So it’s up and running. Last to join, first to post, and I’ll post this as well. I think this blog will be of a different flavor than LRC or the Mises posts, but it’s been some time that I’ve read either of the two. Content and style will be different, I believe from those posting on this forum have sharpened their writing skills and in time will develop their own writing style. In time VR won’t be lumped in with other “libertarian” oriented blogs (what I mean by this is the type of content coming from libertarians that you yourself finds a bit…unappealing). I won’t go as far to say “this blog isn’t libertarian, it’s voluntaryist!” but it’s not like we have theocrats writing ironic articles about the state.
There’s already a variety of posts (who’d expect to see something about Viet Cong or Spanish silver?) and more to come. I already have a handful of ideas to go on and already just finished my second post (it’s ready to go, but I’m holding back for 2 weeks - don’t want to run myself out of things to post). Even though at the moment we have 4 posts I’d expect to see the others make theirs in the coming week, and just think we have 15 new posts every 1-2 weeks, which in time will balance out to about a post a day (more or less).
Right now I’d like to see a lot of creativity, maybe in time some “compilation posts” where we have all the “go to” resources for all the dead horse topics (abortion, citizens own nuclear weapons, etc.), but just like the market there’s a lot of variety and you can’t predict what will happen next.
Also, in time (if this picks up and actually goes well) maybe we can pay that $18 a year for our own domain name and make our way to the top as “best libertarian blog of the year” or something.
Ah damn it Bert! I was going to make this thread in a few days!
I’m very excited about this blog, and I would really recommend it to anyone. I think that you’re going to see a lot of good content from our writers, and indeed we’re off to a good start. I do wish that we would get a more dedicated editing team (I have two articles currently awaiting feedback) but I do think that this could be a very informative blog.
I also think that feedback on both writing and style at this early juncture could be very valuable to all of us authors on the blog.
Anyway, read VR, it’s awesome, it’s gonna become awesomer
Neodoxy I think it’s easier to get editorial feedback in the MCB than the VR posting section. I feel when trying to get comments in the actual post just makes it messy.
As one of the contributors, I ask all the visitors - please comment, any kind of input is very valuable right now, while we are still searching for our format - including negative input
It helps to understand where to direct the efforts, as many authors have multiple ideas on their backburners - please help us to pick the correct dish and season it to taste
Did he have to include the word voluntar(y)ist at all? True libertarians don’t believe all interaction should be “voluntary.” Criminals should be punished without voluntary consent to punishment, for example.
Criminals have initiated non-voluntary interaction (aggression). The idea that all interaction should be voluntary is part of the justification for use of defensive coercion to punish the initiation of coercion known as aggression.
So you suggest that true voluntarism would necessitate radical pacifism. I’ve certainly heard that argument made.
Suppose however that people lived in a region which one could only step foot into by agreeing to rules of conduct and resulting punishments for transgression. Basically a true social contract.
Would you still suggest that punishment is non-voluntary?
I know we don’t have anything like that in present society, but I’m asking as if we had a libertarian region to ourselves in which there could be explicit agreement like I suggest.
I believe that such a contract would be offensive to natural law. Involuntary force against criminals (like government) is objectively moral, not requiring a contract. By simply existing as a human, you involuntarily must not use aggression in a true anarcho-capitalist society.
Voluntaryism is just the belief that all forms of human association should be voluntary. There is nothing in voluntaryism that prevents criminals from being punished. Voluntaryism is not pacifism. Don’t forget estoppel. If an individual chooses to violate another’s rights, then he can’t cry foul when that same person responds in kind.
I used to prefer the ‘y’ version, but lately, just for aesthetic and pronounciation reasons, have been using ‘voluntarism.’ It also follows the general rule for words that end in ‘y’ preceded by a consonant, such as:
puppy - puppies
army - armies
supply - supplies
sky - skies
party - parties
library - libraries
rely - relies
marry - marries
theory - theories
study - studies
apply - applies
Similarly, when you add a suffic to a word that ends in ‘y’ it usually is turned into an ‘i’:
So, for all those reasons, I drop the ‘y’ and people will naturally understand that the root is ‘voluntary’ since this kind of change is so very common in english.
The again, when adding ‘ism’ there’s precedent for not dropping the ‘y’, so it’s truly abritrary at this point.
entryism
Then again, that word would be destroyed by dropping the ‘y’ so maybe not
@RothbardsDisciple, how do you believe voluntarism contradicts anarcho-capitalism/libertarianism when it’s the same thing (NAP, voluntary association, free from coercion), only a matter of semantics and approach, yet you believe monarchism is capatible with anarchism?
