Healing Our World: The Other Piece of the Puzzle
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WHAT THIS BOOK IS ABOUT
"Mary Ruwart has written what may be the most important book of this decade... It will challenge everything you think you know about how we can accomplish our goals of growth and prosperity as a nation of individuals." (Joseph Terrano, Visions Magazine)
We've seen the power of win-win strategies in our personal lives. As a result, enlightened self interest includes loving our neighbor and taking responsibility for our thoughts, words, and deeds.
When we deal with groups of individuals through social actions, however, we inadvertently ignore these time-honored principles. Instead of seeking solutions where everybody benefits, we erroneously assume that poverty can only be alleviated by taking from the rich, that a compromised environment is the inevitable result of material progress, and that societal well-being is inconsistent with the selfish nature of humankind. We set the poor against the rich, the industrialist against the environmentalists, the special interests against the common good. We create enemies where friends should be, Like a house divided against itself, we inevitably fall into a state of poverty and strife.
Dr. Ruwart shows us how to transcend these win-lose scenarios by systematically applying the win-win tactics to our social interaction that have proves so successful in our personal lives. HEALING OUR WORLD is the first book to integrate the common elements of our Judeo-Christian heritage, the personal self-responsibility of the Aquarian Age, and the political self-responsibility of the worldwide libertarian movement. "The Easy Way Out" os the realization that others do not create our global harmony and abundance any more than they create our inner peace and enrichment; our reactions to others determine our fate.
By basing our social action on the same principles that govern our individual relationships, we can create a win-win world of peace and plenty, where everyone comes out ahead, With historical examples, Dr. Ruwart meticulously documents the effectiveness of this approach in the mist stringent testing ground of all- the real world. Startling in its simplicity, powerful on its application, HEALING OUR WORLD provides 'the ammunition that a thinking and acting (activist) person needs to make a difference on all fronts of the social struggle occurring in America today." (Joseph Terrano, Visions Magazine)
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The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom. -George Hegel, 1821
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FOREWORD
Healing Our World is a rare book that challenges numerous aspects of conventional wisdom that we accept as axiomatically true. For example, a major dimension of this book is its linkage between out spiritual perspective and our economic well-being. At first, these two might seem like strange bedfellows, but Dr. Ruwart leads readers with her gentle touch to a world in which the interdependence of the hard sciences, social sciences. and spirituality become clear. Hard facts presented in a sensitive, readable style focus attention on the urgent need for our policy makers to be more careful about the 'evidence' upon which many of their policies are based. Healing Our World gently and provocatively challenges its readers to recognize the coercive nature of the government intervention we often consider as inevitable of government-initiated aggression in prescribing day-to-day regulations and taxes. Dr. Ruwart's book is a refreshing and unusual approach that refocuses public attention on the danger of sanctioning collective action that would be repugnant to us if practiced individually. Herein, Dr. Ruwart claims, is the key to the 'easy way out' to a win-win world of abundance and harmony. Healing Our World paints a clear and compelling picture of a vision within our grasp, thereby empowering and inspiring every person working for a better world.
-Frances Kendall and Leon Louw Nobel Peace Prize nominees, 1989, 1991, 1992
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
A book such as this one takes only years to write, but its preparation takes decades. Along the way, some very special people mark the milestones in that journey. This book would not be complete without acknowledging their contributions.
My first introduction to political awareness came from Walt Disney's programs on our nation's founding. My parents, who brought me up in loving, in learning, and in awareness, nurtured my early research into the full meaning of the American Revolution. In college, Gary Fairfax introduced me to the enlightening writings of Ayn Rand. Years later, Sheryl Loux expanded my political consciousness further by exposing me, in great detail, to the application of libertarian principles and by encouraging me to run for local office.
When Roger Gary suggested that I run for the 1984 Presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party, I discovered yet another dimension of political life: the common perception that principles and practicality, ends and means, are disassociated. All of these pieces of the puzzle fell into place through interactions with R. Francis White who unwittingly inspired me to put pen to paper. Without the experiences that these people brought into my life, this book might never have been written.
Throughout the years of writing, my sister, Martie Ruwart, shared the vision from which this book was created. She encouraged me, inspired me, and expertly critiqued my drafts. Without her in my life, I'm not sure I would have persevered. My father shouldered more than his share of our rehabilitation business, giving me time to work on the manuscript. In addition to my sister and father, Sheryl, Roger, and Gary read over my drafts, giving me helpful suggestions. Other valuable comments came from Julie Bortnik, Dick Brown, Mac Calhoun, Lynette Dumble, Carol Hoeve, Janet Howard, Andre Marrou, Pat Peterson, Bob Rush, Clark Smith, Michael Smith, Karen Ruwart Swindell, Jerry van Natta, Connie Vinci, Luanne Willbanks, and Jarret Wollstein. Their input helped me to address each issue thoroughly.
I am also grateful for the excellent assistance of my editor, Barbara Hart and her staff at Publications Professionals; Brian Betzold, my cartoonist; David Howard, who designed the cover; and Ed and Judy Petzold of PCCResources for preparing the computer-drawn figures and the text formatting. They all provided me with talent beyond my own.
Many other people gave me support, encouragement, and suggestions when they learned about this book. To them, I also extend my heartfelt thanks. Let me remind everyone who participated in this undertaking, in however small a way, of the importance of each contribution. No one writes a book like this one alone!
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To my mother,
Jean Mary Choiniere Ruwart,
who in living taught me how to love others
and in dying taught me the importance of loving myself.
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Copyright © 1992, 1993 by Mary J. Ruwart
All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form
Published by SunStar Press P.O. Box 342 Kalamazoo, Michigan 49005-0342
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Pubication Data
Ruwart, Mary J.
Healing our world: the other piece of the puzzle / Mary J. Ruwart. --Rev. ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographic references and index.
