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Hello Paul, That link to the forum only works if you are registered to ZeroGov. I am not sure if you were aware of that. I have long been familiar with Bill Buppert and his website, so I went ahead and registered there as Bman1. I will post the following both here and there in the hopes of maximizing thoughts: I, as an Anarchist, do not oppose trying Panarchy. Looking at it from the bigger picture, a question arises that I haven't yet seen discussed: What will be the reaction of the ruling oligarchy that controls the government be? I am referring to the banksters, Wall Street, the Trilateral Commission, etc. I do not know the answer to that question, but it bears tactical consideration.

Thanks Sam, I vaguely remember that quote but could never repeat it off-hand when needed. The race thing is always funny to me. Leftist friends I have cannot fathom why I (an African man) am against affirmative action (they're also afraid to even talk about race). Sometimes I feel the obligation to correct internet wrongs or change minds (after all, I've been assigned a skin color that gives me some immunity from political correctness). I'll sometimes ask, "Should I check MY white privilege?" That privilege just doesn't exist. To the IQ/genetics discussion: the averages will never rise unless incentives for lower IQ are eliminated. Violence, welfare, broken families incentivize lower IQ behavior. Most, if not all, of those incentives emanate from the state.

"...Both sides are also in agreement, that the remedy must be done via government..." You hit the nail on the head: "racism", from its very outset, is definitely a GSE (government-sponsored-enterprise). If there were no such superstition as government, there could be no such insanity as racism. Human bigotry, yes. That might always be present in one form or another among a small number, even after people are truly free of government. And it might sometimes manifest as black vs white, (keep in mind that we are all of race-mixed ancestry, unless products of incest); Ukrainians vs Russians (neither actually exist -- borders are but fictitious lines in the sand. People exist -- some living in places they're currently calling "Ukraine" and/or "Russia"). Once government capsizes, I truly hope borders will indeed be erased and totally forgotten. Nationalism is definitely GSE. I was a government ("public" ha ha) educator in what was known as "the segregated south" (before, during and after "integration"). Ask me about GSE's. Jim Crow was a government sponsored enterprise from stem to stern. Many non-African individuals came out of that ignorance with severe guilt over not having revolted and rebelled against those "laws". From them come many of the anarchists among us. Good essay, Paul. Sam

Alex have you seen this? "The $100 Startup: Fire Your Boss, Do What You Love and Work Better to Live More" It's a kind of "how to" by Chris Guillebeau. I started reading it on Amazon and it has a lot of practical advice.

Speaking of Brits, today is Patriot's Day, when in 1775 that famous first shot was fired. To mark the occasion I'm announcing a new e-book: How Government Silenced Irwin Schiff; find it here. Any who dislike paying the alleged income tax will want to read it.   Irwin died half a year ago, as noted in the ZGBlog Schiff's Crusade.

Thank you, Sam, very gracious.

Your article inspired today's Zero Government Blog, called Freedom, Now and Then - see my entry "Delights to Come" in http://strike-the-root.com/blogs

