View source for Initiation of Force

[[Category:Libertarian Propaganda Terms]]
[[Category:Property Is Coercive|200]]
[[Category:Non-Aggression|200]]
[[Category:Coercion|200]]
{{DES | des = Another deceptive libertarian [[shibboleth]].  All [[property]] and indeed all real [[rights]] are based on violence, [[coercion]], initiation of force.  Libertarians claim there is an invisible right to property which magically exempts property from being intrinsically violent.  In other words, they deceptively hide the violence they like as a mystical, made-up "right".  | show= }}

The problem with the “initiation of force” arguments of libertarians is that they boil down to “Uses of force that we like are retaliation; anything we don’t like is initiation of force.” Humpty Dumpty couldn’t have said it better himself when he pays words extra to mean what he wants.

For example, libertarians also consider fraud to be initiation of force.  How is fraud force?  And there is no individual right to be free of fraud: remember "let the buyer beware"?  Or should we make up that right too?

Libertarianism does not shun initiation of force at all: it just calls it retaliation. If a starving man starts to peacefully eat fruit from a libertarian's tree, a libertarian can violently attack him, initiating force, while screaming “My property! Mine!”

Real rights, such as legal property rights, do not attempt to conceal the violence: they have obvious means of enforcement.  Philosophical twaddle from Ayn Rand can't hide this simple fact about real life.  Which is why "initiation of force" (her term) is deceptive.

Libertarians may claim the idea of initiation of force is widespread in laws in many cultures, but that overlooks the fact that (a) no laws use the libertarian meaning, (b) other cultures' laws conflict wildly and (c) the libertarian meaning is so vague that it can be used to support [[slavery]] (as [[Walter Block]] and some other libertarians do.)
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