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No one may threaten or commit violence ('aggress') against another man's person or property. Violence may be employed only against the man who commits such violence; that is, only defensively against the aggressive violence of another. In short, no violence may be employed against a non-aggressor. Here is the fundamental rule from which can be deduced the entire corpus of libertarian theory.
Murray Rothbard
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Interpretation

What this quote means

Violence is only justifiable in self-defense against aggression, not against non-aggressors.

The quote emphasizes the core libertarian principle that violence should only be used defensively against those who commit aggression. It asserts that initiating violence against someone who has not engaged in any aggressive act is fundamentally wrong, thereby establishing a foundational rule for liberty and justice. This idea advocates for respect of individual rights and property, and defines the moral limits of permissible actions within a society.

Themes

ViolenceSelf-DefenseAggressionLibertarianismIndividual Rights

In practice

Example use cases

In a debate about personal freedoms, this quote could frame the discussion around the limits of acceptable force.

More from Murray Rothbard

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If government manages to establish paper tickets or bank credit as money, as equivalent to gold grams or ounces, then the government, as dominant money-supplier, becomes free to create money costlessly and at will. As a result, this 'inflation' of the money supply destroys the value of the dollar or pound, drives up prices, cripples economic calculation, and hobbles and seriously damages the workings of the market economy.
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Once one concedes that a single world government is not necessary, then where does one logically stop at the permissibility of separate states? If Canada and the United States can be separate nations without being denounced as in a state of impermissible ‘anarchy’, why may not the South secede from the United States? New York State from the Union? New York City from the state? Why may not Manhattan secede? Each neighbourhood? Each block? Each house? Each person?
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