Can Political Violence Be Moral?

"The Iranian people could kill their political leadership right now and be perfectly morally justified in doing so..."

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[volition]

Agree. But every government on earth is a rights violator to the degree that it prevents a citizen who has harmed no one from acting freely.

Mankind, in general, still doesn't see the *initiation* of physical force as wrong, as impractical, as something that can't work, and the reason is that we don't know exactly, concretely, what volition is.

Volition, our uniquely human ability to initiate and direct our own attention, makes concept formation, language, and reason possible, and gives rise to our fundamental need for freedom—freedom from the initiation of physical force.

But we still see volition as our ability to make choices. It's true, choice is a volitional act. But volition itself is something that precedes choice, that makes choice possible. Before you can choose, you must first direct your attention to each alternative, in turn. You must *initiate* and direct your attention. You must look. *That's* volition. That's what we are. And that's why we must be free from force. That's why government must leave us alone.
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