Beyond the Pale
by Robert James Bidinotto
"As long as we have the freedom to address imperfections, even evils, in our political
system with ballots, there is no justification for resorting to bullets. And
there is never any justification for deliberately violating the rights of the
innocent-nor in excusing the violators. Such is beyond the pale."
Bye, Bye, Miss American Empire: Or, the sweet smell of secession
by Bill Kauffman
"'I want to leave my country,' says Kirk Sale, “without leaving my home.” That line
packs a jolt, at least for this Little American. My home comes first. Yet I also want
my country. I’m not sure what I think about leaving the U.S.A. But isn’t it time that
we gave the matter some thought?"
Can Washington Change?
August 1, 1996
by Randy T. Simmons
"But reforms are possible. Otherwise there would have been no Reagan tax cuts, water
marketing would still be a gleam in some economist’s eye, we wouldn’t be talking about
meaningful welfare reform, and there would be no justification for magazines like
REASON or pro-market think tanks."
The Case for Radical Idealism
by Murray N. Rothbard
"The insight that the State is the major enemy of mankind, on the other hand, leads to
a very different strategic outlook: namely, that libertarians should push for and accept
with alacrity any reduction of State power or activity on any front. Any such reduction at
any time should be a welcome decrease of crime and aggression. Therefore, the
libertarian's concern should not be to use the State to embark on a measured course of
destatization, but rather to hack away at any and all manifestations of statism whenever
and wherever he or she can."
Contra Gradualism
by Wendy McElroy
"If libertarians do not present clear and explicit libertarian ideas, who will?
These ideas may be accepted or rejected, but they will live or die on the basis of
what they are instead of what they are not. It would be tragic if the one clear voice
for freedom in our time did not have enough confidence in itself to speak up without
apology."
Could Puno and Guantanamo Be The Next Hong Kongs?
August 9, 2006
by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
"Puno is 60 times bigger than Hong Kong. Unlike the rocky Chinese territory, it has
agriculture, livestock, silver, copper, the highest navigable lake in the world and
a mythology going back to the origin of the Incas.
. . . Thousands of Punenos have been asking for a tax-free environment in which to
produce and trade goods and services under clear property rules.
. . . The U.S. should remember what a colossal effect West Berlin had on the other side
of the Brandenburg Gate and what a damning example Hong Kong constituted for China before
the British handover.
. . . If Cubans had been allowed to turn Guantanamo into a prosperous capitalist zone,
they would have been 10 times more successful than they have been at combating Castro
from Miami and Madrid."
Decentralization: Freedom by Diffusion
November 1988
by David C. Huff
"The decentralist philosophy was a driving force in America’s early years, and leaders
such as Thomas Jefferson were acutely sensitive to the insidious encroachment of
centralism which already had begun during their lifetimes."
Don't bother to repeal laws
by Wendy McElroy
"There are many reasons to eschew an overall strategy of repealing laws, however.
Some reasons have a moral tinge to them. For example, appealing to an inherently
corrupt system -- the government -- to reform itself at the edges is tantamount to
recognizing its authority; using the structures through which it controls society
(e.g. the vote) only acts to legitimize those structures."
Economic Fascism and Tax Slavery
June 2, 2003
by Nelson Hultberg
"But the question is how do we get from where we are to legitimacy? I
submit that this can best be done by eliminating the progressivity of
rates in our present tax system. It is progressivity of rates that leads
to "infinite demand" for government services, which causes relentless
government growth. But if everyone were required to pay out of his own
pocket (i.e., with a flat tax), then the American people would not want
all this government expansion. In fact they would suddenly want just the
opposite. They would start voting for those politicians that campaigned on
REDUCING government instead of EXPANDING it. We would have a monumental
shift in political opinion in this country simply by eliminating
progressivity. If combined with a restoration of gold backing to the
dollar, it would stop government growth cold, and in fact start shrinking
it."
Ending Corporate Welfare as We Know It
by Lawrence W. Reed
"It seems reasonable that what’s good for individuals ought to be good for companies
too, especially since companies are nothing but collections of individuals anyway.
Perhaps we’d be more successful at ending corporate welfare if we made it plain that
it’s only fair to apply the same welfare reforms to businesses that we apply to
individuals."
The Ethics of Gradualism
by Tibor Machan
Finding Defenses Against Parasitic Bureaucracies
August 07, 1996
by John A. Baden, Ph.D. and Douglas S. Noonan
"Successes against biological parasites can be translated to political economy.
Imprisoning criminals effectively quarantines them. Likewise, by quarantining an
activist, parasitic government, its many bureaucratic tentacles will wither."
Free State Project picks New Hampshire:
Press Release
October 2, 2003
by Free State Project
"Aiming to preserve one bastion of freedom in the age of intrusive government, members
of the rapidly growing Free State Project (FSP) have made a crucial decision. Voting
via mail-in ballot after months of feisty debate, Free Staters chose New Hampshire
as their future home."
The Futility of Campaign Finance Reform
June 4, 1997
by Robert Higgs
"Face it: The hydra-headed government now dominating this country is inherently
corrupt. Nobody who supports this kind of government has any standing to complain about
the corruption."
The honest money act
August 7, 2003
by Ron Paul
"Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce the Honest Money Act. The Honest Money Act
repeals legal tender laws, a.k.a. forced tender laws, that compel American
citizens to accept fiat (arbitrary) irredeemable paper-ticket or electronic
money as their unit of account."
How and How Not to Desocialize
by Murray N. Rothbard
"In a deep sense, getting rid of the socialist state requires that state to perform one
final, swift, glorious act of self-immolation, after which it vanishes from the scene.
This is an act which can be applauded by any lover of freedom, act of government though
it may be."
IDEALIST: an idea list for idealists
"The IDEALIST is a place for Libertarian Party Radicals to air and discuss ideas
about growing and strengthening the LP through re-radicalizing the Party. This list
is for practical/strategic discussion only - not for airing philosophical differences
or negotiating with non-radicals. Any LP radical is welcome to post a reply to an idea
on the IDEALIST, expanding on or developing a particular idea."
