-Isaac DeBlasio
The non-aggression principle, also widely known as the NAP, is a moral rule that guides the philosophy of libertarianism. The NAP states that one shall not physically harm another individual unless it is in an act of self-defense to protect one’s personhood or property. Non-aggression is a lifestyle approach that libertarians synonymously agree should be applied to all human beings regardless of their cultural background, beliefs, or cognitive intelligence. What if libertarians extended the idea of the NAP further to not only people but our non-human counterparts, animals? There is no foundational basis that states the NAP only has to apply to humans. Animals, like people, are emotive beings that can feel pleasure and have the capacity to suffer. While there may be biological differences in how some species experience suffering, what’s widely similar across all experiences is the occurrence of a mentally debilitating state of distress. And still, people slaughter trillions of farmed animals every year. We strip them of their bodily autonomy, exploit their resources, and beat them down until their mental and physical states are nothing but rubbish, devoid of all hope. Looking at it from their perspective, one would not be mistaken for thinking that animals are living under a totalitarian government, and humans are the ones running it. We as libertarians cannot claim to be pro-liberty while simultaneously robbing an entire group of beings of their bodily autonomy and livelihood simply because we like how they taste.
There are further deeply illiberal forces at play that are preventing the progression of animal liberation aside from a person’s decision at the grocery store. Alternatives to animal products such as dairy-free cheese and plant-based meats are becoming more popular, but they are not being given a fair chance in the food market. The federal government intervenes in the market by heavily subsidizing the meat and dairy industries with taxpayer dollars. A Stanford study found that in the United States, animal food products receive 800 times more public funding and 190 times more lobbying than plant alternative food products. This puts a false lens on consumers leading to the belief that animal products are naturally more affordable. The harm that government subsidies cause reaches further than just the suffering experienced by the slaughtered animal individuals. Recent studies point to the fact that consumption of meat can lead to long-term health issues, including heart disease. Government intervention in the market forces people of lower income ranges to purchase heavily processed food products that commonly contain ingredients from animal sources, degrading their health and shortening their lifespan. Of all the negative effects subsidies have on people’s lives, this is one of the worst.
The government’s efforts to suppress the success of plant-based products do not halt at just subsidies. Lab-grown meat is the new hot topic among food and health enthusiasts. It is made by collecting a few stem cells from an animal and then using current technology to grow the cells into muscle and fat tissue. Only a few cells are needed to produce large amounts of cultivated meat. This has the potential to completely replace animal farming, saving trillions of animals from suffering a brutal death. Unfortunately, there are politicians that want to place bans on the production and sale of lab-grown meat deeming it unnatural and therefore not safe for public consumption. A full ban on the sale of lab-grown meat is a threat to human economic liberty and would significantly decelerate progress toward decreased animal suffering.
As libertarians, when we see an injustice we do not wait for a miracle from the government to fix the problem because we know all too well that miracle is never going to come. We take the matter into our own hands, and through voluntary efforts we make the change happen. Right now as you are reading this, pigs are suffocating to death in slaughterhouse gas chambers, and newborn male chicks are being thrown alive into meat grinders because they are deemed useless to the egg industry. Female cows are assaulted through artificial insemination to have a baby so that they will produce milk, only to have the baby stolen immediately after birth so people can take the milk meant for the newborn calf. This is repeated multiple times until the dairy cow can no longer give birth, and she is then sent to slaughter. While government intervention in the market partially impedes efforts to bring an end to animal suffering, it is not the end all be all. We as individuals still have the power to make a difference. Three times a day we have the choice to choose to put no harm on our plates. I hope that you will choose to follow the path of non-aggression for the sake of a liberal future for all species. There is no liberty in a slaughterhouse.