I know it sounds crazy, but I'm currently working on a voluntaryist political party website with the idea of putting up a real opposition to the authoritarians that have hijacked this country over the past hundred to two hundred years.
Note:
I've decided to start out with a simple page that tells people how to figure out what the voluntaryist position is by applying basic logic and then address common concerns that I hear from literally everyone and their dog when discussing these things face to face.
Feedback and ideas are definitely welcome but I'm back to working on the site for a bit before heading out to the garden.
At this point, other than the logo the site is looking pretty good and most of the content is coming together nicely other than the page that denotes the issues.
I'm finding it hard to explain that most mainstream (corporate media/government manufactured) issues are non-issues due to the fact that if one believes in self ownership, voluntary cooperation, and not initiating violence then government has no legitimate power to decide one way or the other.
Anywise, at this point I'm still trying to decide how to even start putting an issues page together.
I currently have the following:
The Issues
For voluntaryists, issues that concern most others (Republicans, Democrats, etc.) tend to fall into 3 primary categories: Non Issues, Would be Non Issues, and Valid Issues
The distinction between these relies primarily on whether government has a legitimate right to deal with an issue and, if not, whether there is legislation on the books that claims to give government the power to do so.
Non Issues
These are issues that voluntaryists will vote against, not because they don’t agree that something needs to be done, but because they feel that government has no legitimate power in using force to decide them.
- What can you ingest?
- Who can you sleep with or marry?
- How many children can you have?
- How can/must you educate your children?
- How much of the fruit of your labor can you keep for yourself and your family?
- What can you use to defend yourself from aggression?
- Where can you travel and how can you do so?
These are personal choices that individuals must make themselves.
Others can try to persuade them or guide them but have no right to force them.
Unfortunately, there are not many of these as over the last hundred years government authoritarians have been able to pass legislation affecting virtually every aspect of our lives.
Would Be Non Issues
These are issues that would be non-issues except for the fact that there is already legislation that claims government has the power to do these things.
Voluntaryists tend to find such legislation illegitimate at best, and possibly even criminal.
That being said, new legislation that moves towards personal liberty will generally be supported, even if it is felt only to do so slightly.
A voluntaryist would likely support a reduction in income taxes even though they might see the income tax as simple theft.
We are realists that know we cannot just get rid of most things immediately but will instead need to incrementally reduce them and find creative, non-coercive ways to replace them.
Valid Issues
Valid issues are those that are the rightful domain of legislation, meaning that they do not deal with the individual rights of people but rather with the running of government.
Some examples of valid issues:
- Voting: We need to improve our system of voting if people are to have a real voice in government.
- Problems in Government: Governments claim to be able to legislate whatever they want, tax as much as they want, confiscate property as wanted, and control all aspects of peoples lives.
- Money: We currently suffer under a system where governments borrow money into existence out of thin air from banks on the promise to pay it back plus interest. This causes ever increasing debt and gives those issuing the money undue control over government.
- Poverty: There are people in this country that cannot afford to live. While we don’t believe that theft (taxation and wealth distribution) is a valid solution, we do agree that something needs to be done and that we need to find non-coercive methods of helping to raise up those among us that need help.
- Foreign Policy: We have no right to meddle in foreign affairs. We should strive to be an example to the world and invite oppressed peoples to immigrate here and worthy foreign nations to join us as states of the union. We should also steer clear of any move towards world government. A powerful federal government is bad enough.
However, that seems rather lack luster and I doubt that it will engage many people.
I could take a list of issues from a site like the following:
And cover each from a voluntaryist perspective... but I tried that initially and it was very repetitive.
I was also thinking about listing issues in a more tongue in cheek manner:
Get the government out of my wallet!
People have the right to the fruits of their own labor.
People have no right to the fruits of someone elses labor until such is freely given to them.
Government is composed of people.
Because of this, government has no right to the fruit of anyones labor unless it is freely given.
While we know that many people rely upon social programs, we know that we cannot simply get rid of all government programs that amount to theft.
That being said, we should work on solutions that move away from theft and allow all of the people to keep the fruit of their labor... eventually eliminating the income tax and replacing welfare, social security, medicare, and other theft funded services with alternatives that are based upon voluntary donation and valuable services that people choose to purchase from government.
For example, many large corporations make hundreds of millions (if not billions) of dollars off of patents and copyrights that are continuously extended by government, which prevent new things from entering the public domain.
For such privilege, what if copyrights and patents were reduced to what they were long ago (7 years or so) and companies had to pay a fee each year after that to maintain them, perhaps a fee that went up by a factor of 5, 10, or even 20 per additional year.
This would do two positive things:
- Promote the release of patents and copyright after a reasonable period
- Raise monies for social programs from those that benefit off of government offered services
That's just one idea. Working together I can think of no reason that we, the people, cannot come up with a better way than stealing from each other to help the poor and/or needy that want help.
Take the proceeds from patent and copyright extension and create a citizens dividend, paying everyone in the country for allowing patents and copyrights to continue beyond a period that would allow creators to profit off of their ideas.
Other headline ideas follow... but I'm just not feeling it when I read them.
- Get the government out of my bedroom!
- Get the government away from my children!
- Get the government away from my property!
- Get the government off of my back!
Anyone have ideas on a good way to cover "the issues" from a voluntaryist perspective in a manner that won't completely make the average persons eyes cross or turn them off immediately?
Maybe just listing a few of the most popular issues people are talking about, covering them in depth, and then telling them to use the basic ideas of voluntaryism to figure the rest out for themselves or, alternatively, to ask about a specific one...
Maybe it's just that I've been up for so long.
And maybe one of you will have a clean, clever, concise method of explaining issues that won't either make peoples head explode or cause their brains to shut off completely.
Either way I'm going to turn in. Maybe I'll come up with something while I dream.