The Independent Libertarian Party: An Idea Whose Time Has Come
(Being Among Other Things, A Reply to Nigel Meek)
by Antoine Clarke
The Initiative Process: A Caveat
– A CITIZEN VETO PROPOSED –
by Jim Peron
"In this classic essay, Jim Peron gives a warning about the direct democracy of the
initiative process. Instead, he recommends the 'citizen veto.'"
Institutional Foundations of Economic Freedom: A time-series cross-section analysis
May 20, 2004
by Xavier de Vanssay, Zane Spindler, and Vincent Hildebrand
"Using time-series cross-section analysis, we provide additional empirical validation
for the principal-agent model developed by Adserà, et al. (2003). In our innovation,
efficient economic policy is proxied by “economic freedom” from the Fraser Institute
database and “political institutions” are proxied by variables from the Database of
Political Institutions. Our results suggest that the more credible the threat of removal
from office, the more government officials will pursue efficient economic policies."
Libertarian Alliances: Who Libertarians Should and Should Not Consort With, and
the Need Both to Rank and to Rate Them
by Nigel Meek
The Libertarian party of Great Britain: An Idea Whose Time Has NOT Come
by Nigel Meek
Libertarians Sleeping with the Enemy
or Being Happily Pragmatic?
October 29, 2003
by Terry L. Brock
"I think we can work with a number of different people on various issues where we have
commonly held goals. If we say that we’ll only associate with those that
have “pure” beliefs we continue to paint ourselves into a corner and limit not only
what can be done in the real world but also our own happiness if life."
Libertarianism Against Economism: How Economists Misunderstand Voters, and Why Libertarians Should Care
by Bryan Caplan
"Does the empirical evidence support the claim that voters tend to vote their pocketbooks
rather than their principles? Which strategies for advancing liberty are most consistent
with what we know about how voters form their preferences?"
A Libertarian Dream Story
January 27, 2006
by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
"Finally, Otto Guevara’s success poses a challenge to those who think politics is not
a valid way to go about changing the prevailing culture, and that education needs to
come before political action because until people’s minds are educated no political
change is possible. The Costa Rican experience seems to contain a more complex
truth: everything, including practical politics, can, in the right circumstances, become
a catalyst for cultural change."
A libertarian State inside USA:
Libertarians Pursue New Goal: State of Their Own
November 8, 2003
by Pam Belluck
"Free Staters, many of them college graduates under 50 earning $60,000 or more, were
looking for a state that was small (fewer than 1.5 million people), with low campaign
spending, so Free State candidates could compete.
New Hampshire's lack of income tax and sales tax, relatively healthy economy, liberal
gun laws and proximity to Boston helped. A big plus was its legislature, the country's
largest with 417 members and a state representative for roughly every 3,000 people."
The Liberty Debate on Participation in Politics
by Wendy McElroy
Liberty for Latin America:
How to Undo Five Hundred Years of State Oppression
by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
"The final chapter of Liberty for Latin America proposes a direct attack on
corporatism, State mercantilism, privilege, wealth transfer and political law through a
transformation of the entire political and decision-making system based on the devolution
of responsibility to the individual in all spheres of life. The type of reform proposed
here has never before been undertaken in Latin America and yet it points to the
satisfaction of most of the objectives that previous attempts set out to achieve. Since
many individuals depend on the current system for survival, a careful transition is
envisioned, including a gradual phasing out of some of the commitments of today’s
governments. Underlying the entire blueprint for reform is the idea of empowering people
at the grassroots level so that the various types of social institutions that are
currently hindered from developing and blossoming can restore the moral fiber which
society has lost and without which any sort of development is impossible."
Limiting Leviathan Edited by Donald P. Racheter and Richard Wagner
reviewed by Michael C. Munger
"In sum, this book is first-rate. The summaries and overviews are unusually well done,
and the book would work well as a reader or a second text in a variety of courses. It is
intended as an introduction and overview, and as such it succeeds admirably."
Looking South on Social Security
August 26, 2005
by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
"But, by creating a system that is mandatory rather than voluntary and places barriers
to competition, the benefits, though significant, have been less wonderful than they
could have been – the reason why many countries have reformed their own reforms.
This is a lesson the United States would do well to heed: placing limits on property and
choice means that sooner or later you will change the rules again. The bolder reform is,
the greater the results."
Losing the Cold War
by Christopher Whalen
"As with any other clear choice between good and evil, the way out of the darkening cave
of socialism and debt is to turn around and walk the other way. This involves first
committing the nation to monetary freedom; and second, balancing the Federal budget by
cutting tax rates and spending, and establishing a surplus above current interest
payments, in order to begin the orderly retirement of the national debt. Any other
choice is not only economically unworkable, but immoral. If we do not make this choice,
we will have truly lost the Cold War."
The LP's Turkish Delight
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
"Here is a prediction, and, yes, I'll be happy to admit that I'm wrong if it turns out
not to be the case. The new LP platform will not increase the percentage of votes the
LP will receive in the national election. By demoralizing the serious activists and
talking down to intellectuals, it will result in a diminished percentage of the overall
votes."
Market Reform—Idiocy, Myth and Reality: Latin America: Misery feeds on macroeconomic
neglect; a truly free market needs strong institutions.
January 20, 1997
by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
"There are two great weaknesses in the current reform process: The reformers are
confusing private enterprise with free-market capitalism, and they are focusing on
macroeconomic management without considering institutional frameworks."
Party Dialogue
by George H. Smith
"In short, I would not call your candidate for dictator a libertarian, because the
two are incompatible. I might call him a well-intentioned dictator, but he is no
libertarian. And I would oppose him, because my principles leave me no option. There
is no proviso in my stand against dictators that exempts those with good intentions."
The Party Line on a Party Line
by Wendy McElroy
"The Voluntaryist have two goals: the development of antipolitical theory; and, the
pursuit of nonpolitical means. The "party line" with reference to the first goal is
that anarchism and the political process are mutually destructive and morally
inconsistent positions. Here, we are pushing a very specific conclusion; to be
consistent, anarchists must eschew the political process and truly oppose the State.
For those who accept this conclusion in theory, no party line on strategy is necessary.
For those who do not, no party line is possible."
Possibly Our Only Chance
by Michael Gaddy
"It is my belief, our last chance at subverting the criminality occurring within the
federal apparatus known as the federal government is the reclaiming of the rights of
the people and the repudiation of overreaching federal tyranny as defined in the
Ninth and Tenth Amendments to the Constitution. This movement, which is now gaining
a foothold in many states, is referred to as the State Sovereignty Movement."