ISBN 0-9632336-2-9 :
$14.95
1. United States--Politics and government--1989- 2. United States--Economic policy--1981- 3. United States--Social policy--1980- 4. United States--Moral conditions. I. Title.
E881.R88 1993
300.973--dc20
92-35338
CIP
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In the following pages, I offer nothing more than simple facts, plain arguments and common sense; and have no other preliminaries to settle with the reader, other than that he will divest himself of prejudice and prepossession, and suffer his reason and his feelings to determine for themselves; that he will put on, or rather that he will not put off, the true character of a man, and generously enlarge his views beyond the present day.
-Thomas Paine
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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INTRODUCTION. THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM?
War and poverty are caused, not by "selfish others," but by our own reactions to them. If we wish to change the world, we must first change ourselves.
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PART I
GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD:
BACK TO BASICS
Chapter 1. The Golden Rule
We are well aware that if we commit certain actions against our neighbors, fighting and impoverishment will result. Somehow we think these same actions create peace and plenty if applied to our community, state, nation, and world.
Chapter 2. Wealth Is Unlimited!
Wealth is created when we use existing resources in new ways. Since creativity is virtually limitless, wealth is too.
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PART II
FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES:
HOW WE CREATE POVERTY
IN A WORLD OF PLENTY!
Chapter 3. Destroying Jobs
When we use aggression to increase the wealth of disadvantaged workers, we succeed only in making them poorer.
Chapter 4. Eliminating Small Businesses
"Only in America" could penniless immigrants become affluent by starting their own businesses. Today, our aggression keeps the disadvantaged from following in their footsteps.
Chapter 5. Harming Our Health
Licensing of health care services gives us the illusion that we are protected against selfish others who would defraud us. Instead, our aggression boomerangs back to us, costing us our wealth, our health, and our very lives.
Chapter 6. Protecting Ourselves to Death
By using aggression to avoid medications that might harm us, we lose access to life saving drugs.
Chapter 7. Creating Monopolies that Control Us
Most monopolies are not created by selfish others, but by our own aggression.
Chapter 8. Destroying the Environment
We are more likely to protect the environment when we own a piece of it and profit by nurturing it.
Chapter 9. Banking on Aggression
We established the "money monopoly" in the hopes of creating economic stability. By using aggression as our means, we created boom-and-bust cycles instead.
Chapter 10. Learning Lessons Our Schools Can't Teach
How can our children learn to abhor aggression when we teach them in a system built on it?
Chapter 11. Springing the Poverty Trap
When we use aggression to alleviate the poverty caused by aggresssion, we only make matters worse.
Chapter 12. By Their Fruits You Shall Know Them
It's just as well that our aggression creates poverty instead of wealth. Otherwise, we'd be eternally at war with each other!
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PART III
AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US: HOW WE CREATE STRIFE IN A WORLD OF HARMONY!
Chapter 13. The Other Piece of the Puzzle
Justice does not consist of punishing the aggressor, but of making the victim whole.
Chapter 14. The Pollution Solution
Restoring what we have harmed is the best deterrent of all!
Chapter 15. Dealing in Death
Using aggression to stop drug abuse kills more people than the drugs themselves!
Chapter 16. Policing Aggression
We can protect ourselves from aggression only by refusing to be aggressors ourselves.
Chapter 17. Putting It All Together
The practice of non-aggression domestically creates a peaceful and prosperous nation.
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PART IV
LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION:
FOREIGN POLICY
Chapter 18. Beacon to the World
The most effective way to help poorer nations is to practice non-aggression.
Chapter 19. The Communist Threat Is All in Our Minds
Using aggression domestically creates a foreign enemy here at home.
Chapter 20. National Defense
The best defense against foreign aggression is the practice of non-aggression domestically.
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PART V
BUT DELIVER US FROM EVIL:
OUR CHOICES MAKE OUR WORLD
Chapter 21. A New Age or a New World Order?
Once we understand 3how global peace and prosperity are created, we cannot be easily fooled.
Chapter 22. How to Get There From Here
If each of us works on the piece of the puzzle that appeals to us most, the final picture will reflect the composite of our dreams.
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INTRODUCTION
THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM?
War and poverty are caused, not by "selfish others,"
but by our own reactions to them.
If we wish to change the world, we must first change ourselves.
Humankind is poised on the brink of an evolutionary leap. In the last few decades, we have become increasingly aware of the source of our inner peace and enrichment. Depending on our personal background, we express this great discovery differently. The practical, down-to-earth individuals among us "take responsibility for our lives" as described in Wayne W. Dyer's Your Erroneous Zones. Those of us with a metaphysical outlook "create our own reality" as Shirley MacLaine did in Out on a Limb. The spiritual among us know that "the kingdom of God is within" and follow The Road Less Traveled (M. Scott Peck). Sometimes we simply "find ourselves" through the power of love as Richard Bach did in The Bridge Across Forever. Ultimately, our inner harmony and abundance depend on how we react to our outer world.
The creation of peace and plenty in our outer world, however, frequently seems hopelessly beyond our control. In the past century, we've supported widespread social reform. Nevertheless, people are still starving in a world capable of feeding all. In our own country, homelessness and poverty are on the rise. Violence is no longer limited to overseas wars: our streets, even our schools, are no longer safe. The environment that nurtures us is ravaged and raped.
When we acknowledge how our reactions contribute to our inner state, we gain control. Our helplessness dissolves when we stop blaming others for feelings we create. In our outer world, the same rules apply. Today, as a society, as a nation, as a collective consciousness, "we" once again feel helpless, blaming selfish others for the world's woes. Our nation's laws, reflecting a composite of our individual beliefs, attempt to control selfish others at gunpoint, if necessary. Striving for a better world by focusing on others instead of ourselves totally misses the mark. When others resist the choices we have made for them, conflicts escalate and voraciously consume resources. A warring world is a poor one.
