Foundering in the Morass
tzo
2013-04-30 08:28
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<Voluntaryist decides to troll Statist in order to illustrate the contradictions inherent in government:> Guess what? I own a slave now! It's great! He has to do whatever I say! You should get one, too!
What! That's completely illegal!
No, he voluntarily signed a contract and now I own him.
But the 13th Amendment makes slavery illegal. Period. No...
Broken
tzo
2013-04-24 07:39
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Every day there are people starving to death in many parts of the world as I step out from work and go enjoy my lunch. What am I—some kind of monster? Don’t I realize that:
No man is an island,
Entire of itself.
Each is a piece of the continent,
A part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less.
As well as if a promontory...
Laissons Faire!
tzo
2013-04-12 08:04
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Many Voluntaryists expend much energy attempting to convince people that society can operate without a central coercive government organization, and this can be quite exhausting work for what sometimes seems like negligible results. There are also some Voluntaryists who take a slightly different approach: We don’t need to convince anyone of anything except to...
Civilized Society v2.0
tzo
2013-03-13 07:58
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As I have written many times, I don’t believe that government is an absolute necessity for creating and maintaining a civilized society. In this essay, however, I would like to throw as many bones as possible to (not at) those who would take up for the loyal opposition. In fact, I will concede here for argument's sake that all the historical and empirical...
Metaphor Mashup
tzo
2013-03-05 08:55
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The history books proclaim that Lincoln had to "bend the rules" of the Constitution in order to "save the Union." Apparently having a relatively free nation is merely a luxury to be enjoyed during peacetime, but this system is inherently weak and if stressed, must transform itself into a temporary tyranny in order to survive. In other words,...
You Say You Want a Revolution?
tzo
2013-02-12 08:55
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Logical Consistency Warning: Severe mental discomfort may result from any serious consideration of the comparison made in the following essay. Please disregard said comparison as ridiculous in order to restore previous state of mental tranquility.
Here is a familiar passage that any self-respecting Patriot recognizes and supports:
". . . that whenever any...
Successful Secession, Failed Revolution
tzo
2013-01-23 08:10
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Once upon a time there was a nation divided. The southern region used human beings from Africa as slaves while the northern region did not. Of course the North still benefited financially from the South’s system of involuntary servitude, and so even though only the South utilized slave labor directly, the entire nation condoned it and profited greatly from it...
Bellum Sacrum
tzo
2013-01-02 07:51
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Once upon a time there lived a businessman named Muhammad who, at the age of 40, had a divine revelation. He then proceeded to pick up some followers, united them under the Constitution of Medina, took over Mecca, destroyed the pagan idols, then conquered and converted most of the Arabian Peninsula to Islam. After he died, the succeeding Caliphates expanded the...
Beware the Swarm
tzo
2012-12-19 09:09
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It has been said that government is merely an intangible set of ideas that influence how people interact with one another. It has also been called a belief system analogous to a religion in that it generally has its own creation mythos, a pantheon of idealized superheroes, and a set of superstitions grounded in faith instead of logic.
While I don’t disagree...
The Trials
Recommended
tzo
2012-12-11 08:49
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To anyone who has seen or read The Reader (a synopsis of the relevant part of the story is here), one of the main questions raised in the story is, "What should be done with Hanna?"
Was she responsible for her actions even if she was so thoroughly indoctrinated so as to be completely confused by the charges against her? She asked more than once, while...
Grover and Annie
tzo
2012-12-05 08:38
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The scene is a university chemical laboratory. Grover is fretting over his latest experiment, which he cannot get to work. He is attempting to synthesize a material that he has dubbed Libertium, a theoretical substance that could be produced as cheaply as plastic while being stronger than steel. Unfortunately for Grover, the results are not cooperating with the...
Teach Your Children Well, Part II
tzo
2012-11-29 08:55
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Differentiating
A child must see that temporary parental authority is natural and useful and very different from all other forms of non-parental “authority.” A child never sits down and signs papers acknowledging that she grants authority to her parents—it just happens. And if the parents delegate their authority to other adults, that also just...
Teach Your Children Well, Part I
tzo
2012-11-28 09:07
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Introduction and Disclaimer
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. ~ Frederick Douglass
In previous essays, I have put forth the idea that in today's society, most people have had at least a portion of their rational faculty damaged by the coercive institutions that are in place, and that repairing this damage is difficult, as it is...
