Secession / Unification

Nobody asked but … I know how I feel relative to the problem in Catalonia.  I favor Catalonian Independence. But it makes me really examine how I feel about separatist situations in general. I look first at the situation with the province of Ulster in Ireland, a province that was broken out and retained by…

Is Secession by Referendum Libertarian?

My concerns about group (not individual) secession are over the process of peaceful separation, namely, the referendum. Libertarians have long criticized political democracy — that is, the settling of “public” matters by majority vote either directly or through so-called representatives — as inherently violative of individual rights. By what authority does a majority lord it over a minority? Well, doesn’t this critique apply to referenda on secession?

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?

Self-Governance, Rationality, and Secession

Contemplation is a form of internal emigration or mental secession, and every contemplative knows how valuable it can be for the life of the mind. Libertarian secession – a striving for full sovereignty over one’s private property and the physical space delimited by it – is a natural extension of the contemplative impulse from the realm of pure throught to the realm of action.