A new paradigm #
Beginning with the end in mind, earth can be a planet of peace and abundance, where humanity lives in harmony as one sisterhood and brotherhood. While it is unrealistic to expect absolute peace on earth, it is of course possible to greatly improve from today’s levels. To achieve this, each of us must elevate our interactions, aligning with the virtue of the ‘Golden Rule’, the ancient moral wisdom that all the major religious, philosophical and ethical traditions endorse; ‘treat others as you wish to be treated’. This is the essence of Live and Let Live (3L)’s Moral Principle, which specifically emphasises acting with high character, respecting others, and aspiring to contribute to the betterment of ourselves and others. We will not all agree on exactly what constitutes optimal moral behaviour – different cultures have varied and valid aspirational values, so the Moral Principle must be voluntary.
No compromise on this one thing #
However, there is one aspect of morality that all reasonable people do agree on, which must be mandatory, without exception: we must not aggress against each other – this is the essence of 3L’s Legal Principle. We can only act according to our will, i.e. be free, if we are not prevented from doing so via aggression. Therefore, outlawing aggression is the pre-requisite freedom, and freedom is a pre-requisite for peace. By our every day civilised and peaceful interactions, humans demonstrate our excellent capacity to adhere to the Golden Rule, and go way beyond the essential bare-minimum of not aggressing. Once aggression is outlawed globally, all of humanity can be free to practice the golden rule, and become experts in it – this is what 3L means when we summarise the Moral Principle as ‘being an excellent human’. When morality if forced on people via coercive laws, people are denied the choice to practice voluntary good behaviour.
Neither authoritarian, nor utopian
Live and Let Live allows humanity’s good nature to thrive, while constraining its worst. It is a societal agreement that lets people respond freely to life’s natural opportunities and challenges. Authoritarianism, that exists to varying degrees in all countries today, allows no freedom for people to exercise their good nature, instead forcing compliance with the will of the few. Utopias also fall short, because they do not factor in the necessary constraints against inevitable bad actors. Live and Let Live’s vision is peace without utopia. We offer no prevention to heart-breaks, disappointments, irresponsibility and mistakes.
From ‘hard-mode’ to ‘easy-mode’
Life doesn’t need to be on ‘hard-mode’, as it is today. It is clear we have drifted from the Golden Rule, because who among us wishes to be treated aggressively without consent? Yet we all are, because democracy institutionalises aggression by allowing the majority to force their will on the minority. All of us may choose to act peacefully in ways that conflict with democratically created laws – our will is denied in thousands of ways, that accumulate and compound on each other, making life much more difficult. Imagine a teenager who wishes to sell lemonade from their front door step – doing so would likely violate multiple laws unless much time and energy is first invested in compliance and permission from people who aren’t involved in either supplying or purchasing their lemonade. It’s often easier not to bother. By precisely distilling the golden rule into a mandatory Legal Principle and a voluntary Moral Principle, Live and Let Live allows all peaceful behaviour, thus setting the conditions for life on ‘easy-mode’.
A vision of peace and prosperity
Our vision is a world where enough people have accepted the Live and Let Live Philosophy into their hearts and minds – a world in which competent adults are free to exchange with each other in any way they choose, so long as it doesn’t harm others. A world where living standards increase such that even the least wealthy may afford a safe and healthy lifestyle. A world where there is no punishment for victimless crimes. A world where our environment is protected from pollution. A world where people can choose to life a simple life, or pursue a grand legacy. A world that allows competition, but encourages collaboration. We envision that, wherever one is on planet earth, the laws there reflect a reasonable construction of the Legal Principle, fairly enforced with due process for all.
Allowing communities to thrive
The removal of taxation (and the welfare state that it pays for) incentivizes a greater focus on community. Without property taxes, dwellers would no longer need to produce an excess – self-subsistence would be more feasible for anyone that chooses a homesteading life. Without tax, workers would have much more time and money available to look after their families. This would make inter-generational living much easier – the lack of welfare state also makes that more important. The ending of the disintermediation of community by tax and welfare represents a significant change from the way society is structured today.
International cooperation
Live and Let Live allows peaceful co-inhabitation at the local and global scale. With many existential threats facing humanity, it is essential that we redirect our energy from fighting each other, towards de-escalating these threats. The economies of free societies will naturally be stronger, with better technology and means to defend themselves, than those whose vitality is siphoned by aggressors. Peace through strength, as well as international trade agreements and international courts, all operating within the bounds of the Legal Principle, will set the conditions for global peace. Those that do initiate aggression will be excluded from the vast rewards of access to the free economies, and will face their strength.
Critical mass
It is vital, therefore, that Live and Let Live is adopted into the hearts and minds of as many people as possible, to enable this strong peace-keeping alliance. The Movement seeks to achieve its mission of global peace via an ‘ABC’ approach: first spreading ‘Awareness’ of the two principles and how they are applied, then creating a network of ‘Belonging’ for all those who share the mission, and finally to ‘Change’ all laws globally to align with the Legal Principle.
