It is beyond any measure of denial to assert that the American experiment in “limited government” – “constitutional” or otherwise – has proven itself an abject failure. The US government is the largest, most expensive, and most powerful cabal on the planet. And it shows no signs of reversing course. But for the true believers in minarchism, it gets even worse.
Tag: minarchism
Gun Policy Costs, Equality and Property Rights, & Minarchism (26m) – Editor’s Break 094
Editor’s Break 094 has Skyler giving his commentary on the following topics: whether homicides, suicides, et cetera, are a valid consideration for the costs of liberal gun policy; the achievement of wealth inequality in a society where property rights are secure; the status of minarchism, or minimal statism, as a libertarian political philosophy; and more.
Words Poorly Used #127 — Secrecy, Security, Privacy
These three words, secrecy, security, and privacy, are thrown about, often with an intent to imply relationship among them. But none of them actually imply the others or any combination of the others. the critical element for each is whether they are legitimate provinces of the state, and in the hands of the state, are they appropriately administered. Let’s look at each as a standalone entity.
Voluntary Law and Order
People are not all the same, and they make different choices because they have different values, circumstances, and levels of understanding. Sometimes those choices are peaceful and wise; sometimes they are not. So what are the best ways to promote good choices and cooperation while preventing and providing resolution for conflict?
Moderation Can Be Vicious
Compromise is often a good thing; it’s often useful to meet people halfway on something so everyone can at least be content enough to settle some disagreement and not fight anymore. And when someone shows no ability or willingness to bend at all, he will often be seen as hard-headed, stubborn, even extreme. However, the idea that compromise and “moderation” are always automatically good things is completely bogus.
Voluntaryism among Other Philosophies
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. Voluntaryism is the philosophy based on the voluntary principle, that all human relations should happen voluntarily or not at all. In…
Words Poorly Used #52 — Minarchism
There are actually at least two kinds of minarchist. The first is the libertarian who sees a small but appropriate role for a little bit of a state. Some people see this as approving of acorns but disliking oaks. I suppose this is through a confusion among the words stasis, meaning an unchanging condition, and…
Words Poorly Used #24 — Minarchy
The problem with minarchism is that there is no agreement on what the minimum activity of government is. I believe government has no role in human nature. So if we talk about going through minarchy as a step toward anarchy, that is unfortunately an ambiguous target. If we instead are using minarchy to mean less…
Re: Kelly Thomas
Nobody asked but … Argument for minarchism: The government should at least protect us from murderous cops. Stay tuned for more ironies annotated by … Kilgore.
Re: Minarchy
Kilgore, here’s Amanda’s post in full: This is the last argument I will direct toward self-professed “minarchists”. After that, I have no more time for reactionaries or reformers. The free society offers too many exciting prospects for me to continue to waste time. The constant minarchist refrain is this: “Life, liberty and property. Life, liberty…