Attempting to control others, even for their own good, has other undesirable effects. People who are able to create intimacy in their personal relationships know that you can't hurry love. Trying to control or manipulate those close to us creates resentment and anger. Attempting to control others in our city, state, nation, and world is just as destructive to the universal love we want the world to manifest. Forcing people to be more "unselfish" creates animosity instead of good will. Trying to control selfish others is a cure worse than the disease.
We reap as we sow. In trying to control others, we find ourselves controlled. We point fingers at the dictators, the Communists, the politicians, and the international cartels. We are blithely unaware that our desire to control selfish others creates and sustains them. Like a stone thrown in a quiet pond, our desire to control our neighbors ripples outward, affecting the political course of our community, state, nation, and world. Yet we know not what we do. We attempt to bend our neighbors to our will, sincere in our belief that we are benevolently protecting the world from their folly and short-sightedness. We seek control to create peace and prosperity, not realizing that this is the very means by which war and poverty are propagated. In fighting for our dream without awareness, we become the instruments of its destruction.
If we could only see the pattern! In seeking to control others, we behave as we once did as children, exchanging our dime for five pennies, all the while believing that we were enriching ourselves. When a concerned adult tried to enlighten us, we first refused to believe the truth. Once awareness dawned, we could no longer be fooled, nor was laborious deliberation necessary for every transaction. Once we understood how to count money, we automatically knew if we benefited from such a trade.
Similarly, when the fact and folly of controlling others first come to our attention, we're surprised and full of denial. I certainly was! When we care about the state of our world, however, we don't stop there. I trust you are concerned enough to persevere and to consider seriously the shift in consciousness this book proposes.
Once we have the courage to accept responsibility for our part of the problem, we automatically become part of the solution, independent of what others do. We honor their non-aggressive choices (even if they are self-ish) and stop trying to control them. In doing so, we dismantle their most effective means of controlling us.
Others only ignite the flames of war and poverty. We feed the flames or starve them. Not understanding their nature, we've fanned the sparks instead of smothering them. Not understanding our contribution to the raging inferno, we despair that a world full of selfish others could ever experience universal har-mony and abundance.
Nothing could be further from the truth! Widespread peace and plenty can be created within our lifetime. When we understand how to stop fueling the flames of war and poverty, we can manifest our dream.
The essential psychological requirement of a free society is the willingness on the part of the individual to accept responsibility for his life.
- Edith Packer, clinical psychologist
...collectively held unconscious beliefs shape the world's institutions, and are at the root of institutionalized oppression and inequity....By deliberately changing the internal image of reality, people can change the world.
- Willis Harman, PATHS TO PEACE
...whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
- THE HOLY BIBLE, Galatians 6:7
We are each one of us responsible for every war because of the aggressiveness of our own lives... And only when we realize... that you and I are responsible... for all the misery throughout the entire world, because we have contributed to it in our daily lives... only then will we act.
- J. Krishnamurti, FREEDOM FROM THE KNOWN
The truth will set you free-but first it will make you damn mad...
- M. Scott Peck, author of THE ROAD LESS TRAVELED
We are not liberated until we liberate others. So long as we need to control other people, however benign our motives, we are captive to that need. In giving them freedom, we free ourselves.
- Marilyn Ferguson, THE AQUARIAN CONSPIRACY
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PART I
GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD
Back to Basics
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CHAPTER 1
THE GOLDEN RULE
We are well aware that if we commit certain actions against our neighbors, fighting and impoverishment will result. Somehow we think these same actions create peace and plenty if applied to our community, state, nation, and world.
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The Principle of Non-Aggression
As children relating to others, we learned a great deal about creating peace and prosperity. Most of us can remember Mom or Dad prying us apart from a playmate after we came to blows. "Who started it?" often determined who received the most severe punishment. Even at a tender age, we could see that if no one hit first, no fight was possible. We contributed to keeping the peace by making sure we did not deliver that first blow. This approach frequently required controlling our reactions to others. No longer did we feed them knuckle sandwiches just because their clothes were "weird." We refrained from using our weaker playmates and siblings as personal punching bags. We became tolerant of the harmless actions and attributes of others. This tolerance extended to the property of our playmates as well. Taking or damaging their toys without their permission counted as "starting it." Lying to or about them also set the stage for mortal combat. Consequently, our commitment to keeping the peace required us not only to be tolerant, but also to be honest with others and to respect property that was legitimately theirs. We refrained from threatening "first strike" force, theft, and fraud. This was our first step in bringing peace to our own tiny corner of the galaxy.
The second step was just as important. If we struck others, took their toys, or lied about them, we tried to repair the damage we had done. We replaced the damaged toy out of our meager allowance, perhaps purchasing one just a little better to make up for the distress we had caused. We advised those who had heard our lies that we had misinformed them. We carried books for the playmate whose arm we had bruised. By restoring the balance that we had upset, we hoped to diffuse the tension our actions had generated. Our program for peace, therefore, had two parts: (1) honesty, tolerance, and respect toward others and their property (i.e., refraining from threatening first-strike force, theft, or fraud); and (2) repairing any damage we had caused. We will refer to this dual approach of honoring our neighbor's choice and righting our wrongs as the practice of "non-aggression."
As we became adults, our playmates became our neighbors. The degree of tranquillity in our community depended on how many of us practiced the principles of non-aggression learned in childhood. Property values tended to parallel the peace. Where theft and fighting were rampant, property values plummeted. We learned that prosperity is possible only when aggression is the exception, not the rule. Our immediate experience suggests that the way to a peaceful and prosperous world is to practice non-aggression and to encourage others to do the same.
On a one-to-one basis, we do exactly that. We would never steal from our next door neighbor, whom we'll generically refer to as "George." As adults, we feel no more entitled to his car and money than we did to his toys when we were kids. We practice non-aggression by respecting property that is legitimately his. Maybe George likes to wear things we wouldn't be caught dead in, but we wouldn't take a swing at him just because he doesn't conform to our standards. We practice non-aggression by being tolerant. If George doesn't contribute to our favorite charity, we wouldn't tell him his donation was going elsewhere just to get it. We practice non-aggression when we deal honestly. If we accidentally damaged George's property or person, we'd make it right again. We practice non-aggression by repairing any damage that we have caused.