A Proposal for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery in America
by Roy Halliday
"Congress shall establish the emancipation price of each slave based on the individual
slave's value to Congress as a capital asset, using standard accounting principles.
Congress shall then inform each slave of his or her emancipation price. When an
individual slave has surrendered this amount to the Treasury department, that individual
shall own himself and be emancipated. He or she shall forever be exempt from all
federal taxes and from the requirement to obey federal laws and regulations (except
those that happen to conform to natural law such as the prohibitions against murder,
assault, rape, kidnapping, theft, and so forth, which are binding on all moral agents
whether they are free or enslaved). Furthermore, any child of two emancipated parents
shall also be forever free, provided that the child was conceived after both parents
purchased themselves."
The Quintessential Politician:
Rational analysis about Ronald Reagan
August 25, 2004
by Harry Browne
"Does it matter that the Reagan legacy is a fraud? Yes, it matters a great deal.
It matters because we need to understand that since the 1920s no American President
has made a determined effort to reduce government significantly.
It isn't that it can't be done.
It's been proven only that no Republican or Democrat is going to do it.
It matters because it reminds us that politicians are not to be believed - not about
their records, not about the foreign dangers that supposedly require us to go to war,
not in their promises to obey the Constitution and fight for smaller government.
It matters because it demonstrates that we shouldn't put our faith in apparent heroes.
Instead, our salvation lies with ourselves. It is we who must carry the message of the
benefits of liberty, and spread that message far and wide until the public
demands - and no politician can resist - the restoration of the American way."
The Reasonableness of Gradual Reforms
by Roy Halliday
"In the mean time, so that no one will be made to fell pressured, unappreciated, or
inconvenienced, let the child molester work on a plan to take up a new hobby, while
libertarians try to figure out a nondisruptive way to phase out wars and privatize
Social Security. What could be more reasonable than this gradual approach to reform?"
Reform or Repeal?
09 November 2005
by Jacob G. Hornberger
"While reform plans can indeed improve the lives of certain people who are suffering the
consequences of socialist programs, the plans should not be confused with either morality
or freedom. They are simply ways to make socialism more palatable for people but they
remain nothing more than reforms of socialism. In order to achieve a society based on
morality and freedom, repeal is necessary."
Repudiating the National Debt
by Murray N. Rothbard
"I propose, then, a seemingly drastic but actually far less destructive way of paying off
the public debt at a single blow: out-right debt repudiation. Consider this question: why
should the poor, battered citizens of Russia or Poland or the other ex-Communist countries
be bound by the debts contracted by their former Communist masters? In the Communist
situation, the injustice is clear: that citizens struggling for freedom and for a
free-market economy should be taxed to pay for debts contracted by the monstrous former
ruling class. But this injustice only differs by degree from "normal" public debt. For,
conversely, why should the Communist government of the Soviet Union have been bound by
debts contracted by the Czarist government they hated and overthrew? And why should we,
struggling American citizens of today, be bound by debts created by a past ruling elite
who contracted these debts at our expense? One of the cogent arguments against paying
blacks "reparations" for past slavery is that we, the living, were not slaveholders.
Similarly, we the living did not contract for either the past or the present debts
incurred by the politicians and bureaucrats in Washington."
Sell Out and Die
by Murray N. Rothbard
This essay was originally published in the July-August 1980 issue of Cadre, the
internal bulletin of the Radical Caucus of the Libertarian Party.
"The problem, of course, is that even if money, votes, and influence are achieved by this
route, what are they being achieved for? A major purpose, for example, of the Libertarian
Party is to educate the public, but to educate them to what? Presumably, to libertarian
principles. But if we present to the public watered-down pap hardly distinguishable from
liberals, conservatives, or centrists on various issues, there will be no true education.
The public will receive education, not in liberty, but in pap, and whatever votes are
achieved will not be for liberty but for watered-down treacle. In the process, our
glorious principles are betrayed and forgotten, and so the cause of liberty is worse off,
even with several million votes, than it was before the sellout strategy took hold. So
everyone loses, and no one benefits – except perhaps the opportunists themselves, who may
personally gain in power and income from the whole shabby process."
A Spirit of Liberty: Town Hall Democracy
by John McClaughry
"John McClaughry, the president of Vermont's Ethan Allen Institute and a Senior Policy
advisor to the White House under the presidency of Ronald Reagan, discusses his "almost
mystical attachment" to the famous New England Town Meeting."
The Steps to Economic Freedom
by Christopher Lingle
"Citizens and public officials must realize that expanding individual freedom is the
best step toward sustainable development. In the end, whether a country enjoys
prosperity or suffers from poverty is a matter of political choice."
Time for Government to Finally Ban Itself
by Glen Allport
"After centuries and millennia of tyranny, war, mass murder, torture, corruption,
legalized theft, unjust imprisonment, economic devastation, and other needless evil,
isn't it finally time we banned the cause of all that horror?"
To All Innocent Fifth Columnists
by Ayn Rand
This "is an open letter written by Ayn Rand around the beginning of
1941, when she was encouraging conservative intellectuals to form a national organization
advocating individualism. She desired for the letter be issued by such an organization."
Toward a Theory of Strategy for Liberty
by Murray N. Rothbard
"Every new idea and every new discipline necessarily begins with one or a few people,
and diffuses outward toward a larger core of converts and adherents. Even at full tide,
given the wide variety of interests and abilities among men, there is bound to be only
a minority among the professional core or cadre of libertarians. There is nothing
sinister or “undemocratic,” then, in postulating a “vanguard” group of libertarians any
more than there is in talking of a vanguard of Buddhists or of physicists. Hopefully
this vanguard will help to bring about a majority or a large and influential minority
of people adhering to (if not centrally devoted to) libertarian ideology."
Uncompromising Position: Is 'Libertarian politics' an oxymoron?
by Nick Gillespie
"While the lack of enthusiasm for libertarianism qua libertarianism helps explain the
tepid reception of the Browne campaign (and by extension, the L.P.), it doesn't necessarily
bode ill for libertarian ideas. When libertarian-oriented policies are implemented, it will
happen on a piecemeal basis, not as the result of some sea change in political philosophy.
