A Case For Self-Governance: The Business of Peace

I feel peace is a good topic for Martin Luther King Jr‘s Birthday.  It was not planned like that, it just happened that way.

War is the governments business and business is good. From military imperialism to militarized police the government is in the business of death and theft. The government is in the business of forcing people to do what it wants with its guns. We discussed in A Case Against Government Part 1:  Police State how police are not for the people but to serve the interest of the state. I would like to expand on a concept that Stefan Molyneux of Free Domain Radio proposed in his Lew Rockwell article The Stateless Society: An Examination of Alternatives. The idea is the the Dispute Resolution Organization (DRO).  I would like to point out the business of peace can be a highly marketable thing to sell as opposed to the business of war which brings financial disaster, death and destruction.

A DRO is described on Wikipedia as:

a conceptualized organization providing services such as mediation and arbitration through the private sector.

This is his answer to the common question and objection of the statist, “What about Police?”  No, we do not need police but we do have disputes that need a resolution.  Will it end rape? No, but it will come closer to ending violence and rape than any police force or government entity has proven capable of doing.  We see their failure in the fact that these issues still have little resolution or advancements, only a culture that reacts with vengeance towards people.With a Free Market a DRO may be one of many ways to resolve issues.  In a free market many employers could begin to offer a DRO contract as a part of their benefits packages.  When I bring this up I am often asked about the people who can not afford a DRO or those smaller employers who can not afford a DRO contract.  I believe that just as cell phones have become affordable for the homeless now that a DRO may also be something they can access.  That is just not good enough for some who see the state as the only solution.  I will go further to make another proposal.  Let us call our proposal a Citizen Protection Organization (CPO).  This would be closer to a cooperative.  This would work as a joint effort to meet the needs of the members. There could be organizations similar to neighborhood watch groups that are often implemented currently.  There would be more options if a system failed a person they could look elsewhere for a working system, or even make an impact on the company that did not work by bringing the issues to light. Investigative journalism would be more feared by the system, and a boon to the people.  I will not delve into many of those concepts since this is focusing on a specific aspect of a DRO.

A DRO has to turn a profit.  If it is paying out for violent crimes it will be loosing money. Violence is a liability.  For the first time in history this creates a market for peace.  Peace becomes profitable? It becomes profitable for the company to promote and research violence, rape, or murder.  It becomes profitable to have legitimate scientific breakthroughs.

A company that offers a DRO plan with employment may find that they pay a lower premium for sending employees to classes for prevention education.  With a desire to invest serious time and money in what currently is mostly handled by non-profits and volunteers.  Here we would look at causes and address those because it is profitable.

With the concepts of violence being a huge liability financially for a whole industry we have capitalized on peace.  We begin to focus on things like violence against women and what are the root causes.  Violence against the marginalized in society begin to get serious attention for the first time.  This attention will finally be out of the hands of the state who profits from violence.

There will be some issues resolved instantly with the introduction of a DRO and non-government organizations.  The first would be the American system of power and abuse.  Let us look at a woman stuck in prostitution.  I do not condone nor support prostitution in any way or form.  I do however oppose making the prostitute a criminal.  I oppose the laws that exist.

The woman forced into prostitution is victimized and marginalized before she enters into prostitution.  This woman holds little to no power.  Often she has been abused throughout her life by those that hold the power.  The state then addressed the issue of prostitution by criminalizing those women and locking them up.  It uses the power it holds to continue this cycle of abuse.  With the current system the poor and marginalized receive little protection or defense.  The only resolution that has come from government is to make matters worse and criminalize those that are already beaten down. We have not “fixed” the problem.  Neither system will fix the problem.  But, we will see more resolutions and progress outside of the state. Eliminating a state tyranny will eliminate the abuse and criminalization those people face.  In an already difficult situation a felony will only make things harder in that persons life.

The DRO begins to address with serious research and money the subject of violence against women.  It must protect it’s assets.  It has incentive to stop this violence.  It then begins to find solutions.  These solutions will more than likely have certain goals and results.  It will lend to educate men who are abusers and this will have a direct impact on the demand side of the supply and demand in prostitution.  This will also go to make progress in the area of violence against those women who end up in prostitution. This is not limited to this single area.  We will see this in many areas by many sources.  One quick law did not fix a problem it only punished after the problems happened.  It advances little and there is no progress with a static law.

Imagine your company wants to save money with the DRO.  The DRO will be able to cover people who are educated and less inclined to commit violence crimes.  This will result in education and training for employees and those covered under these plans or packages.  My company already practices similar things.  Just imagine those company wide meetings and training now focused on things like eliminating violence and aggression.  Wow, we just capitalized on peace by eliminating government.  This is the beginning to finding true solutions.  Just as with the free market and technological advancements in computers or any other profitable technology and science the future and advancements of peace and non-violence is not even in an infancy compared to where it should be in a free system.  When we begin to look at this here is where we will find advancements in racism, sexual assault, aggression, and a plethora of other issues we face today.  These advancements will flood the markets and society.

When existing groups that advocate for social issues are placed in a free system we will see people placing their resources into making real changes and solutions along side this new booming industry.  It would benefit to use such resources to impact the issues we worry about instead of paying off lobbyists and greedy politicians.

It is time people brought about real changes and advancements.  I’m a bit tired of politicians blowing hot air up my ass promising but never delivering. I’ll promote peace and healing over fat rich patriarchies and concentrated power any day.

Can I have my Nobel Peace Prize now, or do I have to wage a war for that?