Who owns your body?

December 04, 2007 at 09:39 PM | categories: ron paul, liberty rants, michael badnarik | View Comments

The most important questions usually have remarkably simple answers. I was listening to Michael Badnarik's radio show from last Friday, and being the great iconoclast that he is, he asks one of these important, yet simple questions:

Who owns your body?

Here's the simple (and complete) answer: I own my body!

I disagree with a great number of people on a great number of things, and yet I still get along with them. We can reach a modus vivendi -- we can agree to disagree. The interesting thing about the question at hand is that it is more powerful than most other political questions; it even makes others look mundane in comparison. If I were to meet someone who believed that they did not own their body I can honestly say that I would never be able to relate with this person, nor truly understand anything that they personally believed.

In fact, I cannot think of any possible way any rational person could disagree with the statement that you own your own body. And yet, the relatively mundane political disagreements I have with other people are antithetical to the concept that we (supposedly) both agree with: I own my own body.

If I own my own body, it would follow that:
  1. I cannot rightfully be enslaved.
  2. I can eat, drink, smoke, inject, or osmose anything I want into my own body.
  3. I own the products that I produce with my own hands. No one can rightfully steal them from me.
  4. I can freely contract with other people (who also own their own bodies) and agree to exchange my products for theirs.
  5. I can kill myself or contract with someone to do it for me.

Consequently, if you live in a world where these rights are not respected, and you allow them to be disrespected, you are not free, and you do not own your own body. Here is an example of such a world:

  1. A constitution is drafted on the principle that the government would protect the sovereign rights of individuals. And yet there is disagreement. . . and compromises. The final draft of this constitution disregards its founding principles and implicitly supports slavery. It would take another 80 years for this constitution to reverse this indiscretion.
  2. Even though such a promise to never enslave was made, the practice would continue through the enforced conscription of men to fight in foreign wars.
  3. Laws of taxation are modified to allow the government to steal from the wealth of individuals, as much as they cared to, for whatever reason.
  4. Money is created by this government, "out of thin air". Laws are enacted to compel businesses to accept it. Numerous law enforcement agencies ensure that no one uses any competing (or more valuable) form of money.
  5. Certain beverages are disallowed through legal means.
  6. Certain herbs are disallowed through less than legal means.
  7. The writ of habeas corpus, the law that literally protects the right to protest the detention of your own body, though protected by 327 years of precedence, is utterly abolished and left only to the ruler's discretion as to who receives this "privilege".

Does this world sound familiar? I hope so. The trend of these united States is to not respect your body. If you believe that you own your body, you should never allow your government, let alone anyone else, to take away the rights of your body.

Think about this, not only when you vote, but every single day, in everything that you do. Do you have the self respect to assert your rights? Do you have the respect to assert MY rights? If you do, I sincerely hope that you will approach any political decision through this concept: I own my own body. You own your body. I have no right to take away your rights, nor you to me.

The time to choose how this country will behave on a federal level is fast approaching. Once you come to the realization -- that you own your own body -- you will realize that there is only one person running for president who believes that very same thing: Ron Paul.

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Michael Badnarik has a new radio show!

April 23, 2007 at 08:46 AM | categories: cool stuff, michael badnarik | View Comments

Michael Badnarik

I got an email this morning from one of my favorite liberty activists: Michael Badnarik. Michael has been wrapping up a very rigourous campaign for US Congress and so we haven't heard much from him lately. But he is back and sounding better than ever!

Michael began today with his new show Lighting the Fires of Liberty on the We the People Radio Network. I wish Michael the best of luck, I feel that being an educator is one of his best roles and he will do extremely well, I'm sure of it.

Check his out podcast today!

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