What is Voluntaryism? - The Basics

Sample Chapter from my Upcoming Book

Voluntaryism – The Basics

Voluntaryism is the commonsense idea that all relationships between people must be voluntary. That no one is allowed to use violence or extortion on anyone else. No one gets an exemption from morality, especially “government.” No one gets the “ring of power” because there isn’t a ring of power!

It has also been called the Philosophy of Human Respect in that it is the only political “ISM” that respects the natural law rights of others. Somewhat inherent in the philosophy is the understanding that the world is a self-organizing system that produces spontaneous order, and everything that “government” does would be done better, faster, and cheaper by the free market, mutual aid societies, armed protective service providers, insurance companies, non-profits, and genuine charities.

We believe it is the most censored political philosophy in the world because it exposes the illegitimacy and criminality of the “government” which is using violence, extortion, and unethically manipulative techniques to trick the population into going along with a ruling class that has rights that other people don’t.

Our companion book “Government” – The Biggest Scam in History… Exposed! breaks down the unethically manipulative techniques that the inter-generational organized crime system behind fractional reserve banking and their puppets in the “government” and monopolized media use to create obedience, fealty and adoration for “government” in the population.

This book is focused on solutions and explaining the economics, market mechanisms and the free-market solutions that can provide all the legitimate non-redistributive services that are provided by “government.” After all, if everyone knew you could get everything you wanted from the free market without the waste, fraud, abuse, violence, and extortion of “government” AND be dramatically wealthier in a more harmonious world, why would anyone support and/or advocate for “government”?

Especially when advocating for “Government” produces negative karma because you are advocating for violence against your friends, family and neighbors who disagree. If you are advocating for voluntaryism, there is no negative karma because you are simply advocating for REAL freedom and the ability for your friends, family and relatives to be able to choose the school, relationships, protective services, and retirement programs that best meet their needs.

The Moral Case for Voluntaryism

The title of this book points out that voluntaryism is the only “ISM” that is fair for everyone. Every other political “ISM” from socialism, to communism, to constitutional republicanism has a ruling class that has rights that you don’t. It is a completely illogical and immoral position to assert that the majority has the right to violate the minority just because the mob outnumbers their victim. It is the moral equivalent of gang rape or lynching.

But the moral case for voluntaryism doesn’t rest solely on this one use case. A number of other moral principles and ethical considerations make it the only option for moral and logically consistent people.

The Non-Aggression Principle

Another primary tenant of voluntaryism is the Non-Aggression Principle (NAP) which is essentially a codification of the “Golden Rule” of “Do Unto Others As You Would Have Others Do Unto You.” It is an ethical and moral principal that asserts that aggression, the threat of aggression, or fraud upon persons or their property is inherently immoral and illegitimate.

In contrast to pacifism, the NAP does NOT prohibit self-defense. You have the ability to defend your life, liberty and property BUT you don’t have the ability to initiate force against others to achieve socio-economic goals even if they are perceived to be important or necessary to some.

The fact that “governments” and their hired mercenaries regularly violate the NAP proves definitely that they are immoral and illegitimate.

The Logical Case for Voluntaryism & Self Ownership

Not only is voluntaryism the most moral of all the political “ISMs,” but it is logically consistent. Communism, Socialism and democracy are frequently self-contradictory. To quote George Orwell’s famous critique of communism in his book Animal Farm: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” An obvious example of this in our “Constitutional Republic” would be that the bureaucrats in federal, state and local “governments” are paying themselves salaries and benefits over and above what the average taxpayer earns with gold-plated pensions that kick in with as little as 20 years “public service.”

Unlike socialism, communism or “constitutional republicanism,” voluntaryism has a logical train of reasoning and morality that starts with self-ownership

Self-Ownership

If you want to roll it back to first principles, you own yourself and consequently own the product of your labor. If you didn’t own yourself, it would mean that someone had a higher claim to your life than you. Ken Schooland, the author of the classic children’s book on liberty: The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible, sums this up nicely in the epilogue to the book which has been turned into the short video below.

My philosophy is based on the principle of self-ownership. You own your life. To deny this is to imply that another person has a higher claim on your life than you do. No other person, or group of persons, owns your life nor do you own the lives of others. You exist in time: future, present, and past. This is manifest in life, liberty, and the product of your life and liberty. The exercise of choices over life and liberty is your prosperity. To lose your life is to lose your future. To lose your liberty is to lose your present. And to lose the product of your life and liberty is to lose the portion of your past that produced it.

Because you own yourself you have the ability to do with your property, your body, whatever you want as long as you are not violating the equal rights of others BUT this ownership comes with personal responsibility and other market participants have equal rights.

You have the right to use any drug you want BUT employers have the right to hire employees who don’t do drugs.

You have the right to overeat or eat toxic fast food laced with glutamates, glyphosate, and rBGH BUT you don’t have the right to socialize the medical costs of your poor diet on those who eat properly and exercise.

You have the right to quit your job if the company isn’t meeting its side of the bargain BUT your company has the right to fire you if you aren’t meeting your side of the bargain.

You have the right to bargain collectively and strike BUT your employer has the right not to hire union labor, reject any offer proposed, fire strikers, and hire replacements.

