Nothing should happen to your body without your consent.

Seems pretty straightforward. Yet our society is predicated on ignoring consent.

Recently we have heard all about famous and powerful people ignoring consent when it comes to sexual advances.

But consent is just as important when it comes to labor, for instance. Completely forced labor is slavery.

Taxes also amount to a less intense form of forced labor. Taxes forcibly take part of your money, earned through labor. Just because you get something in return doesn't make it consensual. And if the government benefits were worth the price, why would they need to force us to pay, instead of simply offering us a product?

You also should not be forced to stop doing anything that does not harm someone else. If you have the consent of everyone affected by your actions, it is wrong for someone to stop you. That includes punishment for victimless crimes; everything from drug possession to building on your property without a permit.

Yet the media can't seem to figure out what is making all these powerful and famous people act out sexually without consent. In 2017, a lot of terrible people were exposed for their disregard for consent when it came to sexual advances.

But what was the long-term solution? Giving victims a voice, and scaring powerful people into behaving properly is a good start. But it doesn't address the power imbalance that allows for non-consensual interactions.

Why not make 2018 the year that we get to the root of the problem?

The very fabric of our society is nonconsensual. The way the government operates violates consent at all turns.

But it doesn't have to be that way. We can live in an organized, peaceful, and prosperous society where people are not systematically violated.