We wouldn't join or hire a gang of our neighbors who wanted to steal from George, hurt him physically, or deceive him. If George had an encounter with such a gang, he would probably retaliate, perhaps with a gang of his own. The cycle could repeat itself indefinitely. Aggression begets aggression, and those in-volved alternate as victims and aggressors. "Starting it" is a prescription for neighborhood warfare, with a loss of both peace and prosperity. We practice non-aggression by saying "no" when others ask us to use aggression against another individual or group. Because we practice non-aggression naturally when dealing with our neighbors, it seems that selfish others must be responsible for aggression and the war and poverty it begets.
Knowing Ourselves
Before we absolve ourselves of responsibility for the world's woes, let us look more closely. In the 1960s, Stanley Milgram at Yale University conducted a series of studies to determine if gentle, considerate, everyday people could be persuaded not forced to hurt their fellow human beings. In one study, the scientist-experimenter strapped himself in a chair that was supposed to deliver electrical shocks of increasing severity to be administered to him by a naive volunteer. Whenever the scientist failed to learn a series of word pairs properly, the volunteer was supposed to shock him, using a higher voltage each time. A male experimenter went "undercover" and pretended to be a second volunteer.
The scientist did not actually receive any shocks; he was only pretending. The naive volunteers did not know this, because each of them had received a very real, low-voltage test shock as a demonstration. When the shocks reached a third of the maximum level, the scientist cried out that he could take no more and the experiment should end. The undercover volunteer tried to convince the real one that the experiment should continue. However, in every one of the 20 tests, the naive volunteers refused to keep shocking the experimenter. Apparently, the average person could not be convinced by a peer to force the scientist to continue against his will. (1)
In another study, however, the results were very different. The two experimenters switched places so that the scientist stood beside the naive volunteer and shocks were administered to the undercover one. When the "victim" cried out at one-third the maximum voltage, only 20% of the naive volunteers withdrew from the experiment. The others, at the insistence of the scientist, continued. At two-thirds maximum voltage, the victim cried out that he had a heart problem and feared for his life. Another 15% of the naive volunteers refused to continue, even though the scientist claimed that the shocks weren't severe enough to cause permanent damage. A full 65% of the volunteers continued to shock the victim even after he made no other sounds. Because the victim was hidden in a nearby room, some of the volunteers feared he might be unconscious and were extremely concerned for his safety. Yet, at the insistence of the scientist, they continued to shock him until they had administered the highest voltage three full times! (2)
The scientist didn't need to force the volunteers at gunpoint; only verbal commands were required. Even when the volunteers feared for the safety, even the life, of the victim, they were willing to proceed as long as an authority figure, but not a peer, urged them to.
When the naive volunteers were interviewed afterward, certain trends emerged. The 20% who refused to continue as soon as the victim wanted to quit felt that they were responsible for shocking him. Administering the shocks was acceptable only if the victim agreed to it. They obviously believed in honoring their neighbor's choice_regardless of what anyone else told them to do. Those who continued shocking the victim were more likely to place the responsibility for his pain on the shoulders of the scientist or the victim himself for being a slow learner. Yet they surrendered their responsibility only when an authority figure, the scientist (second study), not a peer (first study), urged them to. A typical comment made by the volunteers was "I was just doing what I was told." (3) Similar statements have been made by those who executed Jews in the Nazi concentration camps in World War II or massacred women and children at My Lai in Vietnam.
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.
Each of us would like to believe that we would be in the small group that refused to be persuaded by the authority figure to go on shocking the victim. When Milgram surveyed people who were unaware of the results to predict where they would stop, none believed they would go past two-thirds of maximum shock. (4) Clearly, what we believe we would do and what we actually would do are quite different.
We believe that we consistently practice non-aggression and that selfish others must be responsible for war and poverty. Milgram's studies teach us that our words and actions don't always match and that we can be unaware of this discrepancy. If we truly wish to help our world, we must first identify ways in which we may be causing the problem. Let us examine an instance of common, everyday aggression and see how we respond.
How We Violate the Principle of Non-Aggression Daily Without Even Realizing It!
If we decided we wanted a new neighborhood park, how would we go about getting one? We could call together other individuals who want the same thing and could raise enough money to own and operate the park through donations, by selling stock in a corporation set up for that purpose, or through other voluntary means. If those who did not participate in the fundraising effort decide later to use the park, we might require them to pay an entry fee. Obviously, we would be relating voluntarily and non-aggressively with our neighbors. If George didn't want to be involved as either a contributor or a park visitor, we would honor his choice.
Of course, another way we could proceed would be to vote for a tax to purchase and maintain the park. If a large enough gang of our neighbors voted for it, George's hard-earned dollars would be used for a park he didn't want and wouldn't use. If he refused to pay what our gang dictated, law enforcement agents, acting on behalf of the winning voters, would extract the tax, at gunpoint, if necessary. If he resisted too vehemently, George might even get killed in the scuffle.
Wouldn't we be using a gang called "government" to steal from George? Wouldn't we be the first ones to turn guns on a neighbor who hadn't defrauded or stolen from us? Wouldn't George eventually retaliate by getting government to turn its guns on us for projects that he prefers but we want nothing to do with? Wouldn't we alternate as victims and aggressors, as minorities and majorities? Wouldn't we just be taking turns directing the law enforcement agents toward each other?
Through taxation, pacifists are forced at gunpoint to pay for killing machines; vegetarians are forced at gunpoint to subsidize grazing land for cattle; nonsmokers are forced at gunpoint to support both the production of tobacco and the research to counter its impact on health. These minorities are the victims, not the initiators of aggression. Their only crime is not agreeing with the priorities of the majority. Taxation appears to be more than theft; it is intolerance for the preferences and even the moral viewpoints of our neighbors. Through taxation we forcibly impose our will on others in an attempt to control theirchoices.
