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…

Why I Would Not Vote Against Hitler

Guest post by Wendy McElroy. Originally published in The Voluntaryist, April 1997. At the last Liberty Conference, an intellectual brawl erupted during a panel discussion on terrorism. Since I consider electoral politics the milquetoast equivalent of terrorism, my opening statement was a condemnation of voting. My arguments were aimed at libertarians who consider themselves anarchists…

The Search for Peace

Guest post by Lorne Strider. Originally published in The Voluntaryist, January 1987. If we look about us in the world today, it soon becomes apparent that only governments are capable of the large scale regimentation and taxation necessary to conscript, train, arm, feed and clothe armies. Only governments with powers of coercive taxation can amass…

Button Pushing or Abdication: Which?

Guest post by Carl Watner. Originally published in The Voluntaryist, August 1985. For an earlier article on this topic, with a different perspective, at Everything-Voluntary.com, see this post. In Detroit on April 29,1946, Leonard Read gave a speech to the Midwestern Conference of the Controllers Institute of America. The address, which was titled “I’d Push…