This is, after all, how Big Government beefed up--and how it eventually remade
individuals to see the government as the answer to any and all problems.
As Hayek noted in the 1956 preface to The Road to Serfdom, "The most important
change which extensive government control produces is a psychological change, an
alteration in the character of the people. This is necessarily a slow affair, a process which
extends not over a few years but perhaps over one or two generations....[T]he political
ideals of a people and its attitude toward authority are as much the effect as the cause of the
political institutions under which it lives." Statist policies were in place long before the
majority of Americans were statists. The process, one hopes, works in reverse, too: It may
well be that we will be living in a libertarian society long before a majority of people
consider themselves libertarians."
Using 'Green Scissors' to Cut Government Waste
April 02, 1997
by John A. Baden, Ph.D. and Douglas S. Noonan
"Thus, the Green Scissors campaign forms a "natural" coalition to eliminate
inefficiency. It's all part of a new environmentalism, a shade of green that's in the
black. This is a natural evolution, and we'll be seeing more of it."
What Is Wrong With a Libertarian Political Party
by Brian Micklethwait
National Liberation
by Murray N. Rothbard
"Aside from being a necessary condition to the achievement of justice, national liberation
is the only solution to the great world problems of territorial disputes and oppressive
national rule. Yet, all too many anarchists and libertarians mistakenly scorn the idea of
national liberation and independence as simply setting up more nation-states; they
tragically do not realize that, taking this stand, they become in the concrete, objective
supporters of the bloated, imperialistic nation-states of today."
The Old and the New in Anarchism
by Piotr Arshinov
A reply to Maletesta on how the anarchist movement should be organized.
Organisational Platform of the Libertarian Communists
by Dielo Trouda (Workers' Cause)
"This contradiction between the positive and incontestable substance of libertarian
ideas, and the miserable state in which the anarchist movement vegetates, has its
explanation in a number of causes, of which the most important, the principal, is
the absence of organizational principles and practices in the anarchist movement."
The Policy of The International
by Mikhail Bakunin
"There is only one way out therefore, namely - Proletarian liberation
through action. And what will this action be that will bring the masses to
Socialism? It is the economic struggle of the Proletariat against the governing
class carried out in solidarity. It is the Industrial Organization of the workers of the world."
The Psychology of Political Violence
by Emma Goldman
"Anarchism, more than any other social theory, values human life above things. All
Anarchists agree with Tolstoy in this fundamental truth: if the production of any
commodity necessitates the sacrifice of human life, society should do without that
commodity, but it can not do without that life. That, however, nowise indicates that
Anarchism teaches submission. How can it, when it knows that all suffering, all
misery, all ills, result from the evil of submission?
Has not some American ancestor said, many years ago, that resistance to tyranny is
obedience to God? And he was not an Anarchist even. I would say that resistance to
tyranny is man's highest ideal. So long as tyranny exists, in whatever form, man's
deepest aspiration must resist it as inevitably as man must breathe.
Compared with the wholesale violence of capital and government, political acts of
violence are but a drop in the ocean. That so few resist is the strongest proof how
terrible must be the conflict between their souls and unbearable social iniquities.
High strung, like a violin string, they weep and moan for life, so relentless, so cruel,
so terribly inhuman. In a desperate moment the string breaks. Untuned ears hear nothing
but discord. But those who feel the agonized cry understand its harmony; they hear in
it the fulfillment of the most compelling moment of human nature.
Such is the psychology of political violence."
The Role of the Revolutionary Organisation in the Class Struggle
"We agree on the need for a lead to be given within the class, but while our
leadership is one of persuasion and education, the Leninist party goes way beyond
this and tries to grab power through control of the state."
Revolutionary Studies
by Peter Kropotkin
"BOLDNESS of thought and example to induce the masses to put into execution what
they dare think-this is what has been wanting in the actors in past revolutions. It
is still what is likely to be wanting in the next."
Revolution: The Only Remedy for the Oppressed Classes of Ireland, England, and Other Parts
of the British Empire
by Lysander Spooner
"The Anglo-Saxons were robbers and pirates in their own coun-try, two thousand years ago;
robbers on land, and pirates at sea. Such was their sole business. The men performed no
useful labor. Their useful labor was all performed by their women and their slaves. They
themselves, as history tells us, scorned to labor for anything they could take by force.
They came into England on their usual errand. They seized the country by military power,
and reduced the native Britons to slavery. And they have main-tained this character ever
since. The Normans were equally robbers. The real government of England, the actual ruling
power, for more than a thousand years, has been a mere band of robbers; a mere confederacy
of villains. And it is nothing else to-day. They have not only plundered and enslaved the
great body of the people of England and Ireland, but, as far as possible, the peoples of
all other parts of the globe. They have their chains to-day upon more than two hundred
millions of people; and their whole purpose is to extort from them everything that
oppression, in every form, is capable of extorting."
Social Anarchism or Lifestyle Anarchism: An Unbridgeable Chasm
by Muray Bookchin
"As a credo, individualist anarchism remained largely a bohemian lifestyle, most
conspicuous in its demands for sexual freedom ('free love') and enamored of
innovations in art, behavior, and clothing."
Time for Another Revolution
by Frank Chodorov
"If peace is to be brought into the social order it is not by accentuating a class
struggle, but by restraining the basic cause of it; that is, the political power. To
bring about a condition of equal rights, which is a condition of justice, the hands of
the politician must be so tied that he cannot extend his activities beyond the simple
duty of protecting life and property, his only competence."
When Revolution?
by Murray N. Rothbard
Finding your own freedom
by Claire Wolfe
"Here’s a plan for achieving our own best possible degree of both freedom and country
livability. It’s not a plan for achieving perfection, but it is a plan that can help
us pull ourselves out of a pit of despair and into a better, freer life."
Flight AND Fight
by Lila Rajiva
"On the sidelines, waiting and watching, you who have left, you who will leave, may do
more to keep alive the spirit of freedom abroad. There, in soil more fertile than any
in your native land today you may discover America once again."
