“Peace and Freedom” The Inaugural Post

The title of this blog, “Pax et Libertas,” is not a random pairing of two unconnected words. Peace cannot, has not, and never will exist without freedom. Without recognition by each of the rights of all to dispose of their lives and property in ways of their own choosing, what exists is nothing more than carefully-hidden oppression and a lack of open conflict. This is not peace. At the very least, it is not peace in any meaningful sense of the word. Freedom cannot exist without peace because there can be no freedom, no security, no recognition of rights in an atmosphere of terror, whether this terror is the terror of the State directed at helpless civilians, the terror used by a mugger against his victim, or the terror that results from a system of patriarchy which functions to ensure that, even now, rape is still extremely common. At the bottom, all of these things have the same root: the idea of violence. This idea must be destroyed. Only then does some possibility exist that the bulkof the earth's population will be able to live a life worth living for a human being.

It is my hope that this will serve as some small contribution to that larger effort.