Guest post by Isaac Morehouse. When children play with Legos, violence sometimes ensues. “He knocked down my tower!” “Only because she built it to look exactly like the one I made, and that’s not fair. I made mine first!” All the parents I’ve ever met handle this situation by pointing out to the aggressor that…
Category: Free Markets
Securing Property Rights in the Absence of a State
Guest post by George F. Smith. Many Rothbardians are vowing not to vote in this or any election since voting only supports the State. But I wonder if they could be persuaded otherwise if they knew one of the ballot choices were to dissolve the governments and replace them with voluntary market institutions. Of course,…
Open Systems vs. Closed Systems
Guest post by Joseph Dejan. Originally published in The Voluntaryist, February 1987. To the academic question of more or less government, we may find more useful to compare the political structure with the voluntary system. To sustain life and maximize his well-being, organized human efforts are mandatory. Individually, man may survive, but complete independence requires…
It’s Time To Debunk The Myth That Copyright Is Needed To Make Money – Or That It Even Makes Money
Guest post by Rick Falkvinge. One of the most persistent myths about the copyright monopoly has been that it’s needed to make money. This assertion turns out to be false for a very large number of observed cases, but the plural of anecdote is never statistics. So let’s look at some sound statistical evidence for…
Paper Money = Despotism
Guest post by Wendy McElroy. “Fiat” is money with no intrinsic value beyond whatever an issuing government is able to enforce. When it enjoys a monopoly as currency, fiat inevitably turns the free market functions of money inside out. Instead of being a store of value, the currency becomes a point of plunder through monetary…
The Subsidy of History
Guest post by Kevin Carson. A considerable number of libertarian commentators have remarked on the sheer scale of subsidies and protections to big business, on their structural importance to the existing form of corporate capitalism, and on the close inter-meshing of corporate and state interests in the present state capitalist economy. We pay less attention,…
Unlimited Voluntary Exchanges
Guest post by R. C. Hoiles. Originally published in The Voluntaryist, August 1985. In a talk before the Exchange Club of Santa Ana on voluntaryism, I used the subject voluntaryism rather than libertarianism because I do not believe there is as much confusion about voluntaryism as there is about libertarianism. Libertarianism has become distorted to…
Business Keeps Business Honest
Guest post by William Vandersteel. Originally published in The Voluntaryist, February 1985. We take it for granted that the ordinary business contract — perhaps the most vital element of modern commerce — would be completely ineffectual without the vigilance of our courts and legal system. But as George Gershwin once wrote, “It Ain’t Necessarily So.”…
Free-Market Healthcare Solutions Are Already in Place
Guest post by Riley Risto. How many health care professionals would trade a small portion of their incomes or leisure time for the satisfaction of joyfully practicing their craft without worrying about malpractice lawsuits or insurance collection? Apparently enough of them to staff at least 1,200 clinics throughout the USA. The DVC has a part-time,…
How Technology Moves Society, Not Politics
Guest post by Lasse Birk.