As this is going to be my first blog entry on "Road to Rothbard", I figured I might introduce you to what I believe and why I don't believe in what you might consider my beliefs to be. Compris?
I desire a thing called liberty. Liberty has probably become one of the most meaningless nouns in the English language. Almost anything or anyone has made use of it in some context or another.
As liberty won't suffice to describe my views, I'll try "individualism". While individualism has also lost much of its appeal due to overuse, it stills conveys the original meaning of "indivisible entities", of people existing as individual beings rather than as a mass or a collective.
In addition to individualism, I believe in self-ownership. Most people do without realizing. However, from self-ownership derive quite a few interesting implications which are seldomly expressed, but hardly to be contested.
If I solely own myself, then nobody else can. That means I alone have the right to control my body, just as the sole owner of a car is the only person which has the right to use it. He may grant it to another person, but he has to consent. Otherwise, nobody may take it from him.
Just like nobody may take the right to use your body from you. You can make use of your body in versatile ways; it can be employed to refine previously unowned nature which, by combining it with your labor, becomes your property. One may ask: true, nature is unowned at some point, but who grants exactly you the right to make it your own? Well, if nature may not be appropriated by any person on his or her own, then it cannot be appropriated by any individual in particular.
Depending on which philosophy one follows, either all of mankind had to agree on a specific use for a particular piece of nature which is both impractical (self-evident) and unfair (since those who are assigned to till the land are, in effect, slaves to the commanders, which is all of mankind, and therefore every man would be every man's slave: "homo homini servus"). Or nature should not be appropriated at all as it has intrinsic value as a living cosmos. In that case, we had to kill ourselves immediately in order to stop hurting the "Earthen Entity" which makes it not a human, but an anti-human philosophy completely unfeasible to structure societies of (living) humans.
Therefore, as people make use of their appropriated land, they will eventually desire to engage in trade to satisfy their ever-growing needs and desires. Thereby, they create wealth. Individuals who engage in aggression (robbery, murder etc.) to enhance their standard of living are subject to punishment as they do not resort to mutually beneficial transactions with other individuals to increase the value of their estates, but decide to make use of other individuals' property without their consent. This system of mutually beneficial transactions is called "the free market".
Now the cat's outta the bag. I believe in individualism and free markets. I could've said it in less words, but just wanted to make sure my views are still logically deductible. Which I hope you'll agree they are.
That said, I'm looking forward to blogging. More to come soon if nothing gets in the way.
I desire a thing called liberty. Liberty has probably become one of the most meaningless nouns in the English language. Almost anything or anyone has made use of it in some context or another.
As liberty won't suffice to describe my views, I'll try "individualism". While individualism has also lost much of its appeal due to overuse, it stills conveys the original meaning of "indivisible entities", of people existing as individual beings rather than as a mass or a collective.
In addition to individualism, I believe in self-ownership. Most people do without realizing. However, from self-ownership derive quite a few interesting implications which are seldomly expressed, but hardly to be contested.
If I solely own myself, then nobody else can. That means I alone have the right to control my body, just as the sole owner of a car is the only person which has the right to use it. He may grant it to another person, but he has to consent. Otherwise, nobody may take it from him.
Just like nobody may take the right to use your body from you. You can make use of your body in versatile ways; it can be employed to refine previously unowned nature which, by combining it with your labor, becomes your property. One may ask: true, nature is unowned at some point, but who grants exactly you the right to make it your own? Well, if nature may not be appropriated by any person on his or her own, then it cannot be appropriated by any individual in particular.Depending on which philosophy one follows, either all of mankind had to agree on a specific use for a particular piece of nature which is both impractical (self-evident) and unfair (since those who are assigned to till the land are, in effect, slaves to the commanders, which is all of mankind, and therefore every man would be every man's slave: "homo homini servus"). Or nature should not be appropriated at all as it has intrinsic value as a living cosmos. In that case, we had to kill ourselves immediately in order to stop hurting the "Earthen Entity" which makes it not a human, but an anti-human philosophy completely unfeasible to structure societies of (living) humans.
Therefore, as people make use of their appropriated land, they will eventually desire to engage in trade to satisfy their ever-growing needs and desires. Thereby, they create wealth. Individuals who engage in aggression (robbery, murder etc.) to enhance their standard of living are subject to punishment as they do not resort to mutually beneficial transactions with other individuals to increase the value of their estates, but decide to make use of other individuals' property without their consent. This system of mutually beneficial transactions is called "the free market".
Now the cat's outta the bag. I believe in individualism and free markets. I could've said it in less words, but just wanted to make sure my views are still logically deductible. Which I hope you'll agree they are.
That said, I'm looking forward to blogging. More to come soon if nothing gets in the way.
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