We the Individuals

The novel proposal we each choose our own manners of being governed.
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  • Jeff Peterson II, Chris Calton, Blaine Kelley, Henry Moore, Matt Tanous and Rocco Stanzione

The Bastardization of Knowledge Jul 28, 2017

The Left Libertarian Confusion of Hayek

By We the Individuals Vote10 1

A Left-Libertarian Argument for Anarcho-Capitalism Jun 5, 2017

Without a theory of the entrepreneur, any theory of the firm is seriously limited with a poor entrepreneurial theory, and this seems to be a fundamental flaw in left-libertarianism.

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The Left-Libertarian Case for Confiscation Mar 3, 2017

[Part of An Anarcho-Capitalist Case Against Left-Libertarianism series]   Contra Rothbard Mention the word "redistribution" to a run-of-the-mill libertarian would usually throw up red flags, and rightfully so. Any government program equates to people spending other people's money. Since taxes are not the product of government labor and voluntary trade, the livelihoods of those who decide how it gets spent (government officials) aren't at risk when it's spent inefficiently or wastefully. Market forces, such as profit and loss, are not present to even a modicum of the same extent as they are with private money. Welfare programs are, therefore, a...

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Left-Libertarianism: A Critique Dec 8, 2016

[Part of An Anarcho-Capitalist Case Against Left-Libertarianism series]   “Left-libertarianism” has attracted a substantial following within recent years.  Many libertarians are unaware of what left-libertarianism is or what it entails, and until recently its nature and scope have remained fuzzy and obscure.  To his credit, Nick Ford has recently written an article “14 Questions and Answers on Left-Libertarianism” which helps to clarify (albeit far from perfectly) the nature and scope of this elusive philosophy.  His article will be used for the following analysis. Prior to delving into the critique, an explication of the scope of libertarianism is in order.  The...

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The Bastardization of Value Nov 14, 2016

Kevin Carson can't help but get a lot incorrect starting with this theory. If your starting point is incorrect, what's deduced will result in the same.

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In Defense of “Vulgar Libertarianism” Nov 9, 2016

We can praise the benefits of market exchange, as it exists today, even when it's hampered in various ways by the state.

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Anti-Capitalism, A Love Story Oct 26, 2016

Dropping the term "capitalism" while retaining the concept buys us nothing.

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The “Left” in Left-Libertarianism Oct 17, 2016

Chartier attempts to help distinguish left-libertarianism as its own brand apart from basic libertarianism by grounding it in values that are uniquely leftist. In this essay, we have sought to show that it the values he fleshes out are not in fact clearly distinguished, and seem to function in name as more of an encoded signal to subvert libertarianism for an implicit agenda.

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How to Become a Left-Libertarian Oct 7, 2016

There can be no tolerance toward anarcho-capitalists in a left-libertarian safe space. They will have to be shamed to leave, so to speak.

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The Government’s Race to the Bottom Jun 26, 2016

Government created, maintained, and exploited racism. But I'm sure it can fix it, too.

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Yes, the World is Round May 1, 2016

I have a constant suspicion when talking to the Left that when they seem to be talking about economics, and even if they are talking about it, they’re not so much doing analysis as justifying their ideology.

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New Boss Same as the Old Boss Mar 27, 2016

Is Bernie Sanders' Democratic Socialism so different from historic Marx’s Socialism?

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An Anarcho-Capitalist Case Against Left-Libertarianism Mar 11, 2016

A series of ongoing articles addressing left-libertarian positions from an anarcho-capitalist and Austrian Economic school of thought.

By Chris Calton Vote7 0

Words, What Do They Mean? Mar 6, 2016

The libertarian-left have discovered and perfected the technique of couching everything they say in ambiguous terms and then refusing to define those terms. So they can write huge volumes of stuff without actually uttering an actual proposition that can be assessed on its merits – every criticism is an automatic straw man.

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Bern It to the Ground Mar 2, 2016

It has become common knowledge to today’s college students that possessing a bachelor’s degree is almost worthless in terms of starting a career, particularly outside of highly technical STEM fields.  As the image below (ironically brought to my attention because of a share on Facebook by a supporter of Bernie Sanders) shows, there is a common sense that the bachelor’s degree isn’t really worth anything to future employers. This was not always the case.  If one asks someone who went to college a few decades ago, the college degree was incredibly important to the start of their career.  It signified...

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Never Expect Liberty from Violent Revolution Feb 21, 2016

The problem with every violent revolution in history is that it leads only to a strengthening of state power.

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Some People Just Want to Watch the World Bern Feb 19, 2016

My question to Bernie Sanders supporters: When someone in Bangladesh observes your lifestyle, it seems as incredible to them as that of the 1% seems to you. Why are they not entitled to help themselves to your things, the way you consider yourself morally entitled to help yourself to the goods of the American rich? In your answer, avoid moral irrelevancies like national borders; can we tolerate inequality just because it's cross-border? Extra credit: take a picture of yourself divesting yourself of most of your goods in the name of global equality. -Thomas E. Woods With every election cycle there...

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Free Market Anti-Socialism Feb 6, 2016

Anarchists (left-libertarians and anarcho-capitalists for the purpose of this discussion) speculate about what a stateless society might look like. That is, if society would trend more towards socialism or capitalism. A number of left-libertarians assert that society would trend towards socialism. Kevin Carson argues this position in his essay “Who Owns the Benefit? The Free Market as Full Communism.”   Before beginning the critique, providing a definition of capitalism is in order. “Capitalism" simply refers to that system where all scarce goods (including land and the means of production) are subject to private ownership given they are acquired via original...

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Sugar, Economy, and State Dec 15, 2015

When I was fourteen years old, my family took a trip to Germany which was my first excursion outside of the United States. At that age, Dr. Pepper was all I drank, and my parents accommodated this by purchasing me a large case of Dr. Pepper to help me survive. German Dr. Pepper, though, tasted slightly different than that bought in the United States. At age fourteen, this was a mystery to me - just one of many oddities in another country, I assumed. The reality, of course, is that what I was tasting (for the first time) was Dr....

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Sophistry Through Thick and Thin. Nov 17, 2015

In reading Charles Johnson’s oddly impactful 2008 essay Libertarianism Through Thick and Thin, I was perplexed by the sheer weight of unnecessary confusion and blurring of the language.  It is a peculiar thing to see a political theory as clear and simple as libertarianism become suddenly and unnecessarily wrapped up in obscure and ambiguous language.  It was almost as if obscurity was the means by which he intentionally sought to redefine the libertarian doctrine. Charles Johnson’s essay set out to consider four primary ways in which libertarianism could be considered a “thick” doctrine, rather than a “thin” one. Let me explain...

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