The God Slide
tzo
2012-11-08 01:00
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Religion is always a fun topic to address, since no one ever really gets fired up about it . . . .
While Voluntaryists acknowledge that government is aggressive, unethical, and is often likened to religion in that it is based on superstitious beliefs, it is commonly held that religion is only dangerous when coupled with government force. If people want to believe...
The Curious Species Ordinatio Diutinus
tzo
2012-10-24 00:00
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Modern governments are perhaps quite naturally thick-headed and self-destructive, destined to clumsily overreach and greedily overindulge until they inevitably collapse. It’s seemingly encoded into their metaphorical DNA.
But this is just the natural life cycle of any individual government—to be born; to consume, develop, and grow; and to die. And yet...
Slavespeak, Part II
tzo
2012-10-15 00:00
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Bombs in the Brain
The design of Slavespeak is such that its words and terms detonate emotional bombs in the brain that function like controlled directional explosive charges. The use of them reflexively jumps the state of mind directly from a to b without the benefit of rational thought.
They are of the category “anti-concepts,” as Ayn Rand called them...
Slavespeak, Part I
tzo
2012-10-08 00:00
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Introduction
An individual will quite naturally assume that he is in control of the language that he uses. He selects the words and phrases he feels are necessary to express himself or to describe people, places, and events in the world around him. He is the ultimate master over this tool that exists to facilitate his communication efforts, just as he...
Getting Down to the Business of Living
tzo
2012-09-28 00:00
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At one time or another, we all have wished for some ability or attribute that we don't possess. If I were a foot taller, I could have played in the NBA. And so on.
Some of these wishes can gnaw at a person, but wishing for impossibilities is not living in reality. Sometimes you just have to be thankful for what you have. More importantly, all you can ever do...
Seven Samurai, Times Ten
tzo
2012-09-17 00:00
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In Akira Kurosawa's classic film Seven Samurai, a village of farmers must contend with raiding bandits. Not being skilled in or equipped for the martial arts, the farmers are easy prey for the armed thugs on horseback.
Near the beginning of the story, the bandits are about to invade the village when they realize that they did just that not too long ago and...
The State of Freedom
tzo
2012-08-31 00:00
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Unknown to most Americans, there is a 51st state tucked away amid the Rocky Mountains. It is smallish but there nonetheless, if only in my imagination. Since its admission to the Union 50 years ago, the inhabitants of this State—which is named Freedom—have lived by excepting a rule by which the rest of us abide:
They do not use United States...
I Pledge Allegiance, Under God, to the Constitution of Independence
tzo
2012-08-21 00:00
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The citizens of the United States are proud of their nation’s Founding Fathers and the Founding Documents they authored, based on Noble Guiding Principles, firmly grounded in Freedom and Justice For All. God Himself seems to be an ardent admirer, as evidenced by the fact that He hath not yet come forth to dispute having made any of the many endorsements that...
Magic 'Money'
tzo
2012-08-14 00:00
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Where does U.S. “money” come from? If you’re not sure, the answer that follows may surprise you a bit.
The process begins with the Treasury Department creating a bond. Treasury bonds represent the Federal government asking for loans. When a Treasury bond is “bought,” what is really happening is that the “buyer” is...
Anarcho-Statists
tzo
2012-08-02 00:00
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I am not one to get caught up in labels when it comes to identifying which flavor of non-governmental society one may envision. There are anarchists, anarcho-capitalists, anarcho-socialists, anarcho-communists, anarcho-syndicalists, mutualists, voluntaryists, and a long list of others.
I generally choose to use the term voluntaryist for myself, as it seems...
The Wonders of the World
tzo
2012-06-07 00:00
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I will say that the Taj Mahal is a fine and impressive piece of architecture.
It was commissioned by Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his third wife, who died during the birth of their fourteenth child.
It obviously wasn’t cheap. Where did the Shah get the money to finance such a project? Well, the Mughal empire accumulated money...
There’s the Law, and Then There’s The Law
tzo
2011-11-17 01:00
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The law perverted! And the police powers of the state perverted along with it! The law, I say, not only turned from its proper purpose but made to follow an entirely contrary purpose! The law become the weapon of every kind of greed! Instead of checking crime, the law itself guilty of the evils it is supposed to punish!
If this is true, it is a serious fact...
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