A Beginner’s Guide to Voluntaryism, Part 1: Introduction

(Audio/video version of this post here)

The philosophy of Voluntaryism can be summarized simply by one central, guiding principle: Don’t hurt people or take their stuff.

The way we arrive at this idea — as if it really requires explanation or justification — is through understanding self-ownership. That is to say, everyone’s body and life is their own, by the natural order of reality, and no other individual has a higher claim to someone’s body than they themselves do.

The fact that almost all people believe and live by this principle in the sensible parts of their lives can be easily demonstrated. It doesn’t matter if they claim to be Voluntaryist or not. If we take almost any given person, and put them in a situation where they are purchasing something — let’s say a hot dog at a hot dog stand, or perhaps a new iPhone at the Apple Store — they won’t be too happy if you come up to them, punch them in the face, and run off with their food or phone. It should go without saying that it would only be an individual with a severe mental disorder, or one who is pulling some kind of prank or social experiment, who would be happy with this outcome.

The rest of us — 99.9999% of us — do not wish to be hurt or stolen from. Voluntaryism is the idea that not stealing from people, and not hurting people with violence, is the best way to live. The world will never be “perfect,” but indeed, this is the best goal to at least aim for. I don’t think it is a stretch to say almost all people agree with this basic observation and idea: It is wrong to hurt people and take their things.

The problem is, the majority of human beings are not very morally or logically consistent, and do not apply this requirement, do not apply the “Golden Rule” of not hurting people or stealing from them, to governments.