I was talking to my kids today about Armistice Day, and the celebration of peace. The focus was on not being at war. And then the feds decided that war should be the new norm, so now it’s Veteran’s Day. I told them that instead of celebrating an idea (peace), a lot of people celebrate a job on this day, and that job is to go kill strangers for the government. It is viewed as an honorable sacrifice that these people make on our behalf to “protect” us.
Tag: honor
The Trouble With Politics
Politics is of its very nature is biased in favor of intervention and planning. Even in its “minarchist” or “night-watchman” version, politics is based at root on the idea that some decisions must be made coercively and imposed on unwilling minorities – or even majorities, as the case may be. This is contrary to the principle we observe in private life every day: the consent of both parties is necessary for a transaction to take place.
Cultural Appropriation Is Love
Editor’s Pick. Written by TJ Brown. I’ve never been able to get into the Halloween spirit. Maybe that’s because most of my childhood’s trick-or-treating consisted of candy corn. But as I’ve grown, I’ve gained a new appreciation for this holiday. It’s an exhibition and embrace of cultural diversity through costumes and tog. Honoring the Other…
Kids for Kash, Dictator Fallacy, Combinatorics
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. I will…
On Jurisdiction
State lawmakers and law enforcement officers claim jurisdiction over their citizenry, meaning, they claim that the laws the make and enforce are applicable to those they claim are their citizens. What facts and evidence of those facts do they have to prove their claim? Dig deep enough, throwing out non-responsive answers to that question (non-factual,…
Pat Farenga Reviews Unschooling Dads
John Holt’s successor and homeschooling/unschooling advocate Pat Farenga reviews my book, Unschooling Dads: This collection of first-person accounts by new and experienced dads who unschool their children is a welcome addition to the discussion about living and learning with your children instead of sending them to school: Why would any father not force their kids…
Face Time
Nobody asked but … Foolish names and foolish faces always appear in public places — some folk wisdom from my youth. But have you noticed that the state cannot refrain from tooting its own horn. I suppose this is from another piece of folk wisdom, about getting face time. This is the hypocritical art of…
Facts
Nobody asked but … If “might” makes “rights,” then they are “privileges” not “rights.” This raises the problem that we have no concrete definition of “rights” in a statist context. I really like Skyler’s idea that might includes reason, which has as much power to create structure as does coercion. I guess I don’t really adhere…
An Attempt at a Universal Ethic VI: Answering Objections
Send him mail. “One Voluntaryist’s Perspective” is an original column appearing most Mondays at Everything-Voluntary.com, by the founder and editor Skyler J. Collins. Archived columns can be found here. OVP-only RSS feed available here. An Attempt at a Universal Ethic I: Introduction An Attempt at a Universal Ethic II: Subjective Identification An Attempt at a…
Toward a Free Society – Full Book
Toward a Free Society A Short Guide on Building a Culture of Liberty by Skyler J. Collins, Published 2015 Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 InternationalPaperback ($6) and other digital formats found here. Preface This isn’t my first publication, but it is my first publication that I authored entirely. Everything Voluntary: From Politics to Parenting…