As individuals, we may not support taxation and other forms of aggression-through-government. However, the composite of our separate views, as reflected in our laws, indicates that as a nation, as a society, as a collective consciousness, we believe that aggression serves us. As we'll see in the next few chapters, just the opposite is true. Aggression creates poverty and strife in our city, state, and nation just as surely as it does in our neighborhood.
How could it be otherwise? Aggression could hardly produce peace and plenty simply because we use it as a gang instead of as individuals. Using the same means brings us the same ends. It's as plain as the nose on our face and just as difficult to see! Only by looking at what is reflected back to us can we observe it.
Indeed, taxation and other forms of aggression-through-government are so taken for granted in our culture that one of our most popular sayings is that "nothing is certain except death and taxes." Yet slavery was once as universal. Taxation is thought to be indispensable to civilization today, just as slavery once was. Advocates of taxation claim that since most people pay assigned taxes before the guns show up, they have implicitly agreed to it as the price of living in "society." Most slaves obeyed their master before he got out the whip, yet we would hardly argue that this constituted agreement to their servitude. Today, we have an enlightened perspective on slavery, just as one day we will have an enlightened perspective on taxes and other forms of aggression we now think of as "the only way."
Just as our ancestors rationalized slavery, we've created the illusion that taxation is legitimate. Like the volunteers who continued to shock the victim at the insistence of the scientist, we feel our actions are justified, perhaps even noble. We believe that we can create a world of peace and plenty if we are given a free hand to force those selfish others to do things our way. We feel taxation is indispensable for certain necessities (e.g., defense, clean air and water, helping the poor, etc.). Instead, as the following chapters illustrate, aggression in any form only hurts others and ourselves. We reap as we have sown.
In Part II (Forgive Us Our Trespasses: How We Create Poverty in a World of Plenty), we'll see how our well-meaning aggression has created poverty, compromised our health, destroyed our environment, and fostered monopolies and cartels that manipulate us. Special interests chuckle at our naivete as they use our fears of selfish others to pit us against each other for their benefit. In trying to control others, we find ourselves controlled.
Having seen the folly of using aggression ourselves, Part III (As We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us: How We Create Strife in a World of Harmony) details a better way to deal with those who trespass against us. This "other piece of the puzzle" gives us power to create peace and plenty in our communities, our nation, and the world. First, however, we must take responsibility for the acts of aggression that we unwittingly commit. Like the volunteers who refused to shock the victim at the whim of the authority figure, we too must first honor our neighbor's choice. Only when we are innocent of aggression can we deal effectively with those who are guilty of it.
Aggression hides in our culture under many names. Taxation is only an example, but one of the most widespread and uneconomical. If this concept seems incredible to you, consider the shift in awareness that it implies. Are we like children, accepting five pennies for our dime?
Thou shalt not kill... Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not covet...anything that is thy neighbor's.
- THE HOLY BIBLE, Exodus 20:13-17
Men have the right to use physical force only in retaliation and only against those who initiate its use. The ethical problem is simple and clear-cut: it is the difference between murder and self-defense.
- Ayn Rand, author of ATLAS SHRUGGED
He must make full restitution for his wrong, add one-fifth to it and give it to the person that he has wronged.
- THE HOLY BIBLE, Numbers 5:7
...civilization means, above all, an unwillingness to inflict unnecessary pain... those of us who heedlessly accept the commands of authority cannot yet claim to be civilized men.
- Harold J. Laski, THE DANGERS OF OBEDIENCE
In growing up, the normal individual has learned to check the expression of aggressive impulses. But the culture has failed, almost entirely, in inculcating internal controls on actions that have their origin in authority. For this reason, the latter constitutes a far greater danger to human survival.
- Stanley Milgram, OBEDIENCE TO AUTHORITY
In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.
- Mahatma Gandhi, father of modern non-violent resistance.
How does something immoral, when done privately, become moral when it is done collectively? Furthermore, does legality establish morality? Slavery was legal; apartheid is legal; Stalinist, Nazi, and Maoist purges were legal. Clearly, the fact of legality does not justify these crimes. Legality, alone, cannot be the talisman of moral people.
- Walter Williams, ALL IT TAKES IS GUTS
A society that robs an individual of the product of his effort... is not strictly speaking a society, but a mob held together by institutionalized gang rule.
- Ayn Rand, THE VIRTUE OF SELFISHNESS
...while men usually recognize criminal acts when they are committed by an individual in the name of his own interest, they often fail to recognize the very same acts for what they are when they are committed by some large gang in the name of "social justice" or the "common good."
- Jarrett Wollstein, SOCIETY WITHOUT COERCION
...we are living in a sick Society filled with people who would not directly steal from their neighbor but who are willing to demand that the government do it for them.
- William L. Comer, AVOIDING THE HIGH COST OF DYING (AND MANY OTHER FINANCIAL DILEMMAS)
...the moral and the practical are not in conflict, provided one knows what is, in fact, moral.
- Nathaniel Branden, JUDGMENT DAY
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CHAPTER 2
WEALTH IS UNLIMITED!
Wealth is created when we use existing resources in new ways. Since such creativity is virtually limitless, wealth is too.
To determine whether we shortchange ourselves by choosing taxation and other forms of aggression as a means to our ends, we must understand what wealth is and where it comes from.
We usually equate money with wealth, but they are really very different things. Imagine a person stranded on a desert island without food, water, shelter, or medicine, but with a billion dollars in gold coin. Is this person wealthy?
Hardly! Food, water, shelter, and medicine prerequisites for physical survival are true wealth. Money is valuable only if it can be exchanged for something of value, such as goods or services. Money is only a measure of how much of the available wealth a person has access to. If no wealth is available, money is worthless.
