This video does not advocate violence, contrary to the initial knee jerk reaction one may have to the title. Using defensive force to resist institutionalized aggression is not equivalent to the initiation of force daily perpetrated by the monopoly on violence we all understand as “government”. The only difference between the State and the mafia is size. The US “government” is simply the largest mafia of the land, claiming dominion over an immense geographical region inhabited by roughly 313 million individuals. It asserts its authority through the incessant and outright initiation of force. Serfs must constantly be taught where their inferior place is, lest they forget and live voluntarily and peacefully. Perish the thought!

Although we may call those in power sociopaths and tyrants, they do not work alone. For without the industrious funding their agenda through taxation and without a steady supply of petty thugs enforcing their agenda through unconditional obedience, they are simply twisted old men behind the curtain using pyrotechnic phantasmagoria to keep the public in a constant state of awe and fear. These “police officers” are the formerly decent and moral human beings that are attracted to this promising job of serving and protecting the people, only to find that they instead end up viewing the people as cows to be milked or sheep to be herded directly to the slaughterhouse.

Law enforcement is the polar opposite of a private security agency. The former receives guaranteed funds through “government” and therefore has no incentive to offer good quality service in the form of security and protection. On the contrary their loyalty to the arbitrary “laws” of politicians brings them respect and notoriety among their peers at the expense of the people as can be noted through the rampant police brutality that surfaces daily. Being part of “government” it is an artificial monopoly and is not subject to the laws of supply and demand. The latter, being a business like any other, exists as a direct result of the patronage of its customers. Customer satisfaction and quality of service is its sole mission. It competes with other private security agencies for customers and therefore would not tolerate abuses of power by their employees as they would simply be fired. This simple element of competition eliminates any possibility for brutality of any kind; as such a corrupt company would simply go out of business if it proves to serve no useful purpose to the marketplace.

When a “government” seeks to dominate and control foreign lands it is known as imperialism. When it seeks to dominate and control everything that lies within it fictional boundaries known as “borders” this is known as totalitarianism. The unmistakable militarization of our law enforcement is characteristic of any empire which swells and metastasizes to gargantuan proportions. History has demonstrated this cancerous growth to be the last death throes of an empire before it collapses into utter ruin. It can only be sustained by the obedient who would do any deed with the excuse of “I’m just doing my job.” or “Don’t blame me I didn’t write the law!” Clearly it is not the petty thieves or law breakers that we must fear, but those who are compelled to follow orders, whatever the human cost.

There is something about the state putting the power to bully into the hands of subnormal, sadistic apes that makes my blood boil.

Gore Vidal, Death in the Fifth Position

Just do good things

Excellent questions! These are the sorts of questions that Minarchists have who are on their way to becoming true Voluntaryists or Anarchists. There is much literature I can refer you to that answers these questions in exquisite detail for you, but I will give it my best shot. By the way this is only one description of a Voluntaryist society. There are of course infinite possibilities since human desires are infinite. If anybody would like to correct some of my statements please feel free to do so. I do not consider myself an expert in these subjects.

“What I don’t get about anarchism is that if everyone just looked after themselves would there be no more jails?”

No everything would basically be the same minus the monopoly on violence commonly referred to as “government”. Everything would be privately owned which would necessarily increase productivity and ensure the efficient allocation of resources with very little waste. This is the essence of true Capitalism where the profit incentive and competition ensures an increasing quality of products with decreasing costs to the consumer.

Jails would still exist if there was a desire from the people to pay for them if they deem them to be necessary. Prisons are among a vast array of special interest groups that only survives due to federal and state subsidies. They may very well collapse and vanish when  that steady flow of stolen taxpayer money vanishes.

“Who would stop criminals? What would punishment be?”

