Consumer vs voter — who wins? As a consumer… No business has ever pointed a gun at you You can fire any company at any time without risk of harm You can even complain and get your money back Now compare this with your lot as a voter and taxpayer…… Complaints do little You need the permission of a voting …
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What strategic activity should libertarians prioritize?
It’s easier to accept Yes than to overcome No. Libertarians need to excel at taking yes for an answer. There are roughly 64-million people who have already said yes to the basic libertarian philosophy. They call themselves libertarians, hold mostly libertarian positions, or both. But… These libertarians are not active. They are dormant. Asleep. We need to discover who these …
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Are there non-state forms of regulation?
There are non-state forms of regulation, just as there are non-state forms of government. Customers regulate by buying or rejecting products, and by writing positive or negative reviews, or through positive or negative word-of-mouth. Lenders and investors regulate by establishing standards in return for their money. Insurance companies regulate by establishing rules for coverage Firms like Underwriters Laboratory and NSF …
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Why do statist ideas defeat libertarian ideas in the political arena?
Statist ideas are seen and heard by everyone, everywhere, every day. This is because… Left-statists control the schools, the media, most of the bureaucracy, and roughly half of elected positions. Right-statists dominate talk radio, have major visibility in most other media outlets, control part of the bureaucracy and roughly half of elected positions. Libertarians are visible only on the internet. …
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Is The State needed to provide governmental services?
The State’s cultural dominance has left us largely blind to institutions of NON-STATE Governance and order. These institutions are completely voluntary. They don’t initiate force or use criminal means. They serve rather than rule. These forms include . . . Self-governance The family Churches Contractual covenants Professional societies that set standards Testing agencies like Underwriter’s Laboratory that provide industry regulation Security firms Arbitrators Review …
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What thing do we most need to create a libertarian society?
There are many possible strategies for creating a libertarian society – elections, civil disobedience, lobbying, etc. All require one thing for success… More libertarians An old proverb observes that “God is usually on the side of the bigger battalions.” History confirms this. Small armies can win battles but they rarely win wars Civil disobedience tends to work best when large …
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Is the Zero Aggression Principle anarchistic?
If the Zero Aggression Principle was the law of the land then politicians could not initiate force. They could only use force defensively. Some claim this makes Zero Aggression anarchistic. In popular usage “anarchy” means no governing institutions, with violence and chaos to follow. But to us… Legitimate government only uses force defensively, and that’s precisely the kind of governance we want. …
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Why do people act as they do politically?
Aesthetics is the study of beauty. For our purposes… How do people choose which partisan tribe they find more pleasing and (more importantly) which one they loathe? This is the “aesthetic theory of partisan attraction,” introduced with three, new and insightful terms… Aesthetic Attraction – Most people don’t vote on issues. They choose a tribe that feels more like them. …
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Why do my friends snap-back to statist ideas when I’m not there?
Surely you’ve had this experience: You use evidence and logic to persuade a friend to drop some statist myth. But the next time you see them, you find that he or she has readopted the myth! Are you discouraged? You shouldn’t be. Here’s what happened… Your friend returned to a world flooded with statist propaganda. Your friend tried to explain …
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Is corruption an accidental byproduct of statism?
Initiated force creates at least three perverse incentives that virtually guarantee bad outcomes… First, tax-funded institutions have no need to perform well. Taxpayers cannot withdraw funding. The result is sloth and waste. Second, politicians use failure to justify larger budgets. They say, “If only we had these tools or this regulation or a bigger staff, we could’ve prevented X.” …