Just how much wealth is available? Imagine the total wealth in the world 2000 years ago. Did even the richest of the ancients have access to antibiotics, anesthetics, or surgery when their children had appendicitis? Could their entertainers give them the same quality, selection, and special effects that are now available on television? Could they find out about events on the other side of the globe a few minutes after they occurred? Could they "reach out and touch" family members who had migrated to faraway lands? Could they visit their distant relatives after a few hours in the "friendly skies"?
Even the wealthiest of the ancients did not have many things we take for granted. A greater number of people than ever before now enjoy a
lifestyle that our ancestors could not even imagine. Our wealth has increased greatly.
Where did we get all this wealth? The earth certainly did not get an additional endowment of natural resources between ancient times and the present. Instead, we discovered new ways to use existing resources. Coal, oil, and natural gas give us an unprecedented amount of power. We transmit this power over electrical wires and send communications via satellite. The antibiotics produced by fungi have been harnessed to fight infectious bacteria that invade our bodies. We stimulate our immune system with vaccines so that the ancient plagues have all but vanished. Artificial wings fly us all over the globe. Mass production, assembly lines, and robotics help to replicate the wealth-creating ideas. The new wealth allows creation of still greater wealth. For example, the energy trapped in fossil fuels lets us create new metal alloys that require higher smelting temperatures than wood can provide. One idea leads to the next.
We see that specific ideas on better uses for existing resources and the replication of these ideas are the real source of wealth. Natural resources are like seeds that grow into wealth when they are nurtured and developed by individuals acting alone or in concert. For example, oil was once considered a nuisance that contaminated good farmland. Not until enterprising individuals discovered how to pump, refine, and use it did oil turn into "black gold." Even water must be "developed" (drawn from a stream, well, or reservoir) before it can quench our thirst.
The amount of wealth a country produces does not depend primarily on its endowment of natural resource "seeds." Japan has almost no mineral wealth, while Mexico is well endowed, yet the Japanese are certainly more affluent than the Mexicans.1 Similarly, North Korea is poorer than South Korea. (2) East Germany created much less wealth than West Germany before reunification in 1990.2,3 Obviously, resource endowment is not the primary factor that determines a country's wealth. Population density cannot be the dominating factor either: both Japan and West Germany have a greater population density than their poorer neighbors Mexico and East Germany. (3)
When we consider that resources will one day be mined from planets other than the earth, that matter and energy are totally interchangeable, and that basic chemical elements can be transmuted, we realize that resource seeds are so abundant that they do not impose practical limitations on the creation of wealth at all. Even if our fossil fuels should be foolishly exhausted, for example, energy is abundantly available in each and every atom if only we knew as we one day will how to tap it safely. Even if we foolishly devastated our home world by unsound environmental management, a universe of other planets are available to us when we learn as we one day will how to reach them. Human resources, our "how to" ideas, and the replication of these ideas, determine how much available wealth there is at any one time. Since human creativity appears unbounded, the amount of wealth possible is virtually infinite! Truly we live in a "no limit" world!
The realization that resources do not limit the creation of wealth is a liberating one. Our country's wealth does not depend on the happenstance of its geographical boundaries, but on the self-determined thoughts and creativity of its populace. We create our world.
What secrets do the countries that enjoy great wealth possess? How are their popula-tions different? As this book will demonstrate, cultures with a strong belief in the practice of non-aggression, individually and collectively, enjoy the highest level of peace and prosperity.
The United States has historically fostered a strong cultural belief in non-aggression in both collective and individual interactions. As we'll see in the next few chapters, this belief made the United States the wealthiest nation on earth. Unfortunately, while we continue to abhor aggression perpetrated by individuals, our belief that aggression is an effective way to deal with each other on a more collective (i.e., group-to-group) basis is growing. Most often, this aggression is sanctioned by the authority of the majority and implemented through government. Aggression-through-government is the primary reason our country is experiencing a decline in the rate of wealth creation.
We've seen how wealth is created by individuals, working alone or as part of a team. New ideas are implemented or reproduced. Our imaginary neighbor, George, for example, may work in a factory where he makes chairs. The factory owner gets the lumber from a tree farmer who planted and harvested the trees. These three individuals create new wealth in the form of chairs. They share the resulting wealth by exchanging it for money. They then trade their money for the wealth (food, clothing, etc.) that others have created.
Wealth belongs to its creators. All three individuals helped to create the chairs. Without their effort, the new wealth would not exist. When dealing with other individuals, we instinctively recognize this fact and act on it. We would never dream of going to George's house with a gun to steal the wealth he has created. He'd retaliate and we would take turns being victims and aggressors. With continual "warfare," a jungle-like atmosphere would pervade our neighborhood, and property values would plummet as wealth was consumed in the struggle. Effort would be directed at making war instead of wealth. Enlightened self-interest gives us strong incentives to practice non-aggression individually.
If we personally steal from George, we create havoc in our neighborhood. Nevertheless, we believe we can avoid this outcome if the government enforcement agents, acting on our behalf, perform the identical action. We believe the act of stealing is ennobled if the authority of the majority deems it to be for "the common good." As we'll see in the next few chapters, the laws of cause and effect still apply. The consequences of aggression are the same, whether perpetrated by an individual or a group. When groups of neighbors ask their government to steal from other groups of neighbors, we take turns being majorities and minorities, victims and aggressors. A jungle-like atmosphere prevails as effort is directed toward making war instead of wealth. Enlightened self-interest directs us toward the practice of non-aggression collectively if we would only realize it!
The Marketplace Ecosystem
The founders of our country recognized the importance of non-aggression. They realized that the "marketplace" was really an invisible interactive network of voluntary exchanges that take place among people in their communities, states, and nations. The marketplace has many similarities to nature's rainforest and oceanic ecosystems. Left to their own devices, the marketplace and the earth's ecosystems are self-regulating. Neither requires our forceful intervention to establish a holistic balance in which a diversity of complimentary niches can evolve. Aggression in the marketplace or destruction in a natural ecosystem upsets this balance. Some of the niches are destroyed along with their occupants. Diversity is lost.
