Let us see what the basic institutions of the market economy are. We may subdivide them for convenience of discussion into (1) private property, (2) free markets, (3) competition, (4) division and combination of labor, and (5) social cooperation. As we shall see, these are not separate institutions. They are mutually dependent: each implies the other, and makes it possible.
Tag: conflict
A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Libertarian Infighting
One of the first things people realize upon becoming acquainted with libertarianism is how much libertarians fight amongst themselves about questions that seem highly esoteric and about which very few normal people would care. Esoteric though they may be, understanding these questions is central to understanding why we libertarians believe what we do.
Maybe Anarchism is Capitalism and Communism
Maybe anarchism, the political philosophy of rulerless society, is capitalism and communism. Hear me out.
Why Would Anyone Want a President?
Apart from employees of the executive branch, or active-duty members of the military who have been called into service by Congress, no American really has a “president.” The office was intended to be peripheral to the daily concerns of Americans, rather than the central focus of their existence. What a wonderful thing it would be if Americans of all persuasions adopted the motto “Not My President” – and then learned to regard the state itself with the proper mixture of hostility and contempt.
From One Extreme To The Next
Even as the ideas between the statist and anti-statist are exchanged, those who advocate for more government continue to have the jackboot thug on their side, and no give and take is truly present. What’s an anarchist to do?
Maybe 300+ Million is Too Many
I read somewhere some time ago (can’t find it now) that the optimal size of a nation to be governed effectively, meaning according to the interests of most of the nation’s population, is around 12 million. And that’s only on the national level. Such a nation would have even smaller political units to govern locally.…
Voluntaryism – Don’t Tread On Anyone
If free people do nothing to fight for the freedom of everyone, then all will soon be enslaved. If those with even a modicum of freedom do not fight for every last inch they can gain back from the perilous grasp of tyranny, then tyranny will reign over all.
Rethinking “Evil”
If you watch the news (not recommended) you see people committing despicable acts of violence, and the general consensus is that these people who do evil… are evil. Ironically, when you have decided that someone is evil, bad, or wrong, it’s easy to justify doing evil things to them. “An eye for an eye” makes everyone blind. All this evildoing perpetuates the false belief that humans are inherently evil and would behave badly if not for our prohibitive laws and the constant threat of punishment.
Indoctrination and Mind Control
Indoctrination, in the Webster II New College Dictionary is defined as “to teach to accept a system of thought uncritically”. Mind Control is a more intensive form of the same thing, requiring some form of physical or mental torture. Indoctrination and mind control can be used to instill a system of ideas before an individual has been subjected to any belief system or it can be used to change the system of beliefs already accepted by an individual.
Division of Labor, Evolution, Tom Woods
Send him mail. “Finding the Challenges” is an original column appearing every other Wednesday at Everything-Voluntary.com, by Verbal Vol. Verbal is a software engineer, college professor, corporate information officer, life long student, farmer, libertarian, literarian, student of computer science and self-ordering phenomena. Archived columns can be found here. FTC-only RSS feed available here. With today’s…