Rd, Dallas, TX Marshall Beerwinkle Tatiana Farrow • Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Trivia Kevin Frederickson th Kevin Hale ◦ January 6 , 7:30 PM Michele Imburgia ◦ Trinity Hall Irish Pub & Restaurant Mohammad-Reza Khosh-Sirat 5321 E Mockingbird Ln, Dallas, TX Michael Lee Barry Smith • General Meeting ◦ January 8th, 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM Working Committee Leaders Marketing – Kevin Hale ◦ California Pizza Kitchen Outreach – Elle Rosen 8411 Preston Rd, Dallas, TX Fundraising –
Up-to-date meeting announcements and details can always be Other Volunteers found on meetup.com or Facebook. Webmaster – Curry B. Taylor Newsletter Editor – Curry B. Taylor Libertarian References
• Books The LPDC is a local branch of the Libertarian Party based in Dallas ◦ Good to be King, Michael Badnarik County, Texas. Find out more about the LPDC at http://lpdallas.org. The Libertarian Party is the third largest political party in the United ◦ Why Government Doesn't Work, Harry Browne States, and was established in 1971 to promote more freedom and ◦ Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand less intrusive government in all aspects of life. Find out more about ◦ The Libertarian Mind, David Boaz the LP at http://www.lp.org. ◦ Economics in One Lesson, Henry Hazlitt ◦ The Law, Claude-Frédéric Bastiat ◦ Healing Our World, Dr. Mary Ruwart
• Videos ◦ Neitzsche and the Nazis, Stephen Hicks ◦ Bullsh*t!, Penn & Teller ◦ Free to Choose, Milton Friedman ◦ America: Freedom to Fascism, Aaron Russo
• Websites ◦ The Libertarian Party of Dallas County ◦ The Libertarian Party of Texas ◦ The National Libertarian Party ◦ Students for Liberty
Page 7 Libertarian Party of Dallas County, Texas December 2018
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