This is a decent treatment of individualism vs collectivism, although I don't think the word "collectivism" or "collectivist" occurs in the piece. Many years ago when I first began to serf the web, and I became focused upon individualist thinking, I was moved by the inordinate amount of "anarchist theory". Seemed everybody and anybody had an idea as to how freedom would, or should, work out -- how to "arrange anarchy" (an oxymoron if there ever was one). I saw the contradictions, but was not able to catalog them in any sensible order. So I started to simply jot down each time I came across a "theory". The list grew -- unmanageable. So, I put them on the computer in an alphabetical program -- and, later, began to index each to a website. It's a work in progress. This will be long, but I'd like to list what I have so far: Various Anarchist and Libertarian Labels • Abolitionism http://www.strike-the-root.com/62/allport/allport4.html • Acclarism http://www.reddit.com/r/acclarism/ • Agorism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agorism • Anagorism (http://anagory.wordpress.com/2013/03/29/antilibertarian-antistatism/) • Anarcha-Feminism http://dailyanarchist.com/category/anarcha-feminism/ • Anarchy http://faculty.msb.edu/hasnasj/GTWebSite/Obvious.pdf • Anarcho-Capitalism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-capitalism • Anarcho-communism https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/wayne-price-what-is-anarchist-co... • Anarcho-Kritarchy http://dailyanarchist.com/2015/04/06/no-true-anarchist/comment-page-1/#c... (See Kritarchy) • Anarcho-pacifism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchist_schools_of_thought#Anarcho-pacifism • Anarcho-primitivism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-primitivism • Anarcho-syndicalism http://dailyanarchist.com/category/anarcho-syndicalism/ • Antilibertarian antistatism (see “Anagorism”) • Anti-Positivism • Apriorism • Autarchism (Le Fevre) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autarchism • Black Anarchism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_anarchism • Buddhist Anarchism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_anarchism • Carsonian mutualism http://www.socialmemorycomplex.net/2006/04/21/vulgar-libertarian-revisio... • Christian Anarchism http://dailyanarchist.com/category/christian-anarchism/ • Civil Libertarianism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_libertarianism • Classical Liberalism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_liberalism • Collectivist anarchism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collectivist_anarchism • Communism • Communitarian anarchism http://www.ic.org/wiki/communitarian-anarchism/ • Consequentialism • Dialectical Libertarianism http://c4ss.org/content/15318 • Eco-agorism • Eco-Libertarianism • Eco-Socialist-Libertarian • Egalitarian Anarchism http://uscundercurrent.wordpress.com/2010/11/20/what-an-egalitarian-anar... • Egoist anarchism (Max Stirner) • Establishment liberal left • Existentialism http://anarchiststandard.com/2015/11/subjective-meaning-objective-ethics... • Explicitly anarchism, pro-decentralist libertarians (Kinsella) • Extreme Minarchism http://www.armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=8167.0;wap2 • Free Market Anarchism • Free Market Capitalism http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard146.html • Geoanarchism • Geoism (see “Georgism”) • Geolibertarianism • Georgism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgism • Green-Libertarianism • Individualism • Individualist anarchism • Individualist/collectivist anarchist Individualist/collectivist anarchism • Insurrectionary anarchism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insurrectionary_anarchism • Kantianism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immanuel_Kant) • Kratoclism http://www.marketmentat.com/i-think-i-maked-up-a-word-two-actually/ • Kritarchy http://www.voluntaryist.com/backissues/135.pdf P 8 • Las Portadas (“Seasteading”) http://wiki.seasteading.org/index.php/Las_Portadas • Leftarchism https://rudd-o.com/archives/leftarchism • Left Libertarianism • Left Market Anarchism http://c4ss.org/ • Left-Rothbardians • Legal Positivism • Liberal socialism • Liberalism • Libertarian • Libertarian Anarchism • Libertarian conservatism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_conservatism • Libertarian Populism (James Ostrowski) • Libertarian Relativism http://takimag.com/article/the_relativist_roots_of_libertarianism/#axzz2... • Libertarian Socialism • Libertarian Solipsism http://www.masson.us/blog/libertarian-solipsism/ • Libertarian Transhumanism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_transhumanism • Localism and decentralization • Logical Positivism • Market anarchism • Minarchism • Modal Libertarianism • Modern Liberalism • Modest Libertarianism http://www.informationphilosopher.com/freedom/modest_libertarianism.html • Moral consequentialism • Moral Libertarianism http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2216836?sid=21105612397333&uid=70&... • • Muslim Anarchism http://dailyanarchist.com/category/muslim-anarchism/ • Mutualism http://mutualist.blogspot.com/2006/03/p2p-cooperatives-and-counter-econo... • Natural-rights libertarianism • Neo-liberalism • Neolibertarianism • Objectivism • Originalism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Originalism • Panarchism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panarchy • Patrio-psychotic anarcho-materialism http://www.subgenius.com/ • Philosophical Anarchism http://radgeek.com/gt/2015/12/05/the-self-confidence-argument/ • Platformism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platformism • Plumbline Libertarianism • Polycentrism • Post-Anarchism • Post-left anarchy • Post-modernism • Post-structuralism • Praxeology • Primitivism • Progressive Libertarianism • Propertarianism http://www.propertarianism.com/ • Punkish/syndicalist/queer radical social anarchism (above two from Rad Geek site) • Queer anarchism http://dailyanarchist.com/category/queer-anarchism/ • Radical Libertarianism http://www.informationphilosopher.com/freedom/radical_libertarianism.html • Radical minarchists • Right Libertarianism • Rothbardian strain of market anarchism • Schmodal Libertarianism • Scientific Anarchism Social Darwinian right-wing economics • Situationism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Situationist_International • Socialism • Socialist Anarchism • Socialist-Libertarianism • Sortocracy http://sortocracy.org/ • syndicalism • Syndicalist Anarchism • Thick Libertarianism http://c4ss.org/content/23175 • Thin Libertarianism http://c4ss.org/content/23175 • Transhumanist Anarchism http://c4ss.org/content/17838 • Utilitarianism (Friedman’s strain of Anarcho-capitalism) • Utopian socialism • Voluntarism http://voluntaryist.com/fundamentals/introduction.html#.VwXDCHoYM20 • Vulgar Libertarianism http://www.socialmemorycomplex.net/2006/04/21/vulgar-libertarian-revisio... • Zenarchism Sam

Correct, M-Macks! And, anybody who knows me understands I am a strong advocate for homeschooling -- for the reasons you outline and infer. Sam

Thanks, Jim!

Knowing that I own myself - of course!!

A friendly amendment: a "black market economy" might be better called white.   Also a question: from which do you derive more pleasure, (a) knowing that you own yourself, regardless of how you choose to earn bread, or (b) earning bread by serving several customers instead of just one?

You hit another one for six! (That's the English, cricket equivalent of out-of-the-ballpark.)   Cash is indeed king, which no doubt explains the current rumors about de-throning it. Any practical experience yet of Bitcoin, or other forms of non-government money?

