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Every person owns himself or herself. We are not the property of "government". We are each born with the right to attempt to achieve liberty and happiness as we define those terms -- as long as we don't violate others' rights. Government exists only to protect our rights to achieve liberty and happiness. This includes the right to cut consensual, voluntary deals with other parties--the free market, which encompasses almost everything people do. No one--neither a mugger nor a group of suits in some capitol building--NO ONE has the right to initiate force or fraud to further personal or political goals. A crime can only exist when someone (or a group of people) hurts someone else through force or fraud, or through gross or malicious negligence. We must reverse the tendency of government to create crimes out of whole cloth, and thus prevent it from gaining legitimacy in its endless attempts to garner authority over aspects of our lives wherein it has no legitimate function. |