Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Best Books to Learn About Voluntaryism

Best Books to Learn About Voluntaryism

by Openly Voluntary One

I appreciate your interest in philosophy.  The path I have taken since 2008 has been a wonderful one, and I feel so much more enlightened than I did for the first 34 years of my life.  I must warn you that ignorance IS bliss.  While I feel far less ignorant, following an honest path free of pre-conceived notions is not popular and is not great for one’s standing in the mainstream community.

There are a number of mediums I will suggest below, from YouTube videos of lectures, animations and rants to books, articles and audio podcasts.  I spent many hundreds/thousands of hours sifting through things, and I will share with you fewer than 80 hours worth of them.  You are awake 5,840 hours each year, and those hours are precious.  Only you can evaluate if spending 1.4% of your waking hours on philosophical exploration is right for you.

Not everything that every person from whom I enjoy learning from says is accurate, correct, and logical or is exactly what I believe.  I like to learn from many perspectives, shake them all up, remove what looks wrong, enjoy what looks right and form my own opinions.  As you explore voluntaryism, I suggest not discussing it with folks or calling it “Anarchy” until you have well over 40 hours of knowledge under your belt.  95% of arguments will go like this:

Me:        “I just wonder if we might be better off without any government at all.”
Statist:  “Yeah, that sounds good, but we have to have cops, military and who would build the roads?  Some government is good, it just has to be constitutional.”

Then, if you start to offer solutions to their questions about how people and free market private businesses might solve problems, defend themselves, build roads, feed the poor etc, the statist will find a tiny hole in one of your arguments and will use that as conclusive proof that anarchy is stupid and that you are naïve.  It is better to say that you don’t know.  This is a good 4-minute video.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntaKwMyrQAY

First thing, let me know if you will read it and I will get you a copy of the best book ever, Larken Rose’s The Most Dangerous Superstition.

I think a good start is G. Edward Griffin’s 22 minute video discussing Collectivism and Individualism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqmBesHL_Es

Next, jump in all the way with this 12 minute video by Larken Rose.  You might want to watch it again each month for a while.  “Statism: The Most Dangerous Religion.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6uVV2Dcqt0

Another video by Larken that is worthy of consideration is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLNSniVSXhI

Stefan Molyneux is at times quite full of himself and is sometimes incorrect, I don’t always like his style, and he sometimes tosses in some illogical fallacies, but he is well worth listening to and considering his ideas.  He is an atheist and is very straightforward about it.  If you are not, please bear with him.  This is a good one.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P772Eb63qIY

This is another good Molyneux video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xbp6umQT58A

Read or listen to Lysander Spooners’ piece from over 100 years ago, No Treason, The Constitution of No Authority. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWESql2dXoc

If you like Larken Rose, he has a great podcast at https://www.connectpal.com/larken-rose .  It is only $3.79/month and I will pay for your first 3 months if you promise to listen to the first 10 episodes.

This is a good video by Thomas Woods and Doug Casey discussing minarchy (small government) versus anarchy (no government).  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpmqy9tC4uI

Another Tom Woods with Larken Rose as a guest.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jszKbJhx9I


So far, you have spent only 9 hours investigating.  Interesting, huh?

So, there are different schools of thought in macroeconomics.  Most people, both liberal and conservative in the US don’t REALLY understand or think about economics.  They mostly fall into the Keynesian and Marxist schools.  Most slightly interested conservatives and entry-level-liberty folks like the Chicago School, which is most famous for Milton Friedman.  As one uses logic and takes things to deeper and more philosophically consistent conclusions, many thinkers find themselves more in agreement with Austrian Economics.  Everything you need to know about Austrian Economics can be found at www.mises.org and from there you will have a solid foundation to move forward.  This includes many articles, free audio and video downloads etc.  Peter Schiff and Doug Casey are “Austrian-leaning economists and investors.  They are worth checking out, even though Peter is a statist.  Peter http://www.europac.com and Doug https://www.caseyresearch.com/team/staff/doug-casey

Listen to for free, or buy the book by Walter Block, Defending the Undefendable.  It is available for free on Mises.org and on YouTube.

Get the book I Must Speak Out by Carl Watner.  It is a great collection of many years’ worth of articles from his publication, The Voluntaryist, which is the longest running libertarian publication around.  I also subscribed to it.  His website has great stuff on it, including my story of coming to Voluntaryism.  http://voluntaryist.com/howibecame/gunner.html#.VVIN7qly9Xk  

Get the book, or listen to the 6-hour series on YouTube of John Taylor Gatto, The Underground History of American Education.  Take everything he says with a grain of salt, it is not the most scholarly book ever, buy it is an incredible eye opener.  The book is way better than the YouTube series.  If you watch the YouTube, skip ahead 20 minutes into the first video.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQiW_l848t8

Get the book Everyday Anarchy by Stephan Molyneux.

For kicks and giggle, watch the movie Guns & Weed, the Road to Freedom by Michael Dean and Neema Vedadi, whom I introduced to each other.  I have a short part in the movie.  J  They now do a podcast, Freedom Feens.



Some people to research and watch on youtube, buy books from, listen to podcasts etc…
·         Larken Rose
·         Carl Watner
·         Stefan Molyneux
·         Lew Rockwell - https://www.lewrockwell.com
·         Doug Casey -
·         Adam Kokesh - http://www.adamvstheman.com
·         L. Neil Smith - http://www.lneilsmith.org/
·         Marc Stevens
·         Josie The Outlaw
·         Pete Eyer
·         Bill Buppert - http://zerogov.com/
·         William Norman Grigg - http://prolibertate.us/index.php?blog=7
·         Neema Vedadi & Michael Dean  http://www.freedomfeens.com/bio-for-the-feens/
·         Jim C. Babb
·         John Taylor Gatto - https://www.johntaylorgatto.com/

As you investigate the above, follow interesting links, find your own favorite philosophers and keep studying.  I have found it to be an excellent, frustrating and satisfying journey.

The Most Dangerous Superstition - Larken Rose
For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto - Murray N. Rothbard
Everyday Anarchy - Stefan Molyneux


The Probability Broach - L.Neil Smith
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (S.F. MASTERWORKS) - Robert A. Heinlein; Hardcover
Market for Liberty - Morris Tannehill
The Law - Frederic Bastiat
The Ethics of Liberty - Murray N. Rothbard
Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
Our Enemy, The State--Albert J. Nock
The Machinery of Freedom--David Friedman
Economics in One Lesson--Henry Hazlitt

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