AnthonyFlood.com
Philosophy against Misosophy
Jesus Is an Anarchist
James Redford
2. The Golden Rule Unavoidably Results in Anarchism
Jesus commanded us that in all things we are to treat others as we would want others to treat us. Thus:
Matthew 5:17-18: "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled."
Matthew 7:12: [...] "Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." (See also Luke 6:31.)
By saying that this commandment is "the Law and the Prophets" Jesus is saying that by following this one commandment that one is thereby fulfilling the Law of Moses and the principles of the Prophets – in other words Jesus is saying that it is the be-all and end-all when it comes to the proper ethic of social relations. This ultimate social ethic which Jesus commanded everyone to follow is commonly known as the Golden Rule.
But if indeed Jesus actually meant what He said when He spoke these words – and He most certainly did – then this alone is more than enough to prove that Jesus is of necessity an anarchist, and not just any kind of anarchist, but a libertarian, free-market anarchist in particular.
The reason this would necessarily have to be the case is because it is impossible for any actual government to actually abide by the Golden Rule even in theory, let alone in practice. All governments must of necessity violate the Golden Rule, otherwise they would not be governments but would be something else instead.
To understand why this is unalterably true, one must first have a clear and precise understanding of just what a "government" is and just what it is not, i.e., the distinguishing characteristics of Government which differentiates it from all other things that are not Governments.
(When the word is used in the sense above) Government (i.e., a State) is that organization in society which attempts to maintain, and is generally successful at maintaining, a coercive regional monopoly over ultimate control of the law (i.e., on the courts and police, etc.) – this is a feature of all Governments; as well, historically speaking it has always been the case that it is the only organization in society that legally obtains its revenue not by voluntary contribution or payment for services rendered but by coercion.
It is here where we find why it is quite impossible for any government to actually abide by Jesus's ultimate commandment. The reason quite simply is because all governments do to their subjects what they outlaw their subjects to do to them.
That is, all governments, in order to be a government, must enforce a coercive monopoly on ultimate control of the law – this is a necessary feature of all governments. All governments set up courts and enforce control over ultimate judicial decision, while outlawing others from engaging in the same practice.
Thus, for example, if a group of people become dissatisfied with the judicial services that the government is providing and decide to set up shop offering their own private arbitration and protection services on the market without seeking the permission of the government to do so then the government will attack these people and put an end to their competitive judicial services, and would thereby enforce its monopoly on ultimate control over the law.
If the government failed to enforce its monopoly on ultimate control over the law then it would cease to be a government, but would instead become just another private protection agency offering its services on a competitive market.
The above scenario leaves out something extremely vital though, as it merely assumes that this government in question somehow obtains its revenue by voluntary contribution and not by coercion. Yet all actual governments throughout history have obtained their revenue not by voluntary contribution or payment for contracted services but by coercion.
Thus all governments throughout history steal and extort wealth from their subjects which they call "taxes," yet at the same time governments make it illegal for their subjects to steal from each other or from the government.
Thus here again in taxes we see that historically all governments do to their subjects what they outlaw their subjects to do to them. I say "historically" because while although all governments throughout history have found it necessary to fund their operations through theft and extortion, it is not necessarily the case that all governments in theory must be supported by taxes: one could imagine that most people in a certain society simply voluntarily donate their money to fund a government, as unlikely as that possibility is in practice.
So while although a monopoly on ultimate control of the law is a logical necessity of all governments, taxes are not – taxes have simply been a practical necessity throughout all of history in order for governments to function.
And so we find that all governments must of necessity continuously violate Jesus's ultimate social commandment even to simply exist. The principle which all governments are founded upon and follow may properly be termed the "Luciferian Principle."
This logically follows, because to not follow the Golden Rule is to do the opposite of the Golden Rule: i.e., rather than doing to others what you would want others to do to you, you would instead be doing to others what you do not want others to do to you.
Hence, if we may term the Golden Rule the "Christ Principle," or otherwise the "Christian Principle," then it certainly follows that the opposite of this principle would properly be termed the "Luciferian Principle": which is none other than doing to others what you do not want others to do to you.
It is for this reason that anyone that takes Jesus's ultimate ethical commandment seriously must of necessity advocate the abolition of all Earthly governments wherever and whenever they may exist, as governments are necessarily incompatible with Jesus's ultimate ethical commandment and diametrically opposed to it. In passing, it's important for me to distinguish "Earthly governments" from what is sometimes called the "Kingdom of God" or the "Kingdom of Christ."
In the above discussion I have been analyzing governments as they are operated by men here on Earth – but as I will show, the "Kingdom" which Christ is to establish on Earth will be the functional and operational opposite of any kingdom which has ever existed on Earth before, i.e., it won't actually be a government in the sense in which I defined above and will in fact be perfectly consistent with the Golden Rule.
Above I also stated that Jesus's commandment of the Golden Rule not only proves that He is an anarchist, but also necessarily a libertarian, or free market, anarchist to be specific. The reason that this is so is because an anarchist is simply someone who desires no government to exist: only this and nothing more.
Thus, one could desire no government to exist and yet still feel that it is alright to, say, slap people upside the head for no reason. Yet someone who follows the Golden Rule must not do to others what they do not want others to do to them – this necessarily means that one must respect the autonomy of other people's person and their just property: which unavoidably leads to not just anarchism, as was demonstrated above, but also to the free-market, voluntarist, libertarian order.
The rigorous proof of this is that everyone, by definition, objects to others aggressing against what they regard as their own property. If such were not the case then, by definition, such action would not be an aggression but a voluntary action.
But ultimately all just property titles can be traced back by way of voluntary transactions (which would thus be consistent with the Golden Rule) to the homesteading of unused resources; or (2) in the case in which such resources were expropriated from a just owner and the just owner or his heir(s) can no longer be identified or are deceased, where the first non-aggressor possesses the resource (which can then be considered another form of homesteading).
Thus, for anyone to come into possession of property which either was not homesteaded by themselves or which was not obtained by a voluntary transaction would thereby be violating the Golden Rule, for to do so would mean that they are obtaining a good by involuntary means from another who can trace their possession of the resource either to direct homesteading or through voluntary transactions leading back to homesteading (i.e., of either of the two types given above).
Yet, by definition, this aggressor would not want others to take his property against his will which he had come into possession of by voluntary means – and surely everyone possesses such property, even if it is just their own body.
Hence, if Jesus was serious about the Golden Rule – and He most certainly was – then it necessarily means that He is a consistent libertarian, as the Golden Rule as a political ethic is completely congruent with the libertarian Non-Aggression Principle, i.e., that no person or group of people may initiate the use of force against another, or threaten to initiate force against another.
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3. Jesus Does Not Respect the Person of Men