This “wage slavery” argument is very convincing. It is potent because all human beings already accept that every one of us is, indeed, compelled to work (in one sense of the word) until one has enough wealth. The “thing” that compels people to work, is reality. No one, not even the richest man, can escape the fact that, if one just consumes and consumes resources without doing anything productive, one will eventually starve and die. This circumstance of reality applies to everyone.
Tag: ethics
David Hume on Self-Coordinating and Correcting Market Processes
David Hume emphasized that commerce and trade were among the most important avenues to offer opportunities to raise people’s standards of living, and to bring refinement and cultural betterment to a growing portion of a nation’s population.
Empowering Hearts and Minds
All individuals act based on a particular set of morals and code of ethics. I want to know what your code is. What morals do you hold dear? What principles would you risk life and limb to protect?
So-Called Intellectual Property
Property ownership is central to liberty and civilization. Property rights prevent conflict over the use of scarce resources. Ironically, the term “intellectual property” (aka “IP”) represents a hodgepodge of concepts that generally introduce artificial scarcity and needless conflict.
Arguing for Voluntary Slavery
The libertarian view of “voluntary slavery” or “slave contracts” is mixed. There seems to be a great divide among the academics, such as Walter Block on one side and Murray Rothbard, et al. on the other.
The Five Institutions of the Market Economy
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.
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.
David Hume, Spooner Quote #19, Context
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. Every day…
What are Principles For?
Send him mail. “One Improved Unit” is an original column appearing sporadically at Everything-Voluntary.com, by the founder and editor Skyler J. Collins. Archived columns can be found here. OIU-only RSS feed available here. So much has changed in my life since I became an adult all those many years ago, I’ve had a lot of…