It goes without saying that the present corrupt “criminal justice” system would be vastly different in a Voluntary society. One real life antithesis to this is the private security agencies. There are 3 times as many people employed in private security agencies than there are in the police departments. Why, then, are instances of brutality, wrongful home invasions, accidental breaking of arms and deaths only heard of perpetrated by the “government” monopoly on law enforcement known as the police? Within a private security agency there is much incentive to actually please the customer and ensure his happiness, or they risk unemployment and bankruptcy through customers patronizing other private security agencies. Through “government” police no such incentive is present. They do not have to please the people because the people are not voluntarily paying their salaries. Their salaries are guaranteed by the State. This artificial environment attracts mostly those who thrive off of this position of power. Therefore the true criminals are usually wearing the uniforms, rather than the ones who end up in handcuffs.

Again the court system would vastly different in a Voluntary society. They would likely be private courts that would, again, be subject the immutable laws of competition and customer satisfaction. There is much speculation as to how they would work. Suffice it to say, they would be much more equitable just that those we are familiar with today.

“Would we not use money anymore and rely strictly on a barter system?”

That is difficult to predict, however I think it can be safely said that whatever is used as money will be an excellent store of value rather than the depreciating fiat toilet paper trash we use today. Did you know that before the Federal Reserve was created in 1913 prices were actually falling? I think we will definitely be using money in a Voluntary society since it is a significant improvement to the many drawbacks of the barter system. Money is simply a commodity used to make trade more convenient and easy. It is nothing special that requires any kind of force or violence. Like everything else, it is best when it functions in complete freedom.

 “How come in parts of Africa where there is no government control you have child army’s strapped with ak47’s?”

Yes here is the “Move to Somalia if you want Anarchy!” argument. There are reams of articles and videos demonstrating that military dictatorships present in these backward African countries are anything but true Voluntary Anarchy. It is anarchy in the sense that there was a violent overthrow of the existing regime however these usually only result in the installation of another military regime to take its place. It is not Voluntary Anarchy in the sense of free and peaceful people engaging in voluntary interactions and trade. You can get a seemingly atheistic environment by murdering all the priests in the world, but is that the same as the people truly understanding how religion can be used as a tool to exploit humanity and therefore make the intellectual advancements towards atheism?

“What would stop people from having their own personal armies here?”

First of all in a Voluntary society most people would likely be armed to the teeth for the purposes of defending their family and property. If they wanted to gather together to form militias that is very likely as well but I wouldn’t really call that “personal armies” in the sense that we know them today.

“I just don’t understand how a system without a government would work? As much as I hate the government we have right now I just don’t understand how it would work without any government at all?”

I do not think it is necessary for one to understand how such a Voluntary society would work. Do you prefer rape or consensual sex? Do you prefer theft or working as a means to obtain money? If you can understand the difference between these, than understanding how unnecessary and damaging the belief in “government” is to the general well being of humanity should be easy enough. Remember “government” knows only force and violence to solve its problems since it is itself a monopoly on force and violence. To those who lived in the time of chain slavery. Mentioning that a life would be possible without it would often be met with questions such as “But without slaves who would pick the cotton?” Now it is self-evident to us how evil chain slavery is. I hope that in a few decades hence we will similarly look back at this moment in time and wonder “How could those brutes have lived under such a barbaric institution and call that civilization?”

Spontaneous order is the kernel of Voluntary Anarchy. Nature is replete with examples of successful, efficient, and beautiful systems existing without authoritarian rulers or masters directing their every detail. The human body at its most basic cellular relationships is a microcosm of Anarchy that is reflected at every expanded level to the macrocosmic level of the relationships between planets orbiting around a star, stars swirling around a galactic core, and galaxies dancing in wonderful harmony to each other. They all exist in a sweet state of chaos or entropy that never abandons certain inviolable laws of physics and celestial motion.

