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Libertarian

Market Restitution Services Beat State Prison System on Fairness and Humaneness

Over at C4SS’ Stateless U in ATP 101 we’re reading The Market for Liberty. Here are my comments on one of the discussion questions. “Is restitution preferable to retribution? Why or why not?” An arrangement for the resolution of disputes that focuses on restitution is more effective than one that makes as its goal the […]

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Opinion

Can Insurance Companies Function as Sources of Defense and Justice?

Over at C4SS’ Stateless U in ATP 101 we’re reading The Market for Liberty. Here are my comments on one of the discussion questions. “In what way or ways would it be most difficult for insurance companies to function successfully as sources of justice and defense against aggression?” I don’t think insurance companies can function […]

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Libertarian Opinion

Roderick Long Rebuts Locke and Rand on Anarchy, Navigates Shrewd Path Thru Voluntaryist-Partyarch Debate

Over at C4SS’ Stateless U in ATP 102, I watched and critiqued Roderick Long’s talk “Foundations of Libertarian Ethics.” [See above.] In “Foundations of Libertarian Ethics,” Roderick Long deftly refutes Lockean and Randian critiques of anarchy, using these same critiques against themselves in support of market anarchy. Long also evaluates strategies for achieving the stateless […]

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Libertarian

Rothbard’s Defense of Private Police and Courts in “For a New Liberty” Falls Short

Over at C4SS’ Stateless U in ATP 102, I read and critiqued Chapter 12 (“The Public Sector, III: Police, Law, and the Courts”) of Murray Rothbard’s “For a New Liberty“. [PDF] In Chapter 12 of “For a New Liberty,” Murray Rothbard makes a less compelling case for market-based defense and dispute resolution than, for example, […]

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Libertarian

Taxation is Theft Because it’s Involuntary and Permanently Denies People their Property

Over at C4SS’ Stateless U in ATP 101 we’re reading The Market for Liberty. Here are my comments on one of the discussion questions. “Is taxation theft? Why or why not?” Taxation is theft because it is the use of aggression to deny another person their property. It doesn’t matter what their property is to […]

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Get Inspired Libertarian

A Convincing Schematic for Market Anarchy

The market can handle law too. Here’s how.

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Libertarian Opinion

To What Extent and in What Ways, if any, Does Government Exhibit the Problems Typical of other Monopolies?

Over at C4SS’ Stateless U in ATP 101 we’re reading The Market for Liberty. Here are my comments on one of the discussion questions. “To what extent and in what ways, if any, does government exhibit the problems typical of other monopolies?” Governments manifest many problems that are typical of coercive monopolies. Governments use force […]

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Libertarian Opinion

Small Time Pennsylvania Dictators Declare War on Yard Sales

Hazle Township, Pennsylvania supervisors have declared war on yard sales. They say too many local residents are holding too many yard sales too often. So they’ve rolled out new limits for budding entrepreneurs who use their own property to freely associate and trade with their fellow human beings. Those wishing to hold a yard sale […]

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Libertarian Opinion

Do We Ever Really Get Out of Anarchy?

Over at C4SS’ Stateless U in ATP 102, I read and critiqued “Do We Ever Really Get Out of Anarchy? [PDF]” In “Do We Ever Really Get Out of Anarchy?”, Alfred G. Cuzan argues that society is always in anarchy, and we don’t escape it just because a government is declared to be in existence. […]

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Libertarian Opinion

Spooner’s “No Treason” Ruthlessly Exposes Constitution’s Lack of Authority

Over at C4SS’ Stateless U in ATP 102, I read and critiqued “No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority.” In “No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority,” Lysander Spooner convincingly argues that the United States constitution can not possibly be said to have a binding effect on anyone, be they signers of the document, those […]