Philosophy
“It’s The Code You Live By That Defines Who You Are.” — Johnny Silverhand (Cyberpunk 2077)
Starting Points
My politics come from a few basic assumptions:
- I exist.
- Other people exist in the same real sense that I do.
- I have a right to exist.
- Other people have the same right, free from my interference.
That is the baseline I try to reason from. It does not answer every political question by itself, but it gives me a place to start: people are real, their lives matter, and my freedom is not a license to erase someone else’s.
On Violence
I oppose violence as a tool for political or social change. It usually hardens people, creates retaliation, and gives power to whoever is most willing to escalate. I do not see it as a sustainable path to liberation.
Defense Of Property
That does not mean I reject self-defense. I think defense can extend to property in narrow cases, but the bar should be high.
For force to be justified, I think three things need to be true:
- The property claim is legally and socially recognizable.
- Reasonable nonviolent options have already failed or are not available.
- The aggressor has reason to understand that force may be used.
Property is not more important than human life in the abstract. That framing is too clean. A home, a vehicle, a small business, or a tool someone depends on can represent years of labor and the difference between stability and collapse.
That matters most for working-class people. For them, property is often not a luxury or a symbol of status. It is security. It is time. It is the material base that lets a person keep living with some control over their life.
So I do not treat destruction of property as harmless. I also do not treat force as casual. Both positions can be true at the same time.