You really need to watch this WSJ video. "...Kookie (read: 'libertarian') -is-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder.." (giggle giggle giggle). Don't get me wrong: like Block's support of the clown "running" for U.S. grand wizard, the "free state project" phenomenon is crazy-making from its inception as far as I can tell. Not far removed from "...hair of the dog..." to the drunk. And I suppose I would be concerned if I depended upon "libertarian-ism" (as a movement) to make me free. I don't. I genuinely want you to find the freedom you seek. But, in case you don't, I will still be free. But mainstream media types are obviously terrified of the incessant move toward freedom -- and the internet reformation that is sweeping it along. Sam

Quoting Block.... "My thought, though, was that out of all the Republican candidates, he [Trump] was the most libertarian on foreign policy. He [Trump] was the least likely to get us into World War III." GASP! I view Trump as a whiny, fickle, petulant and unpredictable loose cannon whose arrogant narcissism gets in the way of reason. I envision a Trump presidency as something akin to the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain! "The Libertarian movement is surely in a very sick state." Unfortunately, I'm not convinced that will ever change.

At this point in the Game of Thrones ("election" bread and circuses), it's a certainty that some puppet will be coronated President. I honestly don't think that "votes" from the plebes will change who "Ascends", but if the popular "vote" ends up favoring Darth Trumpious and Cruella de Clinton somehow miraculously gains the Throne instead, TPTB™ will have some 'splainin' to do. And though I have no intention of participating in the sham and help I'm lend it credence, that would put a big smile on my face

I'd hoped that the near-silence on LRC since Walter Block first launched LFT indicated a storm of protest that has made him go quiet. Alas, a new piece out today shows that the opposite is the case. The Libertarian movement is surely in a very sick state.

I think all the factors mentioned contribute to this drop. I know someone who did not have a license for a few years due to a dispute between two state bureaucracies. He had a lead foot too. Cops would pull him over and he'd just say he didn't have a license. They always let him go. I found this interesting. I've noticed that states are now going with permitless concealed carry, Idaho is the most recent one. I always worried about the notion that we should ask permission to carry, but it appears that gradualism worked for once. It must be becoming increasingly obvious that one does not need permission to defend one's life. Also the world did not come to an end because people carried guns, as the gun prohibitionists predicted it would. Anyway just another trend along the lines you mention.

Actually, a fair percentage of homeschoolers have been motivated to remove their learning-disabled children from the government schools because those schools were serving their needs so poorly. As to evading state control, a lot can be chalked up to bureaucratic incompetence. Also, even if they are competent, the last thing they need is to deal with irate parents; they want an easy life. Oregon has a long tradition of noncompliant homeschooling. We never bothered to register my son. My family is none of their business.

Okay, Sam, if THAT's how you see rights, we certainly agree. They do NOT come from government in any way, nor from the Constitution which set ours up.   On the contrary, rights are natural, an integral element in human nature. That was the whole point of that superb paragraph by Rothbard, which I quoted in Liberty: Rooted in Rights.   Incidentally the best part of what Trump is saying (one of the very few good bits) is his understanding of Amendment 2. He says it did not grant a right, rather it guaranteed (ha!) that an existing, natural right would be left undisturbed.

Hi Sam, thanks for commenting. I think your final para particularly is close to true truth; sadly, Walter seems to have fallen into the trap of supposing that politics can be eliminated by participating, to some degree, in politics. But maybe he's now had second thoughts about LFT; the idea has gone very quiet.   Nothing wrong with applauding someone when he gets something right, but there's no call to support any candidacy at all. As you often say, abstain from beans.   If I may say so, don't be too scared of isms. If two people agree on a belief, there's an ism :-)   Whether you want them or not, though, as a human being you certainly do have rights; integral to your very nature. Understanding them and acknowledging them is what makes a person a libertarian; without that there is no basis for morality or justice or peace or prosperity. The converse is also true; one who denies the reality of rights is not a libertarian. I explored this a couple of years ago in Liberty: Rooted in Rights and it quotes a magnificent paragraph by Murray Rothbard which, rationally, nails this matter down for all and for ever.

Great piece. Really enjoyed your thought process in this. I understand your use of "Rights", given the Constitutional battle over the Bill of rights, but I must agree with Sam regarding "Choice" Choice seems to be, or appears to be the most appropriate selection of terms.

My definition of a "right" is that it is an opinion, nothing more, though it bears two distinct characteristics:  1.) It must be something that at least a significant percentage of society recognizes as such, and; 2.) it must be something which -- if abrogated, violated, or eliminated -- the victim(s) of such might reasonably expect to restore by either peaceful or violent means.   Think about it:  If you were alone in the world, would you have "rights?"  They become non-applicable and superfluous in such a scenario.    I think that pretty much does away pretty handily with the whole "natural rights" argument.  And of course government "rights" (a legal claim to something) is never more than a privilege at best, to begin with anyway.

When I say I have a "right to life", I mean that I have the right to kill anybody who genuinely threatens to kill me, and that my neighbors should not punish me for doing so.