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Re: libertarian critique of the Articles of Confederation?

hashem — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 16:45:43 GMT

I thought I'd celebrate OP's proper use of voluntaryism as opposed to SkepticalMetal's (and most people's) misuse of voluntarism. Not as anything personal against or in favor of skepticalmetal, OP, or anyone.

Voluntaryism is a normative term, a prescriptive philosophy about how things should be, specifically how all interpersonal relations should be voluntary.
Voluntarism is a positive term, a descriptive reference to the use of voluntary behavior, not necessarily implying a philosophy about how all interpersonal relations should be voluntary.

So voluntaryists engage in voluntarism, but they hold it as a value. Whereas voluntarism is a value-free term, it's not a belief system.

As with most things, considering a prison clears it right up. Prisoners/guards may engage in voluntarism, but the relationship between them is not voluntaryist since it clearly rejects the principle that all interpersonal relations should be voluntary.

Re: libertarian critique of the Articles of Confederation?

Andris Birkmanis — Sat, 10 Nov 2012 13:04:40 GMT

"binding themselves to assist each other", assistance is bad

Assistance per se is not bad. What is bad, is when person A pledges to assist B, and uses this pledge as an excuse to aggress against C. Having your own obligations is never an excuse.

Re: libertarian critique of the Articles of Confederation?

cab21 — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 02:19:46 GMT

the articles of confederation are bad because it's government and government is bad.

"binding themselves to assist each other", assistance is bad

"The taxes..." bad

Re: libertarian critique of the Articles of Confederation?

SkepticalMetal — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 01:55:22 GMT

What Groucho said. Any Voluntarist will detest a central government no matter how big or small it is, however it is definately much more closer to Voluntarism than many of the governing documents I've seen.

I honestly don't think the AoC combined with Benjamin Tucker's "unterrified Jeffersonianism" would be such a bad idea.

Re: libertarian critique of the Articles of Confederation?

Groucho — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 01:44:01 GMT

Well for one thing it created a centralized government, albeit a much weaker one than the federal government of the Constitution.

Check out Rothbard's Conceived in Liberty, vol. 4, chapter 44 and 45.

libertarian critique of the Articles of Confederation?

No2statism — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 00:44:36 GMT

There were a few things wrong with it, but I see no reason a voluntaryist could not be satisified with it.

What do others think was wrong with it other than that it established a nation?

I heard Stephan Kinsella didn't like it, so if anyone could link any of his commentary on it then that would be nice also: )