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August 6, 2012

Will you be a FOUNDER of the Zero Aggression Project?

Will you be a FOUNDER of the Zero Aggression Project?

By Jim Babka and Perry Willis

Last week we told you about . . .

  • Our desire to cause real change
  • The need for experimentation
  • A plan to combat euphemisms and The Stockholm Syndrome

We also . . .

  • Stressed the need to focus on persuasion and recruitment
  • Asked you to test new software that we'll use to measure our persuasive efforts

Finally, we told you we would . . .

  • Introduce a brand new website this week
  • Revive a key moral principle
  • Tell you how to associate your name with our new sites

We'll keep those promises here . . .

During the Enlightenment, right up to the 20th Century, people like us were called liberals.

Our tribe toppled kings, wrote constitutions, freed slaves, fostered peace, and extended commerce. Our ideas became dominant.

The old classical liberals made many mistakes. Still, they were moving the culture in the right direction, until . . .

Things went terribly wrong.

The word liberal was hijacked to mean the opposite of what it had meant. Our influence faded.

A century of statism and mass murder followed.

Our once flourishing liberal order was replaced by violent centralized power, everywhere on earth, even in America.

What happened? Where did we go wrong?

Murray Rothbard provides the answer in his book For A New Liberty. Rothbard says that classical liberals abandoned moral principles in favor of “practical” concerns.

We think Rothbard was right. In fact . . .

We believe this mistake extends both backward and forward in time.

The moral principles Rothbard had in mind were already betrayed in the text of the U.S. Constitution. That neglect continues today.

In fact, Downsize DC shares the blame!

We've told you why various bills are impractical, mentioning the moral aspect only vaguely, if at all.

We want to change.

We want to create the first organization to ever FOCUS on the key moral rule Rothbard suggested: The Non-Aggression Principle.   

L. Neil Smith argues that calling it the Zero Aggression Principle provides a better acronym — ZAP vs. NAP. We agree.  
The ZAP, like the Golden Rule, can be stated in many ways, including . . .

No one should initiate harm against another.

Harm includes violence and fraud. The key word is initiation. Violence should be defensive only.

This rule applies to all human relationships. The State, which is merely a group of people, should be subject to the same moral rules as individuals.

We will argue that The State must be prohibited from initiating violence against its citizens, because . . .   

The State has no magic power to turn wrong into right. It must abide by the ZAP, just like you and I.

Make this happen and the world changes.  
We want to change the world. Do you?

We want to regain the intellectual dominance that “liberal ideas” once enjoyed. We think that focusing on the Zero Aggression Principle can do that. So we're giving our educational foundation a new mission and a new website called . . .

The Zero Aggression PROJECT

We want to build a new society based on the ZAP. And our new page on the world wide web will foster that goal.

This new site will dovetail with our other new project, DENY CONSENT, and with a refocused DownsizeDC.org.

If so, we need your help funding the creation of these new sites and all the related software. We need funding ABOVE our base budget.

We want these new projects to change the world. If we can do that, will you be able to say…

  • I was there at the founding?
  • My name appears on both of these NEW sites?

You can become a Founder by contributing to one or both projects. The required amount is the same in both cases — a one-time donation of $100 or a monthly pledge of $10.

Current pledgers of $10 or more will make the list. But most pledgers are only giving to one of the two organizations. Lots of support is required for these projects, if you can spare it, and…

The more you invest, the higher your ranking on each respective list will be. Pledges will be ranked at their annual value.  

If you want to be a ZAP Founder, you can make a tax-deductible contribution using the secure form at the Downsize DC Foundation: https://secure.downsizedcfoundation.org/contribute/

If you want to be a DENY CONSENT Founder, you can contribute using the secure form at DownsizeDC.org: https://secure.downsizedc.org/contribute/

Stay tuned. This is only the beginning. Together, we will CAUSE CHANGE.

Jim Babka and Perry Willis
Co-founders
The Zero Aggression Project
& Downsize DC
& Deny Consent

 

If your comment is off-topic for this post, please email us at feedback@downsizedc.org

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