The Voluntaryist
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Statement of Purpose: Voluntaryists are  advocates of non-political, non-violent strategies to achieve a free society.We reject electoral politics, in theory and in practice, as incompatible with libertarian principles. Governments must cloak their actions in an aura of moral legitimacy in order to sustain their power, and political methods invariably strengthen that legitimacy. Voluntaryists seek instead to delegitimize the State through education, and we advocate withdrawal of the cooperation and tacit consent on which State power ultimately depends. Request Notification of when Newsletters Are Posted The voluntaryist email group is an occasional forum for announcements, short articles, and other items of interest to voluntaryists. If you would like to join our email group and receive notification when a new issue of our newsletter is posted, click the button below. All back issues of our newsletter are archived digitally with free access. Download the most recent issue, Issue 200. Here is the latest email newsletter.  Quote of the Day
The power [of coining money] itself is a frivolous one, of little or no utility; for the weighing and assaying of metals is a thing so easily done, and can be done by so many different persons, that there is certainly no necessity for it being done at all by a government,. And it would undoubtedly have been far better if all coins - whether coined by governments or individuals - had all been made into pieces bearing simply the names of pounds, ounces, pennyweights, etc., and containing just the amounts of pure metal described by those weights. The coins would have then been regarded as only so much metal; and as having only the same value as the same amount of metal in any other form. Men would then have known exactly how much of certain metals they were buying, selling, and promising to pay. And all the jugglery, cheating, and robbery that governments have practised, and licensed individuals to practise - by coining pieces bearing the same names, but having different amounts of metal - would have been avoided. - Lysander Spooner, A LETTER TO GROVER CLEVLAND, Sec.XXII (1886). Voluntaryist Musings
Consider viewing "non-freedom-minded" people as "potentially-freedom-minded" and let your curiosity guide you. Today I met a ophthalmology tech who asked what I am about. I explained voluntaryism to her and she was pretty excited to go research it. Maybe she will forget, but if I (ever) see her again, I'll find out for sure. The thing about our outlook is that in a side-by-side comparison, freedom and/or voluntaryism is the obviously better choice, but you have to address all the nightmares: "If you leave stuff in your car, people will break in and steal it if there isn't a government to scare them into being better people." "Right, but if there were no laws against shooting people in the street, such a criminal would think twice about it. People might say 'We can't just have people shooting each other in the street!' They're right, but they think we don't shoot each other in the street because there is a government and that isn't the reason. The reason doesn't go away when we rid ourselves of Hobbes' nightmare 'overwhelming force.' The reason actually gets stronger because more of our friends and neighbors will be emboldened to put down the psychopath before he hurts someone else. The worst case scenario is much better without all the fear from the state." I use simpler language when I'm talking. If you want to say this kind of thing to someone, don't mention Hobbes unless your audience is really interested. If you find a particularly voluntaryist musing in your messages, suggest it in an email to the editor!
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 Recent Changes and Additions The Voluntaryist Reprint, Issues 23 – 47 National Identification Systems – Free PDF Issue 200 has been posted.
 With great emotion, I share with you the passing of my long-time mentor and friend, Carl Watner. He died peacefully, surrounded by his family, on December 8th after facing down cancer. One could say the cancer won, but this man represented the spirit of voluntaryism and that spirit has become more powerful than I had imagined. I believe that increase will only be accelerated as we realize that it’s all on us now. Thank you, Carl, for adding so much meaning to my life! –Dave the webmaster
Carl Watner, long-time libertarian and proponent of a voluntary society based on private property, donated over 175 titles from his personal library to The Mises Institute’s Ward and Massey Libraries. The collection is dedicated to the literature of the voluntaryists, past and present. The collection includes a rare first edition of The Collected Works of Lysander Spooner (six volumes). To make it more special, Rothbard signed volume I, along with George Smith, Leonard Liggio, Joe Peden, Mike Coughlin, Charles Shively (editor of the series), Daniel Siegel, Wendy McElroy, Chuck Hamilton, John Mueller, and Bob LeFevre.
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