Written by Robert Higgs for Independent.org. A man goes to his doctor for a routine checkup. The doctor performs a perfunctory examination and informs him that unless he receives an experimental treatment the doctor has devised, he will soon become disabled. “What’s it cost, Doc?” the man asks. “Well, unfortunately it’s not cheap, Mr. Smith,…
Tag: lying
Language, Collectivism, and War
Send him mail. “Finding the Challenges” is an original bi-weekly 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. Our…
My Reasons For Voluntaryism
Send him mail. “One Voluntaryist’s Perspective” is an original bi-weekly column appearing every other Monday at Everything-Voluntary.com, by the founder and editor Skyler J. Collins. Archived columns can be found here. OVP-only RSS feed available here. Last week, I discussed my values as a voluntaryist and how they guided my behavior as both a member…
Government, a Force of Nature
Written by Paul Bonneau for Strike-The-Root.com. When I go outside this time of year, I get cold. I compensate by getting a coat on, and then go about my business. This is the standard way of dealing with forces of nature. I don’t spend a lot of time lying in bed wishing it weren’t cold.…
Are Children Self-Owners or Slaves?
Children’s “rights”* is a topic of confusion and uncertainty among libertarians. I’d like to solve this once and for all, but not right now. Perhaps someday. Today, I only ask libertarians to consider the logical conclusions of either 1) children owning themselves and therefore possessing all the “rights” associated with ownership or 2) children are…
Liberty: The Other Equality
Written by Roderick Long, as published at the Center for a Stateless Society. Equality is an ideal upheld by a number of ideologies, but nowadays it is seldom associated with libertarianism or classical liberalism. Indeed, both libertarians and their critics typically think of equality as an ideal in tension with the ideal of liberty as…
The Gas Price Story of Hurricane Sandy
Written by Jeffrey Tucker for Laissez Faire Today. For those schooled in economics, the gasoline shortage during Hurricane Sandy last November was no surprise. Demand for gas goes up. Supply lines are disrupted. It’s the old supply-and-demand thing. The price goes up. Higher prices attract new supplies from unconventional paths. Prices respond and fall back…
The Best Way to Solve Your Child’s Problems
Written by Laura Markham for Aha! Parenting. Ever notice how kids don’t really want to hear your solutions to their problems? Teenagers, particularly, often react with downright hostility when we give them our good advice. That’s because they need to see themselves as capable. Every time we tell our child how to handle something, we’re…
Natural Law and Authority
Written by Michael Bakunin, circa 1871, as published in The Voluntaryist, June 1992. What is authority? Is it the inevitable power of the natural laws which manifest themselves in the necessary concatenation and succession of phenomena in the physical and social worlds? Indeed, against these laws revolt is not only forbidden, it is impossible. We…
Can You “Enforce” Your Limits Without Force?
Written by Laura Markham for Aha! Parenting. This is a terrific question: How can we “enforce” our limits? The short answer is, we can’t force anyone to do anything. All we can do is help our child WANT to meet our expectations and help him develop the emotional regulation so he’s able to do so.…