By: Daniel Engerer The concept of property is incredibly important to human society. What is Property? The concept of “property” is the idea that an object or piece of land “belongs” to a certain person or group of people, and these people have the “right” to use force to exclude others from using, occupying, touching, … Continue reading The Philosophy of Property Rights
By: Daniel Engerer Reader’s digest version: In short, “government” (AKA “the state”) is immoral because it requires the use of force against innocent people. The state violates the rights of its subjects by its very nature, forcing us to obey rules we never agreed to under the threat of kidnapping and imprisonment. What is Government? … Continue reading The State is Morally Illegitimate
By: Daniel Engerer A popular economic mantra of the political left is that “profit is exploitation”. Specifically, this idea means that for profit to occur (and for a business to even survive), workers must get “scammed” (by their capitalist overlords) out of a portion of the value that they created. In other words, profit (or … Continue reading Is Profit Exploitative?
By: Daniel Engerer In society, only that which is perceived as legitimate is enforceable. If people view an institution or act as immoral, they will naturally view it with outrage and, if practical, even forcibly resist it. Conversely, if people view an institution as just, then they will generally leave it alone. This is especially … Continue reading Arguments for State Legitimacy Rebutted
By: Daniel Engerer “Taxation is theft!” remains the ubiquitous battle cry of right-libertarians and voluntaryists the world over. If there’s one phrase that sums up the thrust of their movements, TIT is IT. But…is taxation theft? This question is easy to answer. Definitions All we must do is determine whether or not taxation falls within the … Continue reading Taxation is (Definitely) Theft