As I sat and watched tonight’s GOP Presidential debate in South Carolina it became clear to me that despite much greater name recognition than four years prior, Congressman Ron Paul’s message of non-interventionism will continue to fall on deaf ears. As a minarchist this phenomena was both infuriating and incomprehensible. As an anarchist, however, it makes perfect sense.
Dr. Paul’s Limited Potential
January 17th, 2012 Submitted by Seth KingAnarchy And Islam
January 11th, 2012 Submitted by Davi Barker
I’ve met muslims of every school of anarchist thought from anarcho-socialists to national-anarchists. Prominent among them are Hakim Bay’s “ontological anarchism” and Yakoub Islam’s “post-colonial anarcho-pacifism” but this is my story.
The Unseen Cost Of Pot Prohibition
December 31st, 2011 Submitted by Stefano Mugnaini
When liberals and conservatives take a good look at themselves and genuinely strive for logical consistency, they wind up turning into libertarians and voluntaryists.
Both liberals and conservatives share the belief that society needs a safety net that only a mighty, centralized state can provide. The only real difference is that liberals prefer a social safety net to provide free education, medical care, housing, food, and, increasingly, disposable income and leisure activities. Conservatives want a moral safety net, a government authority responsible for enforcing what they see as good behavior and condemning what they see as bad behavior.
The Burden Of The Soldier
December 29th, 2011 Submitted by Roman Skaskiw
Earlier this month, a little-discussed headline read "Muted Ceremony Marks End Of Iraq War."[1] Of course, neither the war in Iraq nor the occupation are really ending. Thousands of private security contractors remain in the country (as do the fifteen thousand employees of the Baghdad embassy).[2] The end of conventional military operations reflects the changing usefulness of the soldier to the state.
Generally speaking, the soldier’s role as provider of security is secondary to his role in propaganda. Regardless of an individual soldier’s motivation in joining the military, his primary function is to serve as a rallying cry for the fellow subjects of his state.
Child Labor In School And Out
December 23rd, 2011 Submitted by Brian Anderson
The other day I began reading Walter Isaacson’s biography of Steve Jobs. Though I’m a bit turned off by some aspects of Jobs’s personality, I’m fascinated by the entrepreneurial eagerness that seemed to fill his brain from an early childhood.
Looking back, many other industry titans, including Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates, also had jobs when they were young; their intuition wasn’t limited to the classroom.
Unions And Corporations: The Handshake And The Gun
December 20th, 2011 Submitted by Davi Barker
Many people who come to the philosophy of liberty from the right hold on to their conservative talking points on corporations and unions. I came here from the radical left. So it was obvious to me that organized labor played a legitimate role in a free market and that corporations were a creation of the state. But I hadn’t committed a lot of time to forging my opinion.
Both unions and corporations are rooted in freedom of association, but it seemed to me that corporations limit legitimate liability, and unions violate freedom of disassociation. They seem fundamentally similar because they both mitigate economic liability with state force. But I wanted to check my own ex-liberal bias. So, I interviewed one person from each side, a radical unionist and a tea-party patriot, to talk me through the gaps in my understanding.
Safe At Last!
December 16th, 2011 Submitted by Stefano Mugnaini
Rejoice at how safe you’ve become! Because now, finally, you live in a country where you can be detained indefinitely, without trial, on the mere suspicion of terrorism.
This is because the National Defense Authorization Act, yet another bill to provide funds for war and nation-building, has been passed by both houses of Congress. Within this gem of a bill is buried language that mandates that anyone suspected of terrorism be handed over to the military for indefinite detention — and this specifically includes US citizens — at the discretion of the executive branch.
Getting To Medical Freedom
December 12th, 2011 Submitted by Brian Anderson
An interviewer once asked H.L. Mencken, “If you find so much that is unworthy of reverence in the United States, then why do you live here?” Mencken quickly responded, “Why do men go to zoos?”
It is for the same reason that I find myself continually watching political debates.
The Violence And Justice Monopoly
December 10th, 2011 Submitted by Roman Skaskiw
Almost all of us hold two beliefs which contradict a third near-universal belief. The first is that a state, however else defined, is a geographic monopoly of security and justice. One cannot appeal a ruling beyond the state, and whatever private providers of security and justice may exist, they do so in pronounced subservience to and supervision by the state.
The second is that monopolies invariably cause high prices and low quality. Is it so absurd to unite these two self-evident ideas and suggest that states are poor providers of security and justice?
Criminal And Civil Law In Free-Market Justice
December 8th, 2011 Submitted by Wendy McElroy
What is a natural right as opposed to a right acquired by contract?
Natural rights begin with the idea that a human being is a form of property. The question becomes “who is the owner?” There are three possible alternatives: each person is a self-owner; someone else owns him (slavery); or he is an unclaimed good.
