Voluntaryism Can’t Work

Nobody asked but …

When I tell others that I am a voluntaryist, they often ask for me to explain how it works.  They’re waiting to pounce on the first opening that let’s them expound on how it won’t work.  This is where the greatest difficulty lies in a meaningful discussion between a voluntaryist and a statist.  The statist is not ready on a moments notice to trash a lifetime of inculcation with statist ideas.  Furthermore, they have become so used to getting empty promises from politicians, they feel they must get a promise along with any new ideas.  “Tell me how this voluntaryism works,” they demand, which is a cover for “tell me what’s in it for me.”  I cannot convey to them, in the short space they usually give me to trip myself up, that there is no path to voluntaryism, voluntaryism is in itself the path.  It will reveal itself step by step.  There is no guarantee.  There is no huge government to hold one’s hand.  And I have my own life, my own path.  How can someone else ask me to quit that path, to find and show them theirs?  They can’t conceive of a world outside where politicians don’t promise them one size fits all.

Kilgore