How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World by Harry Browne
reviewed by George C. Leef
"But what if everyone adopted the Browneian philosophy and huddled in the shrinking
domains of freedom, which might just alert the statists to them and lead to further
crackdowns? Don’t worry about that, our author replies. What you do won’t affect
others. Try to squeeze as much happiness as you can out of life, and if you conclude
that doing so requires ducking the mailed fist of the state, go ahead."
No Conceivable Reform
by Alvin Lowi
"I am a naturalist when it comes to humanity and society. Thus, I regard politics as
an epidemic disease. As I see it, "public" health can be improved only as individual
competence, initiative, and prudence are perfected, practiced and spread throughout
the population. These traits are not only essential for making a life worthwhile but
they also provide resistance to political infection."
The Other Side of the Mountain
by Lila Rajiva
"If you're thinking seriously about moving abroad, the first thing you need to do
is to study the matter for yourself."
Personal Anarchy
by Michael Ziesing
"What I try to keep before my mind is whether what I am doing is dedicated to the
spirit of anarchy. That makes anarchy personal, subjective and living, instead of a
dead set of facts that I go around trying to apply to other people or situations."
The Pioneer Spirit and Skills:
They Can Help Us Through Bad Times
by Marcia Hensley
"Kurt Wilson, who hosts a Web site called “Armchair Survivalist,” predicts the
nation is falling into such chaos that survival skills will be crucial."
Preparation
by Michael Gaddy
"In a community of like-minded individuals, help is much closer, tasks can be shared
and individual talents much better implemented."
Saving the World Through Saving Yourself
by Per Bylund
"Finding freedom does not necessarily mean abolishing government, but staying out
of its reach. If government does not kill or imprison you, steal your property,
or forcefully change your behavior—are you then oppressed in real terms? Not really.
The most effective way to “break free” is thus to simply avoid those parts of government
that you find oppressive. Saving and investing your money offshore is a good start.
If you have a constant flow of money never taxed, then you have won back a big part
of your life and liberty. Register your car and property with your own offshore
foundation in Panama or Costa Rica . Start your own network in the black market to
avoid sales tax and regulations—trade with your friends, relatives, neighbors,
friends’ friends, etc. Put your business online, registering the site in another
name to avoid getting caught. There are many simple tricks to avoid irritating
regulations. Freedom through avoidance."
The Self-Sovereign Individual Project
"A program to achieve freedom from government coercion
for those who understand and want it and
are responsible enough to live it."
Step One in Fighting the State
by George F. Smith
"What exactly can a person do? For starters, learn -- learn American history, get
a clear understanding of what constitutes a moral society, and take a close look at
how a free economy works."
Survival Training:
Be Armed, Store Food, Use Real Money, Secede
by The "Golden Trumpet"
"This urban survival technique essay by GT actually applies to everyone, everywhere.
Government is not your friend; it is your enemy. Whatever you try to do protect
yourself – whether it be arming yourself, storing food, using real money (gold and
silver) instead of their funny money fiat currency, tokens, or credit instruments,
trying to secede or asserting your sovereignty – the government will object to. Their
actions against you will range from merely thwarting you, to punishing you, to
imprisoning you, to killing you."
Time To Run?
by Lila Rajiva
"Make it a priority to visit one foreign country within the next six months. You're
going to find that having another option besides staying put is going to change the
way you think and feel about everything here. It may be that leaving for good isn't
for you. You may find that you prefer home with all its problems to a strange culture.
Well and good. What have you lost? A small amount of rapidly depreciating money."
The Case for Disunion
by Joe Schembrie
"Today it is our corrupt federal government that drags us toward collapse. Disunion
will help us become more secure and prosperous, and affirm the ideals of liberty for
which the American Revolution was fought. To accomplish this won't require civil
war – just a constitutional amendment, and common sense."
Conspiracy, Census and the Case for Secession
by Gary D. Barnett
"The very intrusive and invasive U.S. Census, which I have written about in the past,
can be used in my opinion, to make a case for secession. Not that a case for secession
can’t be made using a myriad of other criteria, but due to the original reasoning for
the census, I think one can show that any country with more than 300,000,000 people
cannot possibly remain a free republic. It simply is not possible. Our nation was
intended to be several states, with a federal system to oversee the protection of
individual rights. It has become a single nation-state with all control coming from
a central-planning leviathan. This is an untenable situation and was bound to lead
to tyranny. This in and of itself is reason enough to pursue secession."
Could an Independent Texas Survive Economically? The Facts Say 'Yes'
by Dave Mundy
"Sure, Texas leads the nation in the production of beef, oil and natural gas. It also
leads the nation in both the production of alternative energy and in the construction of
new alternative energy productin facilities; an independent Texas would be completely
energy-independent and among the world's leading exporters of oil, natural gas and energy
products."
Decentralization for Freedom
by Donald W. Livingston
"For the first time in 144 years State interposition (Madison) and State nullification
and secession (Jefferson) have entered public discourse as remedies to usurpations by
the central government of rights reserved to the sovereign people of the States by the
Constitution. Since Americans are not in the habit of exercising these policy options,
it is worthwhile to ask just what State legislators and governors can do to protect
their citizens from usurpations by the central government."
Divided We Stand
June 13, 2009
by Paul Starobin
"Picture an America that is run not, as now, by a top-heavy Washington
autocracy but, in freewheeling style, by an assemblage of largely autonomous regional
republics reflecting the eclectic economic and cultural character of the society."
The Future of Liberalism. A Plea for a New Radicalism
by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
Intentional Communities as Anarchism in Practice
by Carlton Hobbs
"I do not recommend all anarchists withdraw from the state and start Amish-like
societies. Instead, I recommend a mixed solution. Some free-market anarchist
intentional communities should be created, and anarchists inside of them should
seek support from those outside, and vice versa."
Intentional Communities: The Fastest and Cheapest Way of Secession
by Mark Gillespie
"I don't care if the community is one of rabid Christian post-millenialists
or if they are the most homo of homosexuals. Start helping others to design
their own communities. A smart group of an-caps could actually make this
a business model. Soon a federation of radically differing communities will
be in full agreement on mutual protection and mutual growth. By this time,
there may be thousands of new ICs ranging in size from a few people to a few
thousand or better."
