| Notes | Book |
To minimize terrorism effectively, you need to have a definition. If your definition is that the other guy is a terrorist, but you are not, then you are on the same level as two second-grader kids in a circular argument about who started the fight. Minimizing terrorism is just another way of saying we are trying to stop arguing and fighting with one another. If we have a definition that causes arguments and fights, we aren't going to get very far.
It's like the difference between gold currency and paper money. If the US operated on the gold standard, we wouldn't have to worry about North Korea counterfeiting our currency. A government that insists it has the right to counterfeit, but no one else does, is walking on a slippery moral slope. The “war on terror” is giant step down that slippery slope.
Having a counterfeit currency instead of a real gold standard effects more than just our economic life. Lack of a real economic standard is just one symptom of a society that lacks a real moral standard. If you have more license to commit crimes the higher your social standing, then there is more incentive to be a successful criminal than to be a socially responsible and moral person. It really is essential to have a moral standard that applies to everyone equally in order to have a smoothly functioning society. And it is essential to extend that principle to all people of the world in order to have a peaceful planet.
A person who initiates force is a terrorist. That is a consistent and logical definition of terrorism. Any definition that states one person has the right to initiate force but another one doesn't is hypocritical. It contradicts the founding principle of this country that “all men are created equal”, and it creates more problems than it solves. Though we have certainly failed to apply this principle thoroughly, the attempts we have made through the years have certainly done us a lot of good.
Instead of fighting a “war on terror” that is only creating conflict and misery all over the world, we should be mounting a effective, science-based, cooperative effort to reduce the amount of conflict in the world,. in our country, and in our families. We don't need a war on “terrorism” or any other abstract concept; we need effective means of controlling the world's criminals.
To do this, we need to recognize that the worst criminals are statists. High government officials routinely order the murder of large numbers of innocent civilians, and are not censured for their crimes. Soldiers and cops routinely carry out these unjust and inhumane orders and are not censured for their crimes. This needs to change. We need to convince the population of the world that there is a better way.
The best way to lead the world to a better place is by example. Renounce crime and immorality in your own life and do not advocate it for others. Do not vote for more taxes, more government, and more violence. Vote for peace, smaller government, and fewer taxes, less armed force, and less fraud, or do not vote at all.