…to argue that a tax-collecting government can legitimately protect its citizens against aggression is to contradict oneself, since such an entity starts off the entire process by doing the very opposite of protecting those under its control. —Walter Block
We defer to authority figures because they are supposed to know more than we do. If a mistake is made, it’s easy to lay the blame at their feet. Ultimately, however, we are responsible for choosing the authority figure we defer to. Choosing to defer to one who urges aggression against others still puts the responsibility on us. —Dr. Mary J. Ruwart, Healing Our World
The libertarian approach is a very symmetrical one. The non-aggression principle does not rule out force, but only the initiation of force. In other words, you are permitted to use force only in response to some else’s use of force. If they do not use force you may not use force yourself. There is a symmetry here. — Stephan Kinsella, Lawyer, Author, Anarcho-Capitalist
To be an anarchist only means that you believe that aggression is not justified, and that states necessarily employ aggression. And, therefore, the aggression they necessarily employ, are unjustified. It’s quite simple, really. It’s an ethical view. —Stephan Kinsella, Lawyer, Author, Anarcho-Capitalist
The practical problem is we have, historically, been so beaten down by the state, from kings and emperors, presidents and bureaucrats, that we now accept the lash of compulsion, so long as we can preserve the illusion that the whip was constructed with our consultation. Our debate is cordoned off into a small rhetorical space, where we discuss who is allowed to wield the whip this year or next year. We line up to vote for someone who will whip us less, and our adversaries more, but we never question the whip itself. —Robert Weir (WhyNotLibertarianism.com)
The practical problem is we have, historically, been so beaten down by the state, from kings and emperors, presidents and bureaucrats, that we now accept the lash of compulsion, so long as we can preserve the illusion that the whip was constructed with our consultation. Our debate is cordoned off into a small rhetorical space, where we discuss who is allowed to wield the whip this year or next year. We line up to vote for someone who will whip us less, and our adversaries more, but we never question the whip itself. —Robert Weir (WhyNotLibertarianism.com)
Government interference always means either violent action or the threat of such action. […] In face of the modern tendencies toward a deification of government and state, it is good to remind ourselves that the old Romans were more realistic in symbolizing the state by a bundle of rods with an ax in the middle than are our contemporaries in ascribing to the state all the attributes of God. —Ludwig von Mises
Because the state necessarily commits aggression, the consistent libertarian, in opposing aggression, is also an anarchist. —Stephan Kinsella
![Government interference always means either violent action or the threat of such action. […] In face of the modern tendencies toward a deification of government and state, it is good to remind ourselves that the old Romans were more realistic in symbolizing the state by a bundle of rods with an ax in the middle than are our contemporaries in ascribing to the state all the attributes of God. —Ludwig von Mises](https://misesmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/f1289-ludwig-von-mises-deification-of-government.jpg)
![Government interference always means either violent action or the threat of such action. […] In face of the modern tendencies toward a deification of government and state, it is good to remind ourselves that the old Romans were more realistic in symbolizing the state by a bundle of rods with an ax in the middle than are our contemporaries in ascribing to the state all the attributes of God. —Ludwig von Mises](https://misesmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/lw1289-ludwig-von-mises-deification-of-government.jpg)
![Government interference always means either violent action or the threat of such action. […] In face of the modern tendencies toward a deification of government and state, it is good to remind ourselves that the old Romans were more realistic in symbolizing the state by a bundle of rods with an ax in the middle than are our contemporaries in ascribing to the state all the attributes of God. —Ludwig von Mises](https://misesmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/lf1289-ludwig-von-mises-deification-of-government.jpg)
