Guest post by Nicole Olsen. For two years now my daughter Katy has wanted a cat. No, wanted isn’t really the right word. Passionately desired with every fiber of her being is more like it. At first, I kind of figured it was a passing phase. After all, she was barely five years old. Her tastes changed…
Category: Editor’s Picks
The Search for Peace
Guest post by Lorne Strider. Originally published in The Voluntaryist, January 1987. If we look about us in the world today, it soon becomes apparent that only governments are capable of the large scale regimentation and taxation necessary to conscript, train, arm, feed and clothe armies. Only governments with powers of coercive taxation can amass…
Re: Animal Rights and Voluntaryism, a Solution
borahorzagobuchol has offered some constructive criticism of my “solution“. You can read that here. My last point, “I don’t know if the ‘animal rights’ debate will ever be settled, but either way, right now the voluntaryist solution is simple (persuasion).” Skyler.
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 Evils of Power Over Others
Guest post by Auberon Herbert. Excerpted from his 1908 essay “A Plea for Voluntaryism” found in The Voluntaryist Creed. Endless are the evils that power brings with it, both to those who rule and are ruled. If you hold power, your first aim and end are necessarily to preserve that power. With power, as you fondly imagine, you possess all…
Animal Rights and Voluntaryism, a Solution
A Facebook groupee shared this article he wrote on the NAP and animal rights. I responded with what I believe is the voluntaryist solution. How about… when animals are capable of adopting the non-aggression principle for not only their own species, but toward others, then perhaps we can start including them?Further, consider proportionality and powers.…
The United States OR America?
Guest post by Carl Watner. Originally published in The Voluntaryist, July 1986. On January 10, 1776, Tom Paine published his pamphlet Common Sense. It spread like wildfire through the colonies and shattered the King’s cause as it set forth the virtues of independence and the absurdity of submitting to the arbitrary rule of a hereditary…
Where Does the State’s Legitimacy Come From?
Guest post by Michael Suede. I have a simple question for my dear readers. Where does the U.S. government’s legitimacy and power come from? Does it come from some pretty handwritten documents that date back to the 18th century? To quote the preamble to the Constitution: We the People of the United States, in Order…
Living Slavery And All That
Guest post by Alan P. Koontz. Originally published in The Voluntaryist, August 1985. In various forums, at least since the birth of the [Libertarian Party], Murray Rothbard has invoked what he calls the “slavery analogy,” to point up the morality of political voting. The question is: Does the slavery analogy really help in this way?…
A Fine and Functioning Anarchy
Guest post by Alex R. Knight, III. A recent acquaintance of mine – I’ll call him Larry, for purposes of anonymity (the further relevance of which shall become clear shortly) – related a story just earlier at the time of this writing, in which a friend of his referred to a certain venerable organization as…