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Eco-Terrorists and Neo-Nazis – Are They Really Good Buddies?

by Theresa Fritz Camoriano (8/20/01)

It has recently been reported that the neo-nazis (people who burn down houses to expel “undesirables”) have started recruiting among the eco-terrorists (people who burn down houses and deface businesses to show their opposition to “urban sprawl”).  Could it really be possible that the extreme left-wing eco-terrorists are really pals with the extreme right wing neo-nazis?  Actually, it shouldn’t be very surprising, since the two groups take the same approach in attempting to achieve their goals.  Both groups approve of the use of force against those whom they dislike.  They have no respect for the lives and property of other people and feel perfectly comfortable destroying what others have worked hard to create, be it someone’s home or factory, or, in some cases, even someone’s life.

Eco-terrorists believe that they have wisdom far superior to that of  mere property owners.  They believe that human development is a scourge on mother earth, and they are perfectly willing to ignore the rights of the property owner as a means to their end.  Similarly, the neo-nazis believe that they are superior to people of other races or cultures, and they are willing to attack “inferior” people and destroy their homes and businesses in order to drive them out.  Both groups show an extreme lack of respect for the individual – just the opposite of libertarians, who respect the rights of other humans to control their own lives and their own property. 

Of course, these left- and right-wing extremists have many “cousins” who do not perform the dirty deeds themselves but, instead, call on the government to do their dirty work for them.  These “cousins” may be socialists, who want the government to plunder the rich to give to the poor and helpless (which ensures that they remain poor and helpless), or they may be “anti-sprawl” promoters, who call on government to steal the right of a property owner to control his own land, or they may be fascists, who call on the government to make war against people whose lifestyles they oppose.   No matter their cause, they are all cut from the same cloth, because they all support and promote the use of force against non-aggressors in order to achieve their goals.  This is totally opposed to the libertarian position, which restricts the use of force, both by individuals and by government, to only that force required to defend against aggressors. 

No matter which side of the political spectrum you come from, if you are promoting the use of force against non-aggressors, then you are promoting a “might makes right” approach, which inevitably brings misery, strife, injustice, and poverty.  No matter how noble-sounding your goals, if you are using force against non-aggressors as a means, you can never reach a satisfactory end.  You can only go the way of the extreme left-wing communists or the extreme right-wing fascists, both of which result in misery.

Instead of calling for the disarmament of innocent people (a call which has come both from the left and from the right), and instead of fighting to control the reins of political power (as we have seen recently in the Louisville/Jefferson County merger map fracas), it is time for people to wake up and realize that the continual use of force and plunder against non-aggressors does not benefit any of us in the long run.   While we may be able to get a few thousand or even a few million dollars of other people’s property through aggressive force, we can never build a peaceful, prosperous, generous society through theft and aggression.  Castro may control all the property in Cuba, but who wants to live in Cuba, with all its poverty and misery?  Even Castro would have a better life if he were a regular old worker in the U.S.  Hitler might have been working toward a goal many people thought was wonderful, but who would want to live in such a society, where human lives and people’s homes and property were not safe from attack and plunder? 

As a friend recently told me, the current eco-terrorists are just having a little bit of Krystal Nacht fun!  Anyone who is willing to plunder people’s property rights or people’s lives in order to achieve their goals, whether personally or by using the power of government, is following an immoral path.  It is not possible to reach any noble-sounding goals using immoral means.  Whether the aggressors are skin-heads, eco-terrorists, or historic preservationists, or those whose goal is to rid people of their personal vices, if they use plunder and aggression as their means, they cannot reach any good end.