The Utilitarian Case for Voluntaryism

But wait… Doesn’t SOMEONE have to be running things to make sure that everything is in order? That everything “works”? Luckily, as mentioned above.. the world is a self-organizing system that produces something called “Spontaneous Order” which means that order frequently emerges from the coordinated and uncoordinated actions of individuals who are not intentionally trying to create order. Spontaneous order has been said, is ‘the result of human action, but not of human design’.

Examples of spontaneous order are all around you: A supermarket and its supply chain are an excellent example. There are potentially millions of people involved in the farming, ranching, harvesting, trucking, testing, processing, formulating, marketing, shipping, merchandising, and staffing of your local supermarket. The supply chain stretches across six continents without any central direction or control, yet you have strawberries, avocados, and bananas in the dead of winter.

No one involved in the process cares about you specifically, but everyone is working to improve their own lot in life by trading their labor for income or by investing their time, efforts and capital to farm, ranch or process the food we all take for granted. Competition among producers is diverse: Some compete on price while other compete on quality, but all benefit you the consumer while generally cutting costs (absent inflation) as innovations and productivity improvements improve the amount an individual farmer can produce or reduce the costs of packaging, shipping or distribution.

This same dynamic can produce other complex goods and services that are currently provided by a monopoly provider “government” but could just as easily be provided by the free market which does such an amazing job with supermarkets, software, cell phones, automobiles, clothing, and entertainment.

There is a direct correlation with freedom and economic prosperity. Freedom allows for the greatest innovation, wealthy people want to live and invest in free countries, and they don’t want their investments stolen by “government” so, to quote Walter Wriston, “Capital goes where it is wanted and stays where it is treated well.” This includes human capital as well.

Hong Kong is an economic miracle. It was and is a tiny rock in the ocean with no real natural resources except a magnificent deep-water port. Sir John James Cowperthwaite served as Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary from 1961 to 1971 and is renowned for his staunch commitment to laissez-faire economic principles. Some of his key contributions include:

• Minimal Government Intervention: Cowperthwaite believed in letting markets operate freely, refraining from implementing welfare programs or extensive government control.

• Avoiding Centralized Planning: He famously refused to collect certain economic data (like GDP), fearing that statistics might tempt policymakers to intervene inappropriately in the economy.

• Low Taxes and Limited Regulation: He ensured that taxes remained low and regulations minimal, creating an environment conducive to entrepreneurship and investment.

• Transforming Hong Kong into a Global Financial Hub: Under his leadership, Hong Kong thrived economically, shifting from a struggling colony to one of the world's leading financial and trade centers.

Robert Peterson describes the results in Lessons In Liberty: Hong Kong, Crown Jewel Of Capitalism

In 1987, Hong Kong—with 14 times as many people per square mile as Japan—had a per capita income of $8,260. Just a few miles away, across the Sham Chun River—in Communist China—people of the same racial stock, living in the same subtropical climate on shores washed by the same South China Sea, were able to produce a per capita income of only $300. (Incredibly, even some of that paltry sum was fueled by Hong Kong’s economy, which both invests in and purchases from the mainland.)

Where Do Voluntaryists Fit on the Political Spectrum?

The organized crime “government” and their accomplices in the monopoly media try to convince the public that the political spectrum is either left or right, where the only options are either far left (Communist), left (Democrat), centrist (Independent), right (Republican), or far right (Libertarian AND/OR Fascist). This fake dichotomy allows the system to offer a fake “Hobson’s Choice” (No Choice) each election cycle between a left “government” candidate or right “government” candidate where there is really no choice at all since both options subject you to “government” control.

The reality is that the political spectrum is better represented by the diamond-shaped “Nolan Chart” developed by MIT student David Nolan and popularized by the Advocates for Self-Government which has distributed and/or introduced tens of millions to the chart as “The World’s Smallest Political Quiz.” The chart measures an individual’s preference for (or rejection!) of personal and economic freedom and still delivers a corresponding and indicative left-right political label BUT also correctly identifies libertarians, voluntaryists, and authoritarian political types. I have “pro-modifed” the traditional Advocates quiz to better represent the voluntaryist and libertarian quadrants.

The way the chart / quiz works is to measure an individual’s preference for personal and economic freedom along two axis points. The Personal Issues Score on the left-hand axis measures the degree of personal freedom one supports and the Economic Issues Score on the right hand axis measures the amount of economic freedom one supports.

I am replicating the current questions from the Advocates for Self-Government website and how to score your answers below.

Traditionally, Republicans have favored a high degree of economic freedom (low taxation, low economic regulation, no “government” monopolies, etc.) BUT have favored a low degree of personal freedom (drugs should be regulated and prohibited, prostitution should be illegal, public homosexuality should be illegal, etc.) This would give them a high economic freedom score on the right-hand axis and low personal freedom score on the left hand axis and place them in the RIGHT/Conservative quadrant.

