Probably the only thing that keeps a country from going full-frontal totalitarian at once is that the negative economic effects of the government’s actions can take such a toll that people begin to give some weight to that consideration, even though they rarely see through any of the grasping, brutal programs the government carries out, even the most ruinous ones.
Tag: control
Seasteading Thought Experiment
I find this scenario useful when considering any issue that involves being “captive” (more or less) to a geographic location. How much does this “captivity” allow others to control us or force us to make concessions to the will of others? For example, the issue of immigration, when considering this scenario, is seen as one of necessarily forcing fellow natives to live with either open borders or controlled borders.
Obligations, Responsibility, and the Inalienability of the Will
Even among those who subscribe to the non-aggression principle (NAP), there are those who do not understand the nature of obligations, responsibility, and the inalienability of the will. While a thorough discussion of these issues could fill many volumes, it is my desire to provide a simple summary for those who desire an overview of the subject.
It’s The Golden Mean, Not the Golden Median
Should you be self-controlled or free? The golden medians would tell you to give yourself some choice, but not too much. I would tell you that to be fully self-controlled requires being fully free, and vice versa. You must be both, to the nth degree.
My Evil Self
In the past I did things I now consider evil. Things which violate my values, principles, and ethics– or at least the ones I have now. Some of those things I even considered evil when I did them, yet I did them anyway. What’s up with that?
The Absence of Free Will: 7 Distasteful Implications
The irony in the free will debate is the seeming choice that its participants make to be included. And therein lies the first distasteful implication of the possibility that humans do not have free will: the choice we witness is a lie.
Cage Fight!
The wider an area you wall off, the less sense it makes if your goal is protection from your enemies. I don’t want to be trapped in an enclosure with the Clintons, the Bushes, Obama, Chuck Schumer, Joe Arpaio, or any other large-scale archator.
Ultimately Reduce Overall Aggression
After all, if the ends justify the means, and the long term “big picture” goal makes violent aggression against non-violent individuals justified, or even necessary, then how could you object to the outright murder of anyone who has beliefs that you consider to be in any way anti-freedom?
I, Protector
If we place our protection in the charge of sophisticated and powerful machinery (aka government and police states), above any individual autonomy and discretion, we will allow ourselves to become dominated by self-created protection systems.
Property and Self
It seems to me that this is a central economic question confronting the human species, but to resolve it is to put statist and interventionist footprints all over the question. Voluntaryists are stuck on the fence of believing the resolution while being restricted in implementing much of its implications.