Hensley: Poor and Dangerous

Poverty creates crime so, therefore, if you eliminate poverty then you eliminate crime. Not all crime, though, but most of it. This is a simple concept that has been known for decades yet I see libertarians and conservatives attempt to disprove this notion. Jordan Peterson, the supposed champion of masculinity, blames relative poverty (or the idea that your neighbor has a Ferrari F40 and you have a Ford F150) and FEE claims crime creates poverty. Both are symptoms of the statist poison that runs rampant among these so-called “liberty” types who just believe the opposite of liberals even if it makes no sense. Liberals falsely believe guns create crime so the conservatives and their pet libertarians believe the opposite: that guns prevent crime. So, they get some pretty blonde to go out on Fox News and regurgitate this idiotic belief because they’d rather cuck the libtards than present an actual policy. The American people, not seeing a good policy on the conservative or libertarian side, will migrate over to the liberal side even if that side is wrong too.

Guns are neither the problem nor the solution. They are neutral. That does not mean we should restrict them as they give the individual equal footing with the State. If we outlawed guns, we’d be at the mercy of the State. They are important tools for the individual to protect himself, his family, and his liberty. But we can’t solve the problem of crime by arming ourselves alone.

Why does poverty create crime? When someone is poor then they need things. Maybe it’s food, maybe it’s water. This costs money. Maybe there are no jobs in the area or, for some reason, no one will hire you. What do you do? You steal, you deal drugs, you become a prostitute, you do a host of other crimes. If someone threatens your way of life, you resort to violence because you’re so desperate that you’d do anything to prevent yourself from going back. Again, this isn’t all crime but it is most of it.

Go anywhere on Earth and where you find high poverty rates you find high crime rates. Tijuana, Mexico is the murder capital of the world and has a high poverty rate. Chicago has one of the highest crime rates in America, higher than 95% of US cities, and has a 21% poverty rate. Harlan, Kentucky has a crime rate higher than 84% of cities and a 32% poverty rate. Before anyone brings race into this, Harlan has a 92% white population yet has a crime rate a little below Chicago’s.

Gun rights advocates have failed guns. The longer they claim that more guns stop crime, the more gun control bills that will be passed. Most Americans assume that advocates don’t care about people and with the “just ignore it” attitude that many so-called “gun rights” groups and advocates seem to have I don’t blame them. They have failed liberty and the individual.

How does one deal with poverty then? Reduce regulations, open borders, and establish mutual banks. These are libertarian/anarchist and free market solutions. In some way, each one of these allows people to create their own business and thus create jobs, increases wages and incomes, and reduces the size and strength of corporations. Reducing regulations allows more people the opportunity to afford to enter the market because regulations are tools of corporations to prevent new businesses from competing with them. Open borders allows immigrants to come here and either work or start their own businesses. Workers could work here, earn a salary, send part of it back to their home country, and spend part of it here. That would create jobs both here and abroad and reduce poverty not just here but globally. Mutual banks would allow the poorest person access to seed capital to found their own businesses thus creating jobs and rejuvenating the neighborhood, especially in poor Appalachian and African-American areas. All the while you could repeal gun laws.

Libertarians and conservatives won’t accept the simple fact that poverty creates crime because they don’t support actual policy but slogans to trigger liberals. Anarchists aren’t any better with some supporting candidates who pledge to abolish the government on day one as if that was in any way possible, not to mention that that would lead to chaos (as the transition to an anarchist society is a slow and gradual change).

Poverty and crime is a disease and the free market and mutual banks are the cures. Liberals are prescribing placebos and the libertarians and conservatives don’t even recognize the illness not to mention the underlying cause. If they were actual doctors, they’d get their licenses revoked. Each has failed the poor, guns, liberty, and the American people.

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Dakota Hensley an individualist anarchist and Christian anarchist from Southeast Kentucky. Follow him at @DakotaAHensley.

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