The Imaginary Revolution is here.

On Dec. 15, 1791, the folks who were in the process of establishing a new government ratified a list of prohibitions intended to prevent that government from violating the innate rights of free individuals. It was a bold experiment.

Today, Dec. 15, 2012, in honor of that bold experiment, I formally introduce The Imaginary Revolution, a novel about individuals and governments and violence and nonviolence.

I’m not so vain as to think this little novel about an Earth colony that throws off its shackles is as important a contribution as that list of 10 statements. No, this is just my contribution to the idea that power flows from the individual to the state, not the reverse.

It is my contention that a loving individual committed to nonviolence wields more power to change a world for the good than any state, any use of force, any expression of hatred or revenge.

All 10 tenets of the Bill of Rights are under attack in 2012. All 10 are routinely ignored by the state, and in fact most efforts by the state to restrain the individual are met with cheers and applause. Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to be secure in one’s person, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures – read the list and you will be able to think of circumstances where the state violates these prohibitions every day.
The just completed political season was so angry, so divisive, that it wasn’t hard to imagine the losing side – either side – rioting in the streets or turning to civil war to accomplish what could not be achieved at the ballot box. The hatred was that raw sometimes – both sides screaming that the other was prepared to wage war on the middle class, on the helpless, on the elderly. And given the condition of the world today, it was easy to imagine that both sides were right.

Into this tinderbox I toss the kindling of a thought that our problems cannot be solved by choosing the right leader or passing the right law or otherwise making the state more powerful; nor can they be resolved by force. The novel begins, “I always thought war was stupid.” And so it is.

Anyone who advocates taking back our freedom by force misunderstands the nature of freedom, which we carry inside. Freedom cannot be granted by an external force like a state or a king; we are each born free. We can only surrender our freedom to a king or a state or a collective. Even the most vicious of tyrants cannot win minds and souls by force. 

The Imaginary Revolution envisions a world guided by the principle that “no one has the right, under any circumstances, to initiate force against another human being for any reason whatever, nor should anyone advocate the initiation of force, or delegate it to anyone else.”

Further, the world is built on three Tenets of Common Wealth:
1. Love your neighbor as yourself.
2. Interact with love, not force or violence.
3. Give more than you receive.

Libertarians will recognize the first principle as the core of their beliefs, known as the Zero Aggression Principle. The Tenets of Common Wealth are the construct of a man named Ray Kaliber, a historian and teacher on Sirius 4 during a time of civil unrest. The story is set in the same universe as my earlier novel The Imaginary Bomb, but with a different tone, told in the words of Professor Kaliber.

The Imaginary Revolution is available as an ebook or a hardcover print edition. A paperback edition and audiobook will be available early in 2013. I offer three options:

To buy the book for Kindle at Amazon for $4.99, click here.

To buy it, also for $4.99, in the three most popular ebook formats – at least one should work for you – click here.

To buy the handsome and durable hardcover edition for your bookshelf – price $24.98 – click here.

For more information, email me at warren@warrenbluhm.com. Let's have a conversation.