Lao Tzu in his seminal work Tao Teh Ching described this entropy as, “When the Tao is lost, there is goodness. When goodness is lost, there is morality. When morality is lost, there is ritual. Ritual is the husk of true faith, the beginning of chaos.” When one takes a cursory glance at nature one may only see unmitigated chaos, however upon closer inspection recognizable patterns based upon immutable laws emerge that belie this initial conclusion. Clouds do not form in perfect circles or squares yet there are patterns. Animals do not march in rigid single file lines yet there are patterns. The order that we have come to understand through our “government” schooling is in actuality, oppression and tyranny of free and peaceful individuals.

Our rulers genuinely understand that the concept of “government” is a one of the largest scams ever perpetrated on humanity. They understand that the Emperor truly has no clothes. They understand that “government” is entirely faith based and can only rule based on the tacit consent and obedience of the people. They understand that the swindle can only continue when the vast majority of the population remains in a perpetual state of hypnosis regarding its necessity. Open your eyes! Break the mental shackles! The lion sleeps no more!

The particulars of a spontaneous order cannot be just or unjust. Nature can be neither just nor unjust. Only if we mean to blame a personal creator does it make sense to describe it as unjust that somebody has been born with a physical defect, or been stricken with a disease, or has suffered the loss of a loved one.

Friedrich Hayek

Just do good things

A) The Truth About Taxes

Well two days ago was “Pay off your Federal Mafia” Day!  We should all give thanks to the federal “government” for the excellent service that we all enjoy including laissez faire business interactions, thriving economy, voluntary association, solid free market money, and abundant individual freedom. Then I woke up.

This scathing Stefan Molyneux video puts the mafia style theft that is taxation into perspective. People don’t pay taxes because it will fund the building of roads, bridges, and tunnels. People pay taxes because if they didn’t they would have armed thugs arrive at their doorstep and threaten them with guns for not paying the federal mafia. Get past all the rosy thinking and see taxation for what it is; extortion and theft. Do that and you will begin to see the “government” for what it; the resident band of thieves, liars, and murderers who claim the authority to rule over every aspect of your life. This is only allowed because the sleeping giant allows it to happen. Once enough people wake up, watch out! Things will rapidly change!

B) The Goal is Happiness

Even though to Statists we may outwardly seem like the pessimistic negative types who incessantly criticize the status quo and those in power for the sake of being contrarians, as Voluntaryists we must always keep in mind our gentle goals and assert that peace, love, and freedom are mutually inclusive concepts. We do not simply want freedom for ourselves but also for our fellow man. Freedom is the natural state of man, unfettered and unencumbered.

Every other political message, through its use of “government” to solve our problems, is vying for the power to wield the gun and which way to point it. The Voluntaryist message is “Please put the gun down. Human civilization has evolved for millennia and has produced many beautiful and wondrous things in its wake. Why do we still adamantly cling to this ancient and outdated institution?” When we embrace the Non-Aggression principle, Property Rights, and Self-ownership with those around us we are moral and decent human beings. When we apply this to the whole of humanity we become Voluntaryists.

C) The 401K Scheme – The Government to Confiscate

Putting your hard earned currency in a 401K account is one of those oft repeated mantras that we all hear from government school teachers, family, close friends, co-workers etc. They all blindly say “You have to save for your retirement. Make your money work for you. How are you going to survive when you are 80 years and cannot work like you used to?” This presupposes four erroneous notions. The first is that taxes will be the same as how they are now; the second is that investing in wealthy hedge funds and Wall Street, of which one is most likely entirely ignorant of, will benefit the individual in any way; the third is a fundamental misunderstanding of the difference between currency and money; the fourth is that bankrupt governments are trustworthy enough to leave the retirement accounts of the people untouched.