LIST OF CURRENT NORTH AMERICAN SECESSIONIST GROUPS
Nationalism and Secession
Non-Participation
A Parting of the Ways: Moving Forward to Freedom
A Peccancy
The Resignation of Jacob Halbrooks
Reviving a Civil Society
Ropes of Sand : Voluntaryism and Secessionism
Secede?
Secede and succeed
Secession and Desertion: One Spawns The Other
Secession, Competition and Private Action
Secession, Group Rights and the Grounds of Political Obligation
Secession Is in Our Future
A Secessionist Bookshelf: A Modest Beginning
Secession, State & Liberty edited by David Gordon
Secession Reconsidered
Secession: The Final Frontier
Secession: Timing Is Everything
Sovereignty or Secession?
Some Things to Consider
Taking Secession Seriously – At Last
War, Secession, and Libertarianism
Washington is Selling Servitude
What Would A Truly Free Nation Look Like?
Who Will Be The Enemies Of Secession?
by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
by Charles W. Johnson
"Non-participation’s ability to diminish government can best be appreciated by
examining the role that participation plays in the structure of government."
by William Buppert
"The first task is to educate yourself on the ideas that would inspire such
radical measures as secession."
by Tim Case
"The question of secession then becomes a moot point, for only cohorts in the ongoing
criminal actions would refuse to extricate themselves from that which seeks to destroy
the calling of mankind to liberty.
Equally essential is the realization that any act from an individual or collective of
individuals in favor of the right to do anything one wishes as long as it doesn’t
infringe on the rights of others, is by definition an act of secession and will be
labeled sedition by the hoodlums in power."
by Jacob Halbrooks
"It might take some adjustment for me to shed off the benefits of government. But I
think I'll be able to manage. Now, I think I'll start off the auction of my share of
public goods. Let's start with my (1/300 million) share of the Grand Canyon.
Or did I mistake the meaning of voluntary?"
by Lawrence W. Reed
"Restoring civil society requires that we “Just Say No” to shirking our personal
responsibilities and expecting government to do for us what we can and should do
on our own, within our personal lives, our families, and our local communities.
It requires us to think creatively about stimulating private initiative, and then
just doing it.
by Carl Watner
"Government "by consent" implies the right to not consent, or to
withdraw one's consent
at a later date. "To contend that [individual] consent is the moral justification for
government is to lay the groundwork for" voluntaryism. There is a large unbridgeable
chasm between the idea of consent and political government based on majority rule. For
inevitably to contend that government rests on consent is to embark down the slippery
slope to secessionism that will eventually lead one to voluntaryism."
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
"In the U.S., meanwhile, the central government gets more tyrannical and expensive by
the day. Is it time to think about bidding it adieu?"
August 31, 2009
by Kent McManigal
"Consider becoming an honest provider of your services sooner rather than later.
Those who are doing a job that would have a place in a free society could just divorce
themselves from the state now."
by Russell D. Longcore
"In conclusion, I feel that the balance of power tilts in favor of the state that
secedes, and against the tyranny imposed by Washington. The first successful secession
will open the floodgates of freedom, and liberty will be the true "green shoots" that
Washington observes."
July 10, 2002
by Peter Gordon
"A successful San Fernando Valley secession will send a nationwide signal that
governments have to compete. The message will be doubly powerful if the newly formed
City of San Fernando and City of Hollywood and a smaller City of Los Angeles compete
by offering the kind of private and non-profit initiative and innovation that have
historically benefited their citizens."
by John Tomasi
A review of Allen Buchanan's book Secession: The Morality of Political Divorce
from Fort Sumter to Lithuania and Quebec.
by Clifford F. Thies
" Possibly, once the rush gets underway, the only "state" that will be left in
Old America will be the District of Columbia."
by William Buppert
"We don’t have to be embarrassed by the notion of secession. We are a nation birthed
in divorce from a tyrannical Crown and the Second American Revolution popularly known
as the Civil War. Lincoln’s Jacobins won that fight but we don’t have to suffer that
forever nor yield them a high ground of virtue."
reviewed by George C. Leef
"Although secession has had a bad press in the United States since the Civil War, with
the secessionist cause and slavery almost invariably linked, this book brings
together 11 essays which collectively make the case that it merits serious consideration."
by Robert W. McGee
by Andrei Kreptul
"With Secession, Thomas Naylor provides the average person trapped in the
"black-box" of democracy with a short, easy-to-read book that lays out a new political
frontier using persuasive and well-reasoned arguments. Unlike most books published on
secession, written mostly by political philosophers attempting to weigh the costs and
benefits of secession under the assumption of some hypothetical Rawlsian "democratically
just" state, Secession is one of the few books available that offers a truly normative
case for breaking up the United States and many other of the world’s nation-states,
using interdisciplinary arguments based on economics, politics, history, culture, and,
most importantly, reason."
by Russell D. Longcore
"I believe that states should be making concrete plans right now for secession. States
already have intricate plans in place in case of natural disasters and such. Should not
a state have a plan in place in case of political disaster?"
by Darrel Mulloy
"I want to exercise my right under the tenth amendment, but as an individual I can’t. You
and I are part of the people that are mentioned in that amendment, but we have no choice
but to go along with the unconstitutional mandates that Washington DC is forcing on us.
The state governments can, and some have, tell Washington DC that they will no longer
accept any legislation that is passed by them that is not authorized by the
Constitution; which is just about every bit of legislation they have passed in my
lifetime."
by Kirkpatrick Sale
"It is heartening that at last, thanks to a few off-the-cuff remarks by Texas
governor Rick Perry on “tea-party” day, people are starting to talk about
secession in these not-very-United States, and for the most part taking the
concept seriously."
by Manuel Lora
"Unlike war, secession is legitimate, libertarian and – depending on the
circumstances – can be a bloodless or mostly bloodless way to separate politically. Take
a look at India, the several former Soviet bloc nations, and East Germany. Granted, there
were statist efforts here as well, but these did not involve mass murder and mass
taxation."
by Brian Roberts
"The 10th amendment states, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States
respectively, or to the people.” This one sentence if effectively used to counter
federal power can quickly shift power back to a more local level."
by Russell D. Longcore
"The biggest challenge to state secession, in my never-humble opinion, is not
Washington resistance. The biggest challenge to state secession will be from the state
politicians already in office. Steeped in Washington-think, and addicted to Federal
money, they may naturally default to crafting a new nation in the likeness of
Washington. I hope I'm completely wrong, and that liberty lovers will prevail."
