Voluntaryist Appeal To No Authority: Embrace freedom of thought. Shrug fear-based censorship.
If you follow me on social media you may have seen me post about Voluntaryism. It is one of my favorite subjects to post about because it is the backbone of my philosophy. As an artist, every creative choice I make is in line with my philosophy. So are my choices as a human.
But what is Voluntaryism? Chances are you may not be aware of what this philosophy entails unless you are an Austrian economics buff such as myself or have spent time reading individualist philosophy.
More importantly, why do we keep getting reported? Why do we keep getting banned?
Voluntaryism
The philosophy of Voluntaryism can be considered an umbrella term for individuals with slightly differing opinions. However they are all connected by one simple creed which easily sums up the Voluntaryist philosophy: Don’t hurt people and don’t take their stuff.
You may have been taught this in grade school. It’s otherwise known as the Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
It’s not complicated, yet for some reason it’s quite controversial.
There are many brilliant philosophers, economists, poets, and historians associated with Voluntaryism.
British writer and philosopher Auberon Herbert coined the term in the late 1880s. While he wrote about freedom of the individual across the pond, we had Lysander Spooner releasing gem after gem here in America.
Herbert released several revolutionary titles including The Voluntaryist Creed while speaking out against force and coercion. Individualist-anarchist Benjamin Tucker once said Herbert had “a mental rigor and vigor and a wealth of moral fervor rarely equaled in any cause.”
Spooner released enduring classics No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority, The Unconstitutionality of Slavery, and Vices are Not Crimes while creating a private postal service and advocating for natural law and abolitionism.
During a time when America and the world were inching closer and closer to authoritarian centralized power on a global scale, these men and several others were courageous enough to remind people even though those in power want you to believe otherwise, it is not radical to champion freedom of the individual. It isn’t radical to believe all social interactions and relationships should be consensual. And it is not radical to believe no one should use their power to force anyone to do anything they don’t want to do (as long as they haven’t already objectively violated someone’s negative rights).
The Austrian economics movement and anarcho-capitalist movements are often closely associated with Voluntaryism.
The Austrian School of Economics, championed by economists like Carl Menger and Ludwig von Mises, is theory-driven and focuses on entrepreneurship and subjective consumer valuations regarding goods and services.
Anarcho-capitalism, made popular by economist Murray Rothbard who studied under Mises, is a mix of anarchism, libertarianism, and Austrian economics driven by belief in privatization and an unbridled free market.
All of these different labels associated with the Voluntaryist movement operate under principles of freedom and private property.
While these terms can seem out there at first glance, once you dive into the works of these brilliant thinkers, you’ll see the only thing truly radical about it is that so many rage against a peaceful philosophy that views force and coercion as bad and freedom and consent as good.
Banned and Censored
Though the Voluntaryist philosophy is peaceful when it comes to interactions with fellow human beings, the philosophers who championed this way of life and the modern day thinkers who have adopted the philosophy do so because of mental rigor and fortitude.
None of us who live this philosophy take life lightly. We understand every thought we have and every choice we make has to be in line with the set of principles we’ve adopted.
We’ve read countless books, spent countless hours philosophizing, written about it, gathered in honor of it, debated, and discussed what it means to be a Voluntaryist.
A large portion of the philosophy’s advocates are creatives. Our philosophy extends out to musicians, writers, and visual artists. Learned individuals who view freedom and autonomy as absolutes and fight daily for other individuals’ rights.
Why are we being banned and censored?
We are being kicked off of social media giants who view government as a tool to gain more power over the very users and customers utilizing their products. We are being forced to choose between our careers and integrity because we believe in privacy and choice. We are being smeared by collectivists who’ve never even finished a single book by Herbert, Spooner, Mises or Rothbard not because they didn’t want to, but because one of their rulers told them not to.
We are increasingly being canceled by elitist-sympathizers who smear liberty-minded artists for the fun of it.
Even my reasoned logical responses on social media are being reported for ‘falsehoods’ to the Facebook gods simply because someone incredibly philosophically stunted didn’t agree with what I had to say.
Within the first month of launching The Free Market Musician, in a single week, I had to take on Google, Stripe, and Facebook for a multitude of reasons. One of the reasons was that my website had been flagged as potentially dangerous.
My site’s tagline currently says life, liberty, and your pursuit of happiness.
Only a demagogue and his subjects would view an artist writing about life, liberty, and happiness as threatening.
No one in history who participated in censoring and banning creatives was on the side of the good guys.
Last Line of Defense
I say this now because who knows how long I’ll be able to type it and post it freely. Don’t shut out artists and creatives who champion freedom, peace, and happiness. Don’t sit by as we are censored and banned. Take notice.
We are the last line of defense against force and coercion.
Right now, I believe we might be the only defense.
Please, understand liberty is not radical.
Liberty is the cornerstone of life.
Liberty is essential to human happiness.
Liberty is essential to peace.
Liberty is essential to prosperity.
Don’t ever let someone convince you liberty is non-essential.
“Deny human rights, and however little you may wish to do so, you will find yourself abjectly kneeling at the feet of that old-world god, Force.” -Auberon Herbert
Interested in learning more about Voluntaryism? Start here.
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