Raw Milk, 3D Printing, and Kid Scientists

“One Voluntaryist’s Perspective” is an original weekly column appearing every Monday at Everything-Voluntary.com, by the founder and editor Skyler J. Collins. Archived columns can be found here. OVP-only RSS feed available here.

The reason this column is titled “One Voluntaryist’s Perspective” is because that’s all I am. My positions are not the official positions of all voluntaryists. How could they be? Voluntaryism is individualistic. I am an individual with my own changing understanding of the world around me. Others have a different understanding, and an either more or less complete understanding of the many facets of voluntaryism. When perspective on an issue is incomplete, I expect to be corrected by my readers. One such reader was gracious enough to point out some things in regards to last week’s thoughts on the high schooler who took a spanking from her vice principal. You can read that in the comments here.

On to this week. In my inaugural edition I talked about jury nullification in New Hampshire. In this edition we’ll talk about jury nullification in Minnesota. Also, we’ll talk about the still young 3D printing industry and it’s future in regards to the IP State, a recent study that concludes that children are natural scientists, and I’ll give a few thoughts on the current president debates, err, non-debates, really. You’ll see.

Jury Nullification and Raw Milk

One of the major principles in voluntaryism is consumer freedom. There’re at least two ways to look at every retail transaction, 1) the point of view of the producer or vendor and 2) the point of view of the consumer. Both sides have a right to engage in trade or not with the other side. In a free market, which voluntaryism demands, there is no third party to every trade, looking over the shoulder of each sides and butting in or making demands on the outcome. There’s you and me trading value for value. You have something I want more than what I got, and vice versa. It’s in our collective best interest to know what we’re getting into. We don’t need anybody else to forcibly alter the terms of our trade. If we have a conflict, we can invite a third party to help us sort it out.

The state thugs in Minnesota have passed laws regarding the selling of raw milk. You know, the stuff that mankind’s been drinking for millennia? Personally, I’m not a dairy guy, but many people are, and many people value the benefits of raw, whole milk straight from the teet. Alvin Shlangen broke these laws, and was brought to court. The jury, in their great wisdom, acquitted him of all charges on the basis of bad law. Jury nullification for the win, again! You can read all about it at BusinessWeek.com.

Were his customers defrauded or dissatisfied? Not at all. He traded value for value, and third party state thugs decided that they knew better than his customers what was in their best interest. No thank you, ma’am. Jury nullification to the rescue. Point liberty.

(Other voluntaryist perspectives on this topic: Karen De Coster, Katherine Mangu-Ward)

3D Printing and Intellectual Property

Now this one’s exciting and frightening at the same time. 3D printing is simply awesome. I still can’t even wrap my head around it. It seems so unreal, like a big hoax, like they finally caught Bigfoot. No, really, I’ve seen a ton of videos on how it works and it’s pretty darn cool. It’s mind blowing, the possibilities; the things that can be made. Toys, tools, now guns, now organs! See what I mean about it being unreal?

Aaaaand, it’s gone. That is if the IP regime has anything to say about it. Could you imagine? Like that toy? Print your own. Need that tool? Print your own. That gun? Print it. That new organ? Print it. All sorts of things, created by the push of a button right on your desktop. But is the future really that awesome? I fear not even close. It’s going to be a long and bloody battle in the war on IP. The Economist looks at 3D printing and intellectual “property“. I’ll leave it at that for now.

(Other voluntaryist perspectives on this topic: J.D. Tucille, Cory Doctorow)

We Are All Born Scientists

Scientists have concluded that kids are natural scientists. They way the explore their world is just like scientists. They hypothesize, experiment, and conclude. Of course, voluntaryists and radical unschoolers already knew that, which is why we’re radical unschoolers. Kids don’t need to sit down for 8 hours a day, most of the year, to learn something awesome (as if that’s what they learn at school). They need freedom and mentors. That’s it. Thanks scientists for confirming the obvious!

(Other voluntaryist perspectives on this topic: John Holt, Pam Sorooshian)

Presidential Debates

Just a word or two on these presidential debates. They’re mind-numbing, aren’t they? Two people, and of course only two, they would never let any of the other parties join in the fun, whose ideologies are 95% identical, “debating” on carefully selected topics. It’s never a debate. They spend half the time agreeing with each other and the other half arguing over who can do what better. Very little real debate actually happens because they’re two peas from the same statist pod. But of course, it’s designed that way. I steer clear.

(Other voluntaryist perspectives on this topic: Jacob Hornberger, Jeffrey Tucker)

Final Thoughts

Not much by way of final thoughts. Liberty scores a little here, loses a lot there. All in all it depends on how you look at things. If you expect our rulers to come to their senses and reign in spending and taxing and bombing, you’ve missed the last century. Rulers don’t do that. They tax, spend, bomb, and get fat and happy doing it. And everyone else suffers. It’s a charade, a hoax, and a fraud. I’ve mentally seceded. I want no part of it. Let me be, and I’ll return the favor.