October 12, 2009
by Russell D. Longcore
"So, once the movement gains undeniable traction in one particular state, who will
begin to resist? Who will actively fight secession? Here is the short list."
Setting a Good Example
The Abstract Concept of Human Liberty
by Robert LeFevre
"The abstract concept of human liberty is one of the mightiest and most important
intellectual attainments of our species. It provides us with a comprehensible, visible
star of such celestial magnitude that all who wish can see it. As such, it serves the
function of Polaris for those who comprehend its use. You can steer your life by it,
even if you cannot reach it. But until you can see it cleanly, despite the mist of
multitudes, the storm of events, the scudding clouds of things, until it stands out
stark and bright in your own sky, you will probably find that you are pursuing some
flickering lesser purpose. Should that be the case, the problem is readily resolved.
Take a new sighting and steer closer to the full abstract meaning of the word."
The Cause of Freedom Begins With Me
by Roger Koopman
"For the sake of conscience, we must resolve to honor and defend our neighbor’s freedom
as our own—and to do so even if we don’t agree with the choices he makes. For the sake
of conscience, we must resist every temptation to go to government for a subsidy or
“freebie,” even if everyone else is doing it—especially if everyone else is doing it.
We must, each one of us, individually strike that match of conscience in the darkness
until our collective light makes America once again the beacon of freedom to all the
world."
Cultivate Your Own Garden: No Truck with Politics
by Carl Watner
"There is no guarantee that the voluntaryist method will be successful - but because
each individual concentrates on himself and not others, it is worth-while, profitable,
and self-satisfying even if it does not come to fruition in the short-run or during
one's lifetime. The time spent on building a better, stronger you, on developing your
vocational and avocational skills, your family, and your marriage makes you a better
person regardless of outside circumstances. In short, time spent cultivating your own
garden is always profitable and moral. Trying to cultivate another's garden is trespass,
(unless you are first invited to enter) and of necessity lessens the amount of time you
can spend on your own self-improvement."
A Definition of Freedom
by Julie Watner
"But "plain-Jane" and unexciting as it sounds, I believe the most effective way to
spread the freedom idea is to educate ourselves and raise our children to be honest,
knowledgeable, confident, responsible lovers of freedom-to light a single candle."
Does Freedom Need to Be Organized?
by Carl Watner
"We must be satisfied with concentrating on mastering our own self-control and with
explaining to others why they should govern themselves."
How to Gain Liberty
by Leonard E. Read
"How can we best achieve a free society? Self-improvement is the only answer."
Isn’t the Law Already In Our Hands?
by Wilton D. Alston
"So what should we do? Withhold your support, and let your opinion be known!"
Is Veneration of the Military Good for the Republic?
by Ivan Eland
"The American republic was supposed to be the antithesis of the militarized societies
of 18th century Europe. The glorification of the militarized U.S. foreign policy of the
latter half of the 20th and early 21st centuries would make the founding generation roll
over in their graves."
Living in a State-Run World
by Murray N. Rothbard
from Liberty, Volume 1, number 3; December 1987
"It seems to me, then, that the criterion, the ground on which we must stand, to be
moral and rational in a state-run world, is to: (1) work and agitate as best we can, in
behalf of liberty; (2) while working in the matrix of our given world, to refuse to
add to its statism; and (3) to refuse absolutely to participate in State
activities that are immoral and criminal per se."
On States of Mind
by David McKells
"Speaking out, passing petitions, etc., all need to be done. But I believe the strongest
blow I can make against that state of mind - the one trying to gobble up the last
remnants of traditional Indians as well as the last remnants of the family farms - is
to be truly at home in my place. To raise a family here and pray the kids will
understand. To nurture a native, respectful state of mind.
Perhaps the strongest, most direct weapon we have is to make our farms work, practically,
gracefully and with dignity. And do it out front and in the open for everyone to see."
The Selling of Freedom
by Dennis L. Peterson
"Students of liberty have an excellent “product”: personal, economic, and political
freedom. Our methods are time-tested and effective: positive education and worthy
examples. The only thing we need is more good salesmen."
Should We Organize for Liberty?
by Robert James Bidinotto
"The world is stampeding toward collectivism in an orgy of organizing. Let advocates
of liberty remember that in individual understanding lies our power, and in the
individual life, our glory."
Stop Saying "Please"!
by Larken Rose
"Once the people stop viewing themselves as slaves, and stop viewing the politicians
as masters, voting and lobbying will end, and the people will stop saying "please" to
those who claim the right to rule them. Only then will freedom defeat tyranny."
Dialog: Markets Can Furnish Law/What Is a Market Transaction?
by Richard O. Hammer and Roy Halliday
Rich Hammer argues that the market can define law. Roy Halliday argues
that before we can trade in a free market we need to know who owns what.
Forms for a Free Nation, Alternate Visions
by Philip Jacobson
Different models for a free nation give different weights to specific
design variables.
The Free Nation Foundation Workplan: Review and Revision
by Philip Jacobson
A critique of the FNF workplan and an appeal for a new strategy.
Get a Free Nation by Running a Professional Think Tank
by Richard O. Hammer
"I want to see the creation of a new free nation on Earth. By "nation" I mean what
is most commonly meant: a piece of real estate with borders separating it from other
nations, borders which will be drawn in atlases. This nation will have a population
of at least several thousand people."
How to Handle the Press
by Richard O. Hammer
Free-nation libertarians should be wary of the press because reporters
are mostly statists.
Land Policy and the Open Community: The Anarchist Case for Land-Leasing versus Subdivision
by Spencer H. MacCallum
Reasons for basing a libertarian nation on leased land rather than
multiple, privately owned plots.
Let's Discuss the Amount of Coercion Needed in a Free Nation
by Roy Halliday
Libertarians hold several conflicting views about when it is legitimate
to use force. It would reduce confusion and help refine each position if
we organize free-nation proposals by the level of coercion they sanction.
Personal Sovereignty?
by Larry L. Beane II
"More "nations" means more freedom. Maybe we can get people rethinking sovereignty
issues by returning to thinking of their homes as their castles. It's worth
a shot, anyway."
