ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, IL

By A.B. Dada
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While I found anarcho-capitalism mostly through self-inquiry (and a lot of reading of every political and apolitical), I also see a significant case for anarcho-capitalism within the Bible (notably the New Testament). I’ve always reminded myself of the verse for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. (Matthew 26:52) It has kept me clean of the desire to harm others — with the help of others on this site and in “real life” I have also forsaken the right to self defense within my own home.

I think about this verse when it boils down to the millions of voters who support the idea of war — both offensive war and defensive war. I think about where the penalty is for supporting war, and how that penalty surfaces. I see families torn apart when a family member dies in combat; I see families burdened when differing views of battle occupy the dinner table.

But now it seems there are other unintended consequences of war: sickness. In this case, terrible sickness. According to The Independent, there’s a Superbug brought back by Iraq war casualties¹ This superbug is called A. baumannii or T strain. A. buamannii’s genus is Acinetobacter, and it is known to be a multi-resistant strain that isn’t affected by penicillin, chloramphenicol, and now it is finding resistant to even the drugs of last resort. It can survives on dry surfaces for up to 20 days. Since the start of the Iraq conflict, 300 troops have been diagnosed with A. baumannii, and at least 5 have died from the superbug.

From an anarcho-capitalist perspective, there are few unintended consequences of open and honest trade — both parties meet, they barter and negotiate for one another’s service or goods, and they swap. When they leave the transaction, they either both feel they profited from the transaction, or the transaction doesn’t occur. While there are definitely unintended consequences of free trade (notably that products can fail, or just fail to meet expectations), there are numerous ways to protect ourselves from those problems (insurance, refund policies, etc). When it comes to war, the unintended consequences can fall farther away from the area of conflict than those who support the battling may want or even realize.

Just as we’ve had illnesses in other wars and conflicts harming those within our borders for decades, this war is no different. Thinking that a superbug might really exist AND be finding its way to my area in a conflict that I don’t support (nor can) is frightening to say the least.

If incidences of the superbug grow, I guess many will just not deal with troops, families of troops and friends of troops. And that could be the worst unintended consequence of the conflict.

Discuss this article at the anarcho-capitalism forum.

So yesterday came and went with a lot of media attention, but it wasn’t until today that I really spent a few minutes figuring out what all the hoopla really is about. The vote is over, millions wasted a few hours getting to the polling booth and back, and the end result doesn’t matter no matter which side won a specific seat: my wallet will be thinner.

I didn’t see anyone running on a “downsize government” platform. There were no promises to significantly reduce taxes and the size of government, both which are necessary to truly make my wallet a little fatter. Everyone was running on campaign promises that would require money to come from somewhere in order to add more employees to the government dole, or to transfer more wealth from those who seem to have it to those who seem to not have it.

Most of my friends and family voted and felt like they voted their conscience. I’ll picture those I love snagging a few bucks out of my wallet without my permission, as I usually do. I’ll work hard, but those with the power of the majority behind them will work less to gain more. I won’t have a choice — I have to pay for the results of the vote.

I’m not sure exactly what people hoped the outcome was.

The Democrats were hoping for more laws providing for equality across the board (forced equality but really no standard for what level is really equal). They were hoping for less war, even though more Democrats support war in order to get Republicans to support welfare.

The Republicans want more war, or at least more support for the legal killers in other regions. They will happily give in to the welfare State in order to get more war support.

They aren’t different parties, they aren’t even battling each other. In order to get what they want, they give in to what they don’t want. Your wallet gets thinner. Your freedom to work, to worship, to entertain and to be left alone is diminished. Some will say that they had to steal from you because you weren’t giving enough to the poor. Others will say they had to steal from you because you weren’t giving enough to defend your land. They won’t ask if the reason you weren’t giving enough is because so much is stolen from you already — they think the problem is that not enough is stolen from you, not that you aren’t giving enough.

More will be stolen from all of us now, and that means that more will have to be stolen since we will have even less to work with. The slippery slope is long behind us, we’ve been sliding into the abyss for almost a century. But people will wear their “I robbed you” stickers this week, more people will be self-congratulary that they will be able to steal more than is stolen from them. More people will have more reason to be irresponsible with their actions and charity since they’ll have someone else to push that responsibility onto.

It is unfortunate that that is how it is, and that is how it will be. I have no choice since it isn’t the majority that has decided — it is almost everyone that chose forced responsibility rather than true responsibility. Freedom doesn’t come from government, from troops, from wars, from laws, from equality or from the vote. Freedom comes from making the decision to take care of yourself today so you can take care of yourself tomorrow. From the vote totals, I can see that most Americans would rather not be responsible — they’d rather rely on forcing others to take care of them.

Discuss this article at the anarcho-capitalism forum.