The "free market" is the name given to describe the marketplace ecosystem when it is free from aggression. In the 1800s, our country came closest to this ideal. As a consequence, penniless immigrants flocked to our nation to make a better life for themselves and their loved ones. America became known as the "land of opportunity" and the richest nation on earth. Wealth was the natural by-product of a marketplace ecosystem free from aggression. As detailed in Chapter 19 (The Communist Threat is All in Our Minds), democracies tend to have less aggression than the Communist ones. This is why North Korea and East Germany, before unification, created much less wealth than their "free world" counterparts. (2,3)
Even in the early days of the United States, the marketplace ecosystem was not entirely free from aggression, however. If a drug company sold untested products or if doctors misrepresented their training, the distraught consumers or their survivors had minimal recourse. Some forms of aggression, notably fraud, were widely practiced by individuals.
Our ancestors knew how to practice non-aggression themselves. What they did not know was the most effective way to deal with those who aggressed against them. Consequently, this aggression persisted. Eventually, people began to believe that freedom from aggression was an unattainable ideal because selfish others were always ready, willing, and able to take advantage of their neighbors. They adopted the belief that the aggressors enjoyed "too much freedom." People instructed their government to strike first and use aggression to prevent aggression. Their motto became "do unto others before they do unto you." To fight the "evil" of aggression, they became aggressors themselves, with consequences more terrible than those they sought to prevent. Let's see exactly how this happened in our own land of opportunity.
...most real wealth originates in individual minds in unpredictable and uncontrollable ways.
- George Gilder, WEALTH AND POVERTY
...Amnesty International's listing of human rights abuses shows a definite pattern where those nations with the least respect for human rights are also the poorest. By contrast, those with the greatest respect for human rights tend to be the richest.
- Walter Williams, ALL IT TAKES IS GUTS
...the free market is a society in which all exchange voluntarily. It may most easily be conceived as a situation in which no one aggresses against person or property.
- Murray Rothbard, POWER AND THE MARKET
The trouble with people isn't their ignorance-it's the number of things they know that just ain't so.
- Mark Twain, American humorist and novelist
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PART II
FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES
How We Create Poverty in a World of Plenty
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CHAPTER 3
DESTROYING JOBS
When we use aggression to increase the wealth of disadvantaged workers, we succeed only in making them poorer.
The previous chapter explained how wealth is created by individuals acting alone or in concert while working at an occupation or job. Wealth is virtually infinite, yet we commonly hear that the means to that end- jobs- are limited. Let's examine how this seeming contradiction has been created by aggression -through-government.
The Marketplace Ecosystem: Honoring Our Neighbor's Choice
In the early days of our country, new immigrants were at a disadvantage in the established marketplace ecosystem. Usually, they couldn't speak English. Their customs were different and disquieting. Frequently, they were unskilled and could produce little wealth. Employers had little incentive to hire them. The immigrants decided to change that.
The immigrants created a niche for themselves in the marketplace ecosystem by offering employers who would take a chance on them a greater-than-usual share of the jointly created wealth. By helping their employer, they also helped themselves. Instead of paying for expensive schooling to learn new skills, they got on-the-job training by accepting, for a time, lower wages than the experienced, American-born workers. Once they learned the language, trade, and customs, they could create much more wealth than before. The immigrants were either given a greater share of the jointly created wealth by their employers, or they took their experience and moved on. Sometimes they opened their own shop, sometimes they went to an employer with greater appreciation for their newfound expertise. Some eventually became quite wealthy. In offering to serve their first employers well, they ultimately served themselves.
Young Americans sometimes use the same technique to get that important first job. For example, as an undergraduate, I worked in the laboratories of various scientists after class. Sometimes there was a little pay involved, sometimes course credit, sometimes no visible compensation at all. The scientists who hired me really didn't have a job to give, so like the immigrants, I created my job, my niche in the marketplace ecosystem, by offering them a better deal than any of my classmates would even consider.
My peers thought I was crazy working for "slave wages." A few years later, they changed their minds. The experience I gained, plus the recommendations of my mentors, turned out to be quite valuable. These intangibles gave me an edge over those with comparable formal education when I applied for more advanced positions. Offering my first employers a good deal resulted in later employers offering me a good deal. Letting myself be "exploited" was one of the smartest career moves I ever made.
The balance of the marketplace ecosystem evolves naturally. Workers without experience who are willing to create a low-wage job can gain the necessary experience and skills to create more wealth. Almost everyone is able to create some wealth, so everyone can find a starting niche. As expertise evolves, so does the niche- one way or the other. In serving their first employer well, unskilled workers serve themselves.
Usually, an employer will reward workers as their capacity to create more wealth increases. By providing an improved work space, more benefits, and/or increased wages, employers provide positive feedback, appealing to the employees' own self-interest to create even greater wealth. More wealth creation means more profit for the employer and the employee to split. By helping each other, they help themselves. Both serve their own interest best by making sure that their partner in creating wealth is taken care of.
Unenlightened employers who don't reward their workers for increased productivity lose them to employers who do. Employers who choose employees on the basis of color or sex or anything other than ability to create wealth find that their shop creates less wealth than it could. Less wealth means less profit for the employer and employee to share. Lower profits provide the employers with negative feedback. Discrimination on any basis other than productivity is costly. Employers reap as they sow.
We can observe this "yin-yang," or balance, of the ecosystem within the marketplace right in our own community. Our fictitious neighbor George decides to hire a neighborhood youth, Elaine, to paint his house because of her willingness to work for a very nominal sum.
Elaine created a job by giving her employer a better deal than the other teens in the neighborhood. Had Elaine not made such an offer, George would have let the house go unpainted for another few years. The creation of wealth in the form of a well-kept house would have been delayed. By offering to serve George well, Elaine also helped beautify her neighborhood. In the process, Elaine helped herself as well.
