Nobody Owns Anything

Throughout my tenure as an anarchist one thing has always set me apart from everyone else: my beliefs around the concept of property and ownership. These are some real foundational beliefs for me, because it is based on them that I evaluate various things like “capitalism”, “socialism”, “communism”, even “economics” writ large. My beliefs on ownership are ones that I have largely kept silent about, but recently I have been feeling the need to sit down and elucidate my thoughts on the subject. So here it goes.

Voluntaryism is the Love for Humanity

As a Voluntaryist my love and compassion extends to the totality of the human race. I make no preference or distinction towards any one group of people. We do not have women’s problems, black problems, rich problems, poor problems, Islamic problems, Christian problems, Hispanic problems, Mexican problems, Korean problems, or Russian problems. We have human problems because we are all human beings! Recognize your common heritage with your fellow human being. This is the source of true prosperity and peace.

The Dangers Of Collectivism

Unlike inanimate objects human beings have needs, wants and desires that vary based on gender, ethnicity, religion, culture, race, creed, and the individual. The same individual’s desires can change based on the year, month, week, and even day in question. After knowing an individual for a long period of time one may make certain general predictions based on previous behavioral patterns but even this may be risky.

My Political Objectives

A month ago I shared my result of “The Political Objectives Test” by Hello Quizzy. I was branded an “anarchist” with the summary beginning with this very true statement, “Liberty is so overwhelmingly important to you that you wish to eliminate anything that can interfere with it.” I found the test to be rather helpful in contrasting my views with others on the various topics it questioned me about. For that I wanted to present the questions here with emphasis (underlined) on the statements I selected, followed by some commentary and resources.

What’s a Secular Heretic to Do?

Secular and religion-based political systems can bear an uncanny resemblance. Observing their respective dogmas, catechisms, and sacraments, we might even wonder, with William Cavanaugh, whether the divide is as sharp as we commonly think. Recent events certainly call the distinction into question. We see that a secularist can be as much a fanatic who is willing to denounce heresy and impose his will through violence as any religionist.

Imposing Personal Opinions onto Others

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.

Trump Sends Property Rights Up in Flames

Alongside of Catholicism and Protestantism, the primary religion in the United States is not Islam or Judaism but the American civic religion. The Pledge of Allegiance is the creed of this religion and the American flag is its chief symbol. In the American civic religion, the worst sin that an American can commit is to refuse to pledge allegiance to the flag or to desecrate it. Federal law contains numerous provisions regarding the use, handling, display, and disposal of the flag. After some college students recently burned American flags on their campuses, President-elect Donald Trump tweeted, “Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag — if they do, there must be consequences — perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!”