Planning a New Nation
by Michael van Notten
You can't plan a nation, but you can plan a free port or free town
and hope that it will eventually grow into a free nation.
Purism vs. Practicality
by Richard O. Hammer
Libertarians should spend their efforts creating a more free nation
instead of endlessly discussing the characteristics of a perfect nation.
Selecting a Site for a Free Nation
by Roy Halliday
Look for an undeveloped place with natural resources, a decent
climate, and democratic neighbors.
Toward a Free Nation, Still
by Roderick T. Long
A defense of the FNF workplan in response to Phil Jacobson's critique
The Free Nation
Foundation Workplan: Review and Revision.
Trade Unions and Revolution
"We do not just focus on those workers already in unions, but strive to organize
the entire working class into one big union."
Around the World in 80 Ideas
edited by Eamonn Butler and Keith Boyfield
"80 ideas in economic and social reform, illustrated
by practical examples from around the World."
Blueprint for Revolution
by Dr Madsen Pirie
"A complete guide through the theory, strategy, and record of rolling back the state
in the UK - privatization, internal markets in health education, making executive
agencies more independent, and the Citizen's Charter."
Endgame
by Joshua Holmes
Assesses several strategies for creating a libertarian nation.
Exclusive Interview With Murray Rothbard
Originally published in The New Banner: A Fortnightly Libertarian Journal on
February 25, 1972.
"I really don't care about whether people vote or not. To me the important thing is, who
do you support. Who do you hope will win the election? You can be a non-voter and say
"I don't want to sanction the state" and not vote, but on election night who do you hope
the rest of the voters, the rest of the suckers out there who are voting, who do you hope
they'll elect. And it's important, because I think that there is a difference. The
Presidency, unfortunately, is of extreme importance. It will be running or directing our
lives greatly for four years. So, I see no reason why we shouldn't endorse, or support,
or attack one candidate more than the other candidate. I really don't agree at all with
the non-voting position in that sense, because the non-voter is not only saying we
shouldn't vote: he is also saying that we shouldn't endorse anybody. Will Robert LeFevre,
one of the spokesmen of the non-voting approach, will he deep in his heart on election
night have any kind of preference at all as the votes come in. Will he cheer slightly or
groan more as whoever wins? I don't see how anybody could fail to have a preference,
because it will affect all of us."
Four Strategies For Libertarian Change
by Murray N. Rothbard
How do we get there from here?
by Ian Titter
"I think we need to develop an open-source Artificial Intelligence system useable by
individuals. If we can get this we can make an end-run around the Statists."
How to Achieve Liberty: Bypass, Educate and Secede
by Manuel Lora and Juan Fernando Carpio
"There is no magic bullet that will change us all at once. The
technology-education-secession trifecta is just one of the things that we believe can
make a substantial difference in our efforts not only to bypass government control but
to help form a liberty-oriented society, even if it's a small one."
How to Destatize
by Murray N. Rothbard
Build a libertarian movement that offers solutions.
How to Get There From Here
by Mary J. Ruwart
"If each of us works on the piece of the puzzle that appeals to us most, the final
picture will reflect the composite of our dreams."
I'd Push the Button to Establish Freedom Right Now
by Richard M. Ebeling
"Indeed, what passes for 'deregulation' or market-based reform has almost no
relation to Read's principled call for laissez faire."
National Liberation
by Murray N. Rothbard
Nations by Consent: Decomposing the Nation-State
by Murray N. Rothbard
A New Liberty Now
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
Introduction to Murray Rothbard's For a New Liberty.
On Resisting Evil
by Murray N. Rothbard
This essay originally appeared in the September 1993 issue of The Rothbard-Rockwell
Report.
"How can anyone, finding himself surrounded by a rising tide of evil, fail to do his
utmost to fight against it? In our century, we have been inundated by a flood of evil,
in the form of collectivism, socialism, egalitarianism, and nihilism. It has always been
crystal clear to me that we have a compelling moral obligation, for the sake of ourselves,
our loved ones, our posterity, our friends, our neighbors, and our country, to do battle
against that evil."
Revolution: Our Strategy
by Samuel Edward Konkin III
A four-phased approach.
The Spirit of Revolt, 1880
by Peter Kropotkin
"What forms will this action take? All forms,--indeed, the most varied forms, dictated
by circumstances, temperament, and the means at disposal. Sometimes tragic, sometimes
humorous, but always daring; sometimes collective, sometimes purely individual, this
policy of action will neglect none of the means at hand, no event of public life, in
order to keep the spirit alive, to propagate and find expression for dissatisfaction,
to excite hatred against exploiters, to ridicule the government and expose its weakness,
and above all and always, by actual example, to awaken courage and fan the spirit of
revolt."
Tactics and hypocrisy
by Sunni Maravillosa
"There is no one size fits all in freedom, just as elsewhere. A rational choice for
one person, or one organization, becomes a rationalizing agent when applied to other
individuals or organizations operating under different conditions. The liberty movement
has enough snipers surrounding us; we certainly don't need snipers amongst us, adding
divisiveness where plenty already exists."
Twittering Revolutionaries
July 16, 2009
by Philip Giraldi
"The twitter and text message explosion has changed the face of revolution.
Thousands of messages can be sent out in seconds to tell protestors where to gather
or what spots to avoid because of heavy police presence. The internet enables the
disaffected and politically marginalized to organize and plan. The authorities are
clearly worried. One of the first things that the Chinese and Iranian governments
did when confronted recently by popular unrest was to limit access to the internet
and shut down cell phone transmitters."
What To Do and What Not To Do
by Nicholas Elliott
Why Right Does Not Triumph
by Ridgway K. Foley, Jr.
"Conservatives should coordinate their efforts with one another and work more closely
with their natural allies in the pursuit of common goals. They should seek to identify,
inform and incorporate like-minded persons into the mainstream of libertarian thinking
in the hope that it will become a welling tide. They should avoid inconsistency and
fervent zeal which detract from their position. They should learn their philosophy,
expand upon it, and live it: a never-ending labor. They should devote time normally
accorded to the production of goods and services to the nurture of freedom. Finally,
they should remain alert to the positions of the left and the methods it employs, never
failing to articulate and publicize liberalism and its failings. If we all do this,
right shall triumph."
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This page was last updated on November 20, 2009.