We must figure out to end rule by force

The initiation of force is wrong. Everything we're taught about proper behavior as 6-year-olds goes out the window when we become adults. Don't steal, don't hit, don't harm others. The Golden Rule - dozens of religions espouse it in some form.

Yet, we live in a world that allows and even calls for initiating force on others every day. The biggest culprit? The government.

Everything the government does is at gunpoint. Don't believe me? Don't pay taxes next year. You'll get a letter. Ignore it. Another letter. Ignore it. Phone calls. Ignore them.

A knock at the door. Ignore it. A battering ram through the door and cops attempting to kidnap you. Resist their kidnapping, and you'll be staring down the barrels of several guns faster than you can say "Miranda."

Initiating force on peaceful people is at the heart of everything the government does - labor laws, liquor licensing, even permitting driving.

So what then? Abolish the government? But how will society function? Many libertarians have indeed answered that question. But they don't have to. Because initiating force on others is wrong.

Nineteenth century abolitionists didn't have to explain to plantation owners how society would function without slavery (institutionalized by the government in fact!). Slavery is wrong. Period. Because initiating force is wrong.

If we're to achieve peace this century, we must understand why it has eluded us in the past. We need to understand that government isn't the solution but the problem because it is rooted in the initiation of force.

Republicans and Democrats clamor for the government to heal every social ill, but you can't cure a sickness by injecting more of the disease. We the people can solve problems peacefully. Because tasking a bully on the playground with keeping the peace can never work. Just ask your 6-year-old.

Darren McBride

Arlington Heights