Choosing the right ruler will not make your life better — I mean “ruler” in the sense of a person in charge of a government apparatus or leviathan that lays down the rules by which you live.
I have been less anxious ever since I found myself fretting over an impossible choice for president, both of whom — like most presidential candidates — were cheerfully touting the ways they intended to further infringe the Bill of Rights, that list of rights the government supposedly is prohibited from infringing.
Those years ago, I was writing that freedom does not depend on having the right ruler, when I had the epiphany: Yes, it does. The “right ruler” of a person is — that person. I am the boss of me. We each have the right — and the responsibility — to control our own lives.
To live as I choose does require some foundation for understanding the responsibility, and I’ve found some easy-to-explain concepts for that foundation.
The main one came from my actual “ruler” — you see, I’m no longer troubled by earthly rulers but I’ve found a supernatural one to follow, the one who said “Love your neighbor as yourself” and further explained that the definition of “neighbor” includes even your enemies.
I also subscribe to what has been dubbed ZAP, the Zero Aggression Principle, which embraces freedom to live our lives as we see fit as long as we don’t infringe on other people’s freedom by initiating force or violence, or contract with someone to do the infringing for us.
Love your neighbor, and everyone is your neighbor. Live and let live. You are the boss of you. There it is, in three short sentences.
So much of what ails us stems from an inability (or refusal) to comprehend or follow these simple principles. The most important election of our lifetime is a personal one — to elect whether to live in peace with others. Most of us choose peace most of the time — I leave home just about every day, engage in a variety of peaceful interactions, and make it home unscathed and unharmed.
The hate mongers, fear mongers and war mongers who babble in the background are irrelevant to this everyday life, except to the extent that they raise the anxiety level. I’m not blind to the fact that there are places all over the world where people have chosen to obey the hate mongers, fear mongers and war mongers. I also believe the mongers will not be defeated by hating them back, by being afraid of them, or by warring against them.
When enough of us choose to live in peace — as, again, we choose every day — we will see that these mongers are just foolish men and women banging gongs and clanging cymbals. It’s all about choosing love. It’s sometimes a hard choice, but it’s our best hope.
