There exist two blatant contradictions which roughly ninety-nine percent of
intellectuals, journalists, and voters erroneously believe.
On the one hand, they say that the free market must be regulated in
order to prevent monopolies. It is assumed that these monopolies would
have such great power over the market that their customers would be
forced to settle for products far more expensive than, and inferior to, those
that would be offered under competitive market conditions. On the other
hand, these intellectuals, journalists, and voters explicitly advocate that one
group (government) monopolize the money supply, policing, courts,
taxation, legislation, compulsory education, and a myriad of other things
that we may consider to be vitally important.
Second, the vast majority of people recognize the moral legitimacy of the
biblical commandments "Thou Shalt Not Steal" and "Thou Shalt Not
Murder." Yet, when it comes to the practices of taxation and war, these
principles are blatantly disregarded by almost everyone. If taxation is not
theft, why can only governments do such a thing? Why not simply allow all
organizations, companies, clubs, churches, or individuals to issue taxes?
It should therefore come as no surprise that governments are infamous
for delivering poor quality. Imagine a restaurant where you had to pay
regardless of whether they brought food to your table.
Likewise, war is simply a euphemism for theft-funded mass murder, a
blatant crime that we would never dismiss if non-government actors were to
engage in it.
What if justice required us not to have double standards? This book
seeks to dispel the belief that morality applies differently to government
employees. If it is immoral for me to do something — say, conscript people
to perform labor against their will — how can I justifiably vote for a
representative to do such a thing on my behalf?
Many real criticisms apply to the free market: greed, envy, dog-eat-dog
mentalities, short-sightedness, etc. The problem with all of those criticisms
is that they apply many times over to the state, since, by definition, the state
does not face competition and one cannot opt out of funding it. While voluntarily
funded competing organizations may have shortcomings, they are preferable
to the coercively funded monopolies of the state.
The following collection of essays, excerpts, and quotes has given me the
intellectual capacity to stop hating people based on arbitrary differences and
to focus on what really matters. Should I achieve my ends in life violently
with threats, or voluntarily with persuasion?
The corporate press will explicitly seek to divide people of goodwill
based on gender, income, race, nationality, and any numerous other
interchangeable sources of division to suit their agenda. No longer should
we tolerate such an obvious scam.
These passages, which can be read in any order, are what convinced me
to abandon statism and embrace voluntaryism.