In the fall, Elaine asked George to put in a good word for her with the corner grocer. As a result of George's glowing recommendation, Elaine was hired instead of other youths with no one to vouch for them. The following summer, Elaine's references from the grocer helped her get a temporary job with a nearby factory. When Elaine graduated from high school, she was offered a well-paying job by a local banker. Elaine was chosen because her former employers could vouch for her conscientious performance. Her friends, who had mocked her as she worked for a "pittance," were rejected because they had no experience. By serving her employers well, Elaine also served herself.
Aggression Disrupts the Marketplace Ecosystem
We'd never dream of putting a gun to George's head and threatening him if he didn't pay Elaine more than what they had jointly agreed on. After all, our neighbors know better than we do what will work for them. Pointing a gun at George would probably end any feeling of camaraderie we might have shared in the past. There's something about looking down the barrel of a gun that isn't consistent with "loving our neighbor." George is likely to call his local sheriff and have us arrested or make sure that he retaliates with sufficient force to prevent us from threatening him again. In trying to control George, we might very well find ourselves controlled.
Even if we successfully intimidated George, he might decide not to hire Elaine, rather than pay her more than he wished to. Without George's recommendation, Elaine might never get the grocery job. Without experience at the grocer's, Elaine might not be picked to work at the factory. Without these part-time jobs, Elaine would not have the experience so valued by the bank. Our attempt to protect Elaine from George's exploitation by using aggression would probably backfire and hurt the person we most wish to help.
The marketplace ecosystem operates in our neighborhood if we let it work its magic. We wisely refrain from threatening our neighbors when they are interacting and contracting with each other without using force or fraud. The individuals, after all, know their situation better than we do.
Exactly the same principles apply in the national work force, but somehow we see it differently. We view low wages as evidence of employer "stinginess" instead of schooling with pay for the unskilled. We try to correct the behavior of these selfish others by voting to force employers to pay a minimum wage- at gunpoint, if necessary. Through our government, we become aggressors, the first party to threaten violence. Our aggression yields the same results on a national scale as it does in our neighborhood.
For example, in the chair factory where George works, employees are paid at different levels ($4 or $5 per hour) depending on their experience. If the minimum wage is raised to $5 per hour, several things could happen.
If the employer pays the least experienced people $5 per hour, he will have to raise the price of the chairs. The people who were earning $5 will probably complain because they are being paid the same wage as the novices. The employer will have to give them a raise too. The price of the chairs goes even higher. Fewer people can now afford to buy the chairs, so the factory will cut back production. Workers will be laid off; the least experienced will be the first to go. Instead of earning $4 per hour, some of the inexperienced workers will be unemployed, while others will be making $5 per hour.
Some employers will be able to replace the unskilled workers with machines that cost $4.50 per hour instead of the $5 now mandated by law. The workers from the factory that makes the new machines are very skilled and already make well above the minimum wage. They now have extra orders for machines, so their factory must hire more skilled labor. At the chair factory, some of the more experienced workers make $5 per hour, while some of the unskilled workers are unemployed and make nothing. The machine factory hires more skilled labor.
Other employers might simply eliminate part or all of the job that the people earning $4 per hour once did. Maybe their job was to paint the chairs; now finishing is left to the buyer. More unskilled employees are laid off.
Some employers will not be able to use any of these options. There may be no substitute for the unskilled labor and no way to raise prices without losing too many customers. To comply with the law, these employers may cut back on other employee benefits, such as health insurance, vacation time, etc. The unskilled workers make $5 per hour, but lose some benefits that may have been worth more to them than the wage increase.
If none of these options are available, employers may have to forgo some of their profits. To avoid cutting their profits, these employers may close their factories and either retire or switch to a business that needs only skilled workers. In either case, the employees will be laid off. The skilled workers will have an easier time becoming employed again, because they are needed in places such as the machine factory that is expanding because of the demand for labor-saving devices. The unskilled workers will find themselves in less demand and will have more difficulty.
Each employer will react differently to the minimum wage increase, but the result is always the same. Fewer inexperienced employees will have a job. Instead of making $4 per hour, some will make $5 per hour, and others will make nothing. The best of the low-paid workers get a raise, but the most disadvantaged are forbidden to create what wealth they can.
If we support minimum wage laws, we destroy jobs, especially those that would have gone to the unskilled or disadvantaged. By using aggression, we limit wealth by destroying the jobs that create it. No wonder welfare to the newly unemployed increases when the mandated minimum wage goes up! (1)
The Poor Get Poorer: Discrimination Against the Disadvantaged
Because minimum wage laws hurt the disadvantaged the most, they are frequentlyused to "legalize" discrimination. In South Africa, white unions lobby for minimum wages (called "rate-for-the-job") in order to "reserve" particular jobs for whites.(2) If the unskilled blacks are forbidden by law to negotiate a training wage, they can never gain entry into these professions and are effectively barred by law from creating wealth in those occupations.
The same thing happens in the United States. Minimum wage laws hurt the very people they are supposed to help. Many disadvantaged workers are black; the most unskilled blacks are, of course, the young. As the percentage of jobs covered by minimum wage laws has increased (Figure 3.1A), black teenage unemployment has increased much more than white unemployment (Figure 3.1B). What is particularly distressing is that black teenage unemployment was almost identical to white unemployment before the 1950s! By trying to help the disadvantaged with aggression, we've hurt them more than the selfish employers ever did!
The inexperienced are not the only victims. The elderly and handicapped are adversely affected as well. This was vividly brought home to me in the mid-1980s while renovating low-income housing in the city of Kalamazoo. A young, unskilled man, who was partially disabled, had been watching our progress and asked if he could do some cleaning and yard work for $2 per hour. He was willing to accept such low wages because he could walk to the work site. He also hoped I might be able to give him a recommendation so others would "give him a chance." I explained to him that minimum wage laws prevented me from hiring him for anything less than $3.35. We both