Nobody asked but …
As has been made clear by countless libertarian sages, there are only two classes — the first seeks freedom and the second wants to intervene in that search for freedom. I have been listening to an old set of podcasts from the Mises Institute’s The Libertarian Tradition, presented by Jeff Riggenbach. In one episode, Jeff points out that European civilization in the North American new world was founded by two distinct types of adventurer, the first sought freedom from the old order, while the second sought to impose a new order. We Americans, as a people have been in fundamental conflict ever since. Riggenbach says it is the instance of individualists versus the zealots. Individualists make their own goals, take their own actions, and accept all responsibility for the consequences of those actions. Zealots want to dictate your goals, command your actions, blame you for consequences, and blur the lines of responsibility.
Throughout the history of society, there have been struggles for the collectivization of individualists. But in the new land that would become the USA, the battle lines were far more clearly drawn among those who would colonize America, those who would seek freedom according to individual codes against those who would create new empires modeled upon the old empires.
A libertarian/voluntaryist/individualist/anarchist always looks for the simplest rule of thumb by which to gauge the self’s deeds with regard to consistency of principle. Let me suggest the question, am I doing a thing that is my business, or am I doing a thing that will shape somebody else’s business?
— Kilgore Forelle
