Guest post by Carl Watner. Originally published in The Voluntaryist, August 1985. For an earlier article on this topic, with a different perspective, at Everything-Voluntary.com, see this post. In Detroit on April 29,1946, Leonard Read gave a speech to the Midwestern Conference of the Controllers Institute of America. The address, which was titled “I’d Push…
Category: Voluntaryism
The Problem of Representative Democracy
Guest post by Chris Bassil. This week will mark the first presidential debate between the incumbent Barack Obama and his challenger, Mitt Romney. Although the two are certain to discuss a number of hot-button issues, major media outlets have begun to suggest that the debate will serve mostly as an evaluation of the candidates themselves.…
A Shift in the American Mind
Guest post by Geoffrey Pike. I have detected a shift in the American mind and it is a good thing. I see more and more people awakening to the fact that government is not there to look after people. I see more people realizing that these ongoing wars are ridiculous, unnecessary, and quite harmful. I…
Frederick Douglass and Modern Slavery
Guest post by Chris Sullivan. Drapetomania was a supposed mental disorder that caused slaves to run away from their masters. Anyone paying attention to the emigration of many Americans to freer countries might think that drapetomania is striking the wealthier classes. A man who knew something about drapetomania – in fact he had it, even…
Re: Voluntaryism Transcends Anarchism
Here’s a video-based exploration of the ideas presented in this post:
Voluntaryism Transcends Anarchism
Post by Skyler J. Collins: I wanted to share some thoughts I’ve had, and some ways that my mind has compartmentalized concepts and ideas relating to voluntaryism. Watch a video exploration of these ideas here. In my humble opinion, voluntaryism is more than just a political philosophy, as I explained in the introduction of my…
A Voluntaryist Approach to Abortion
I wrote this as a response in a Facebook discussion. I thought I’d share it here. There’re two ways to approach libertarianism: 1) legal philosophy, and 2) political philosophy. 1) is *what* laws should be made, and 2) is *how* those laws should be made. Liberty, hence libertarians, hence the non-aggression and self-ownership principles, demand…
I Want a Cost-Free Life!
Guest post by Butler Shaffer. While driving on the freeway the other day, I saw a sign on another car urging me to “demand free energy.” Why the driver failed to include “free food,” “free gasoline,” “free designer clothes,” “free cars,” “free sex,” “free luxury home,” or any other whim was not made clear. This…
Do You Hate the State?
Guest post by Murray Rothbard. I have been ruminating recently on what are the crucial questions that divide libertarians. Some that have received a lot of attention in the last few years are: anarcho-capitalism vs. limited government, abolitionism vs. gradualism, natural rights vs. utilitarianism, and war vs. peace. But I have concluded that as important…
Scope and Scale
Guest post by Larkin Rose. Why would anyone ever give up his freedom, in favor of having a master? Because aspiring tyrants are very good at deceiving people into thinking that it’s for their own good. It’s sad that this ever works, since it’s akin to a slave-master convincing a slave that the purpose of…