Guest post by Hans Sherrer. Originally published in The Voluntaryist, 3rd Quarter, 2002. In 1776, the Declaration of Independence made it plain that in America, “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, – That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive…, it is the Right of the…
Tag: independence
Is Voting an Act of Violence?
Guest post by Carl Watner. Originally published in The Voluntaryist, April 2000. Hans Sherrer, a subscriber to The Voluntaryist, sent me an essay entitled “Voting Is An Act of Violence,” which began with the statement “Voting is the most violent act someone can commit in his lifetime.” How true is this? First, let us define our…
Ben Speers
“Toward Freedom” is an Everything-Voluntary.com series sharing personal stories about the journey toward freedom. Archived stories can be found here. Submit your story to the editor. A lot of people go through life without ever questioning things, but I’ve always identified with Socrates’ sentiment that the unexamined life isn’t worth living. In the realm of…
Open Systems vs. Closed Systems
Guest post by Joseph Dejan. Originally published in The Voluntaryist, February 1987. To the academic question of more or less government, we may find more useful to compare the political structure with the voluntary system. To sustain life and maximize his well-being, organized human efforts are mandatory. Individually, man may survive, but complete independence requires…
The United States OR America?
Guest post by Carl Watner. Originally published in The Voluntaryist, July 1986. On January 10, 1776, Tom Paine published his pamphlet Common Sense. It spread like wildfire through the colonies and shattered the King’s cause as it set forth the virtues of independence and the absurdity of submitting to the arbitrary rule of a hereditary…
Unlimited Voluntary Exchanges
Guest post by R. C. Hoiles. Originally published in The Voluntaryist, August 1985. In a talk before the Exchange Club of Santa Ana on voluntaryism, I used the subject voluntaryism rather than libertarianism because I do not believe there is as much confusion about voluntaryism as there is about libertarianism. Libertarianism has become distorted to…
America as an Historical Advance in Political Ethics
Guest post by Spencer Morgan. As an advocate of stateless human organization, or voluntaryism, I’ve often been faced with the dilemma of how to evaluate America in light of that ethical position. Is there any amount of reverence or appreciation warranted or does the nationalistic mythology about freedom need to be entirely discarded? Below are…
Chapter 19 – The Right to Control One’s Learning
Table of ContentsPrevious – Section Four – Chapter 18 – “Schooling: The Hidden Agenda” by Daniel Quinn 19 The Right to Control One’s Learning by John Holt Young people should have the right to control and direct their own learning; that is, to decide what they want to learn, and when, where, how, how much,…
Chapter 4 – The Anatomy of the State
Table of Contents Previous – Section One – Chapter 3, “Fundamentals of Voluntaryism” by Carl Watner 4 The Anatomy of the State by Murray N. Rothbard What the State Is Not The State is almost universally considered an institution of social service. Some theorists venerate the State as the apotheosis of society; others regard it…
Everything Voluntary – Unschooling Resources
Table of Contents Previous – Section Four – Chapter 23 – Grown Without Schooling by Jason Hunt Unschooling Resources Books How Children Learn, by John Holt “This enduring classic of educational thought offers teachers and par-ents deep, original insight into the nature of early learning. John Holt was the first to make clear that, for…