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
To remain [a] spiritually free [people], [we] must live in truth. Living in truth means bearing public witness to the truth at all times and in all situations. The truth is unchanging. It cannot be destroyed by this or that decision or this or that law. The source of our captivity is that we allow lies to reign, that we do not denounce them, that we do not protest against their existence every day of our lives, that we do not confront lies with the truth but keep silent or pretend that we believe the lies. We live then in a state of hypocrisy. Courageous witness to the truth is the path that leads directly to freedom.[One] who bears witness to truth can be free, even though in a[n] [internment] camp or a prison. … [E]xternal or political freedom would come sooner or later as a consequence of freedom of spirit and fidelity to the truth. - Fr. Jerzy Popieluszko, Homily of October 31, 1982, in Judith Kelly, JUST CALL ME JERZY (2016), p. 79-80. Voluntaryist Musings
I meet with some friends on Thursday mornings and last Thursday, we were discussing three ideas which seem to me to be relatively easy to implement as a method of maintaining ongoing pressure on our species to live better: 1. Remember that cooperation is always preferable to coercion. 2. Don't take moral shortcuts. 3. Overcorrect for your errors. These may need some qualifications: If you find a particularly voluntaryist musing in your messages, suggest it in an email to the editor!
Image of the Day – Feel free to copy, share, or hotlink these images!
 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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