The Threat of Authority

Guest post by Will Grigg. Skepticism, Santayana observed, is “the chastity of the intellect.” In similar fashion, resistance – not compliance – is the default response of a free person to a directive issued by someone acting in the name of “authority.” Louise Ogborn, a teenage employee at a McDonald’s in Mount Washington, Kentucky, was…

Confronting the Myth of Gun Control

Guest post by Faisal Moghul. In the wake of the Batman massacre in Aurora, Colorado, and now the Sikh Temple attack in Oak Tree, Wisconsin, the mainstream media’s propaganda blitz has predictably inundated the airwaves with the conventional, yet fallacious, orthodoxy that more guns equal more armed crime. Against this backdrop, some lawmakers have sought…

When Does Law Become Criminal?

Post by Skyler J. Collins. Originally written August 2011. If you’ve ever criticized taxation in front of an average statist, be them liberal or conservative, you know that it quickly turns awkward. They insist that taxation is necessary for certain services and that they’re happy to pay it. They sometimes even assume you’re advocating not…

Toward a Voluntaryist Praxis

Guest post by Nicholas Hooton.“When philosophy dies, action begins.” – Casey Maddox The overwhelming resurgence of interest in voluntaryist philosophy over the past five years has been inspiring to witness. It enjoyed a brief spotlight in the early 1980s with Carl Watner’s publication of The Voluntaryist newsletter; but the communication technology of the early 21st…

What it Means to be an Anarcho-Capitalist

Guest post by Stephan Kinsella. Originally published at LewRockwell.com, January 20th, 2004. Butler Shaffer’s recent LRC article, What is Anarchy?, prompted discussion on the Reason blog and inspired me to set down a few ideas I’ve also had along these lines. Libertarian opponents of anarchy are attacking a straw man. Their arguments are usually utilitarian…