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…
Tag: defense
Drug Law Nullification and 47%ers
Send him mail. “One Voluntaryist’s Perspective” is an original weekly column appearing every Monday at Everything-Voluntary.com, by the founder and editor Skyler J. Collins. Archived columns can be found here. OVP-only RSS feed available here. Welcome to the inaugural edition of “One Voluntaryist’s Perspective,” a column I really, really hope to write every week. The…
Why Won’t They Leave Us Alone?
Guest post by Eric Peters. The simple answer is – because they can’t. Cloverism is a one-way street. Libertarians, anarchists and others who hew to the philosophy of live – and let live – aren’t the least bit interested in controlling other people. It does not occur to them. In fact, it goes against their…
Winning Arguments
Guest post by Eric Peters. The other day I had a chat with a neighbor friend. He posed a rhetorical question, “You do believe some taxes are necessary, right?” Rather than debate the merits of this or that tax, this or that function funded by taxes – I merely replied that as a non-violent person…
The Non-Problem of Rogue Defense Agencies
Even in today’s universally statized world, prudent individuals continue to patronize private protection agencies, hire bodyguards, and otherwise increase their personal security by the use of market means. The reason for them doing this is obvious – they know all too well that they cannot rely on the “protection services” provided by coercive governmental monopolies,…
Voluntaryism, Crime, & Self Defense
Voluntaryism does not require that one be a pacifist, meaning the complete abandonment of the use of force. It merely requires that one does not initiate force or aggression against an innocent person or his property. In a free society, the first line of defense and lynch-pin of collective security is the personal use of firearms.…
Defining a Free Society
Guest post by Brian Lobb. What is a “free society”? Some people think that having economic freedom while controlling others socially is freedom. On the opposite side, certain folks think that having social freedom while controlling their neighbors’ pocketbook is freedom. Neither stance is freedom when you really break it down. To have a truly…
Parents as the State
Written by Skyler J. Collins. Parents have a unique responsibility. They have the power to create life, and then the duty to protect it and raise it into a functioning adult. But can we say that this life that they create is theirs in the sense of materialistic ownership? I don’t think we can. If…
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…
Spanking is Far Worse than Simply “Beating Up” Someone
I absolutely love this rant by throwaway-o on the anarcho-capitalism subreddit. Here it is in full: Starting from the most fundamental basics: “spanking” (a term used to describe a certain particular form of initiation of violence) is an initiation of violence, and therefore it is an obvious and open violation of the NAP. There is…