1. As taxes and laws will always increase as is necessary to support a growing welfare/warfare State having anything be tax deferred does one no good. This is practice is not only delaying the inevitable but worsening the painful tax hit when it must be withdrawn.
2. To give Wall Street and the SIFI banks even more of our currency to play with and gamble we are sending the message “Go ahead! Bet it! We trust you!” Does this make sense in a post 2008 bail out world? The logic is “If the poor make a mistake they must pay for it; if the wealthy lobbying special interest groups make a mistake the poor must pay for it.” The struggling middle class pay regardless.
3. Currency must be divisible, portable, fungible, and durable. Money must be all these things as well as a store of value. That is it must increase in value with time. If you save in counterfeit confetti paper trash do not be surprised when your life savings is inflated away to worthlessness by rapacious “governments”.
4. Your wealth is your time and your freedom! Keep it out of the financial system as much as possible! Own things that the Federal Reserve cannot print such as gold, silver, platinum, palladium, diamonds, precious stones, Bitcoin, and cash flow real estate!

Just do good things.

In the most recent dispute between the tyrannical federal “government” and the industrious, 67 year old Nevada cattle rancher Cliven Bundy has fiercely defended his position for his cattle to graze on the Gold Butte territory near the border of Utah. In 1990 the federal “government” began the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center to save the endangered desert tortoise. Bundy paid to have his grazing permits up until 1993 when he stopped paying. Then in 1998 the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) designated the Gold Butte area to be “critical’ for the survival of the desert tortoise and began harassing the Bundy ranching family in typical mafia style aggression. Since 1993 when he stopped paying his permit extortion fees he claims to owe the federal “government” $300,000 while the BLM claims it is more like $1 million.

Bundy claims his Mormon heritage has been homesteading on this 600,000 acre piece of land for nearly 150 years and it therefore belongs to him. This is in accordance with Common/Natural Law which states that when one takes an unrefined natural resource such as land and mixes one’s labor with it to produce a product that is desired by others this confers ownership. This is in stark contrast to the federal “government” claiming ownership by a mere pen stroke on a piece a paper without stepping foot on the land or laboring on it whatsoever. This is the harsh reality of expropriation by eminent domain that the Native Americans had to learn through decades of deliberate and malicious slaughter. Bundy says “Years ago, I used to have 52 neighboring ranchers. I’m the last man standing. How come? Because BLM regulated these people off the land and out of business.” The BLM states that Bundy can only have 150 cattle out of the original approximately 1000. This would effectively put him out of business as a cattle rancher. He has refused to give up his “trespassing” cattle and so this has warranted the federal “government” sending in taser armed officers, attack dogs, snipers, helicopters and four-wheel drive vehicles to “deal” with the insurgent cattle ranchers. “So far the operation to remove the cattle has cost the US taxpayers $3,000,000, no small sum.”

The justification for all this insanity is the possible extinction of one or two species, in addition to the 99.99% of species that have already gone extinct in the history of planet Earth, is a matter of national emergency and therefore requires the massive spending of taxpayer currency and theft of the prosperity of the unborn amidst a backdrop of staggering debt, unfunded liabilities, and imperialistic genocide. This is the sort of lunacy people agree to abide by when they pay their taxes and obey the “law”. When one denounces a parent for homeschooling their child they say “I went through public school and I turned out ok.” Amongst a nation of lunatics the moral man is considered insane. Do not confuse obeying the man-made statutory “law” with obeying one’s conscience and moral compass. The two are mutually exclusive and cannot be considered in the same breath.

History has proved for time immemorial that the outlaws, vigilantes, and law breakers were the ones who not only talked about societal injustices but actively resisted them in the face of grave physical danger to themselves. Conversely it was the tax payers and law abiders comprising the docile citizenry who, through their obedience and tax funding, enabled most of the horrific atrocities we read about in the history books. Nothing validates tyranny and sociopathy more than silence.

Be the thorn! Be the nail that sticks out! Be the round peg in a society of square holes! Be the non-conformist! Society will thank you for it although in the moment they may violently resist you as surely as abolitionists were in early 19^th century America.

“On some positions, cowardice asks the question, is it expedient? And then expedience comes along and asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? Conscience asks the question, is it right? There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right.” Martin Luther King Jr.

Just do good things