Democrats have traditionally favored a high amount of personal freedom (prostitution, drug use, and homosexuality should NOT be illegal) BUT have favored a low degree of economic freedom (Confiscatory taxation on “the rich,” economic regulations on businesses, Government should “tax”(steal) to redistribute as charity, etc.) This would give an individual a very high Personal Issues Score on the left axis and very low Economic Issues Score on the right axis and place them in the LEFT / liberal quadrant.

BUT… Where do you fit in the traditional left-right paradigm if you support BOTH personal AND economic freedom? You don’t… by design… BUT in the Nolan Chart you would land in the voluntaryist or libertarian quadrant. So, a way better tool for understanding the REAL political landscape.

In my version, I have a clear line delineating the difference between a voluntaryist and a libertarian: Do you believe that “government” is legitimate, desirable and necessary? Voluntaryists say: NO! while Statists libertarians, such as members of the Libertarian Party, can score in the libertarian quadrant but wouldn’t necessarily fit in the voluntaryist

Personal Issues – Mark your final score on the left Personal Issues axis between 0-100

Agree – 20 Points Maybe – 10 Points Disagree – 0 Points

1. Government should not censor speech, press, or internet content–directly or indirectly.?

2. Adults should have full bodily autonomy, meaning government should not interfere with decisions affecting their bodies.?

3. Government should not monitor personal conversations, correspondence, or search private property without a warrant.?

4. There should be no laws against public assembly nor government control of peaceful, private association.?

5. Law enforcement should focus resources on crimes against innocent persons and property instead of victimless crimes.?

Economic Issues - Mark your final score on the right Economic Issues axis between 0-100

Agree – 20 Points Maybe – 10 Points Disagree – 0 Points

1. Government should stay out of healthcare, allowing people to form and choose health plans, associations, and charities freely.?

2. Let parents educate their children according to their beliefs and preferences, free from government interference.?

3. Replace government welfare with private charity and mutual aid.?

4. Central banks should be abolished, allowing people to freely choose and exchange their preferred currencies.?

5. Lift government restrictions on economic activity and enable courts to adjudicate civil and criminal law violations.?

---

Go paid at the $5 a month level, and we will send you both the PDF and e-Pub versions of “Government” - The Biggest Scam in History… Exposed! and a coupon code for 10% off anything in the Government-Scam.com/Store.

Go paid at the $50 a year level, and we will send you a free paperback edition of Etienne’s book “Government” - The Biggest Scam in History… Exposed! OR a 64GB Liberator flash drive if you live in the US. If you are international, we will give you a $10 credit towards shipping if you agree to pay the remainder.

Support us at the $250 Founding Member Level and get a signed high-resolution hardcover of “Government” + Liberator flash drive + Larken Rose’s The Most Dangerous Superstition + Art of Liberty Foundation Stickers delivered anywhere in the world. Our only option for signed copies besides catching Etienne @ an event.

---

We have some great perks to say THANK YOU!

📚 Digital Reader – $10
Get the PDF & ePub version of Voluntaryism.

📖 Paperback Supporter – $40
Receive a beautiful paperback copy, exclusive stickers.

📖✨ Swiss-Flip Enthusiast – $50
Own the unique "Swiss-Flip" edition—two books in one! You’ll get Voluntaryism and Government – The Biggest Scam in History… Exposed! plus stickers.

📚 Hardback Collector – $75
Get a high-resolution hardback copy of Voluntaryism, stickers, and the Liberty on the Rocks DVD.

🎁 Supporter Bundle – $100
The hardback Swiss-Flip edition of both books, an Art of Liberty Foundation T-shirt, stickers, and the Liberty on the Rocks conference DVD.

💡 Founder Bundle – $250
A signed Founder’s copy, plus all the perks above and a 1-year sponsorship of the Art of Liberty Foundation.

✨ Distributor Bundle - $500

Share "Voluntaryism" with your network! You'll get a Swiss-Flip “Founder’s Copy” for yourself and Ten (10) copies of "Voluntaryism" to distribute, plus all the additional perks of the Founder Bundle.

🚀 Co-Publisher Bundle - $1,000

Elevate your impact and receive a co-publisher credit, a call with Etienne, a Signed Swiss-Flip “Founder’s Copy," 10 Paperback Swiss-Flip copies for your circle, plus all the additional perks of the Founder Bundle.

🔥 Co-Producer Bundle - $5,000

Receive a co-producer credit for the book and a call with Etienne, a Signed Swiss-Flip “Founder’s Copy," 10 Hardback Swiss-Flip copies for your circle and a DVD of the Liberty on the Rocks 2024 Voluntaryism Conference.

Your contribution doesn’t just get you these rewards—it brings this message of voluntary cooperation to the world.

👉 Pick Your Perk and Back the Campaign Here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/voluntaryism-why-we-don-t-need-government/x/20496747#/

Every dollar helps cover publishing, marketing, and organizing educational events to spread these ideas far and wide.

Thank you for believing in this vision of freedom, harmony, and prosperity. Together, we can make voluntaryism the future.

P.S. With just 8 hours left, now is the time to act! Pick a perk that resonates with you and help us bring Voluntaryism to life. 🚀

If you miss the IndieGoGo deadline then you can donate at ArtOfLiberty.org/sponsor and we have some great perks to say THANK YOU!!