A common objection I have seen is that in a free society, where one would contract voluntarily with a private fire department, if your neighbor’s house catches fire and your fire contractor fights it in order to save your house from damage, the neighbor has benefited from your contract without paying anything. Your neighbor is a “free rider.”
Tag: government
Following One Principle Would Abolish Violence and Injustice
I’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating, loudly and often: Most of the world’s problems would disappear overnight if people lived by the following principle.
Distasteful Communities Are a Feature, Not a Bug
A criticism others have made against my political philosophy (decentralism) is that a racist, theocratic, or other problematic form of government could establish itself in a given region. However, I try to point out to people that what they call a bug is more of a mutually beneficial feature.
Only Behaving “Good” Because Government Says To?
One of the creepiest things about statism is that it seems to actually convince a bunch of otherwise good, rational people that if there were not a political ruling class telling them how to behave, that they themselves wouldn’t behave as they should.
“Protecting Our Freedoms” is as Real as Santa Claus
Are we to believe that, if not for U.S. soldiers mindless terrorizing people on the other side of the world, some band of militants from some third world dictatorship would have conquered, enslaved and oppressed 300,000,000 Americans, 100,000,000 of whom are armed? The implication is idiotic, yet countless “patriotic” Americans proudly repeat the fairy tale on a regular basis.
State Services Will Always Be a Crappy Deal
Aside from all the immorality of state coercion, “government” services will always be a crappy deal, for a very simple economic reason – so simple that it’s kind of pathetic it even needs to be explained.
Ten Fundamental Laws of Economics
In the midst of so many economic fallacies being repeatedly seemingly without end, it may be helpful to return to some of the most basic laws of economics. Here are ten of them that bear repeating again and again.
Complaint Dismissed in Indiana – Prosecution Withdraws
A big congrats to Dale in Indiana for taking a principled stand against the predators and getting a prosecutor to withdraw their false charges. Not only am I really grateful Dale sent me the documentary proof (during the show!), but he called into the show to give his first hand account of what happened in court.
Why Consolidating Force is a Stupid Idea
You can’t just wish away the capacity for violence. Nor can you deprive aggressors of the means of violence except by way of good people having the ability and willingness to use defensive force. You, personally, don’t have the right or the ability to decide which of the other several billion people on the planet possess the means to use force, including deadly force. And feeling anxiety about that doesn’t make it untrue.
Why Our Coercive System of Schooling Should Topple
I’ve been called a crazy optimist, a Pollyanna, a romantic idealist. How can I believe that our system of compulsory (forced) schooling is about to collapse? People point out that in many ways the schooling system is stronger now than ever. It occupies more of children’s time, gobbles up more public funds, employs more people, and is more firmly controlled by government—and at ever-higher levels of government—than has ever been true in the past. So why do I believe it’s going to collapse—slowly at first and then more rapidly—over the next ten years or so?