The concept of freedom isn’t about other people living their lives the way you live yours. It’s about everyone being free to do whatever they wish so long as their actions do not harm other people or deprive them of their stuff. Put another way, you have no right to impose your personal opinions and beliefs about sexuality, drug use, lifestyle choices, body modifications, religion, and so forth onto others.
Tag: lifestyle
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.
Learning: It’s Not About Education
For the very youngest children, learning is constant. Their wondrous progress from helpless newborn to sophisticated five-year-old happens without explicit teaching. They explore, challenge themselves, make mistakes, and try again with an insatiable eagerness to learn. Young children seem to recognize that knowledge is an essential shared resource, like air or water. They demand a fair share. They actively espouse the right to gain skills and understanding in a way that’s useful to them at the time.
Government is Not Abstract
Editor’s Pick. Guest post by Connor Boyack. Government is not abstract. I find that many people treat it like it is. This is evident in how they discuss a political issue. Here’s an example. “Marijuana should not be legalized.” This sounds so benign, yet it masks a number of disastrous consequences such a position requires.…
On SCOTUS II
The recent SCOTUS ruling on gay marriage has the very real effect of forcing States, Counties, Cities, Townships, and other political bodies to license and recognize same-sex marriages within the United States. Is it not conceivable that this ruling will also force non-political bodies to recognize same-sex marriages? Bodies like businesses and churches. Should it?…
The Rich, Spooner #16, Godwin’s Law
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. It is…
On Primitivism
I’ve got major sympathies for the philosophy of anarcho-primitivism, the idea that primitive living would make us healthier and happier. The agricultural revolution, while being necessary to sustain growing populations, brought with it poor diets, poor lifestyles, poor parenting practices, and the cancer of statism resulting in economic exploitation and poor childhood educational practices. The…
Re: On Anarchy II
After sharing my post on anarchy over at reddit, Anen-o-me wrote this enlightening reply (links are mine): “Removing the lie” with an argument only works for the reflective thinkers of the population, which is a fairly small slice. Notably, the INTJ(P) personality type, the mental system builders who are bothered by logical inconsistencies and also willing…
Whatever They Want
Send him mail. “One Improved Unit” is an original column appearing sporadically on Monday at Everything-Voluntary.com, by the founder and editor Skyler J. Collins. Archived columns can be found here. OIU-only RSS feed available here. The one thing that has really taken my relationship with my children to a more peaceful and prosperous level, is…