Those who wish to live voluntarily among others, neither ruling nor being ruled, but in liberty, without propping up any institution of collective archation, just do so.
And, yes, there will always be bad guys trying to molest them in one way or another. You can live a healthy lifestyle and still get a disease, after all. You can't suspend reality.
Those who don't want to live voluntarily will always have a ready list of excuses for why they can't. Why it won't work. They'll expend more effort looking for ways to avoid living in liberty-- which some of them even say they want-- than they would by just doing it.
The hypothetical scenario is one of their favorite stumbling blocks. Sure, consider the hypotheticals, but don't wait for them to be answered just the way you want. Start living-- now. And if you need an answer to the hypotheticals that badly, come up with an answer on your own and share it with the rest of us. Let the market of ideas weigh and measure your answer. Then you can catch up to the rest of us when you're ready-- or you can take your own path and see where it leads. Who's stopping you?
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Writing to promote liberty is my job.
I hope I add something you find valuable enough to support. If so...
YOU get to decide if I get paid.
Writing to promote liberty is my job.
I hope I add something you find valuable enough to support. If so...
YOU get to decide if I get paid.
interesting link to 2005 Bob Murphy article: He walks all around it, but never steps in it; and then wonders down several side trails. he cites real events, thereby undermining his own position that these are "hypotheticals". calling realities that destroy the premise - "hypotheticals", does not defeat the reality.
ReplyDeleteattaching derogatory labels isn't reason, it's deflection. reality remains.
sincerely trying to find a practical philosophical/rational solution to overcome a substantial real world limitation.
i'll keep percolating on it...
When you figure it out, let me know.
DeleteThe "wish" in your para 1 is my wish exactly. I wish neither to rule or be ruled. But I have a problem understanding how I can avoid being ruled, until government is abolished, and even how I can avoid "propping up" rulers.
ReplyDeleteThey are propped up primarily by labor - so, right, I will not work for them. But they are also propped up by money; and I don't see how to with-hold that. If I refuse to pay their taxes, they will cage me, thereby making their rule even harsher. It may be noble, but (your point here) it does the opposite of living without being ruled. Ask any ex-con.
No question, the government era can be ended and then para 1 can become real. But in the meantime, until it does? Your "just do so" doesn't seem practicable.
I guess the way I see it is like this:
DeleteMuggers exist. I am at risk of being mugged. But I don't pretend they have any "right" to mug me, nor does their "job" have any legitimacy. Same with Rulers. Yeah, they get in my way, but so does gravity. Just because I have to take certain steps to avoid being harmed by them doesn't mean I'm being ruled. Or, maybe it does, but I don't choose to feel like I am. Perhaps it is mindset. They are just filthy parasites that have to be dealt with.
“Resolve to serve no more, and you are at once freed. I do not ask that you place hands upon the tyrant to topple him over, but simply that you support him no longer; then you will behold him, like a great Colossus whose pedestal has been pulled away, fall of his own weight and break in pieces.” ― Étienne de La Boétie
Gravity can, it's true, have some grave consequences; but it's also very useful. It prevents you flying off the Planet into outer space.
ReplyDeleteRulers, in contrast...
That Boetie quote is my favorite.