toward a free society: a short guide on building a culture of liberty

Toward a Free SocietyA Short Guide on Building a Culture of Liberty

Skyler J. Collins

Everything-Voluntary.com

Published 2015 by Skyler J. CollinsVisit: www.skylerjcollins.com

Cover design by KindleBookeCovers.com

Licensed under Creative CommonsAttribution 4.0 International

ISBN-13: 978-1508419167ISBN-10: 1508419167

To my wife, children, and all who value liberty.

CONTENTS

Preface i

1 Introduction 1

2 Parenting 6

3 Schooling 13

4 Radical Unschooling 18

5 Agorism 25

6 Moral Outrage 32

Further Reading 39

About the Author 41

iPREFACE

This isnt my first publication, but it is my firstpublication that I authored entirely. EverythingVoluntary: From Politics to Parenting was self-published in 2012, myself as editor. It was ananthology of essays introducing the philosophy ofvoluntaryism in politics, the economy, parenting,and childhood education.1 These are also the areascovered here, again self-published. This booklet was originally written at thebeginning of 2015 as a series of columns on mywebsite, Everything-Voluntary.com, where I writeand podcast weekly. I decided to make it availablein paperback and the various digital formats.

1 Available in several formats at http://skyler.link/evcbook1

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I hope that what you read here provesenlightening. I highly recommend that as youencounter the footnotes, you take the time toaccess the recommended material. This guidewould not be complete without the reader takingfull advantage of what it has to offer. Likewise, thefurther reading at the end will help you increaseyour understanding of the practical applications ofthe themes I cover.

I am forever indebted to the countlessindividuals that have had an impact on my thinkingthroughout my life. My life and the culture of myfamily have been immeasurably improved by whatI have discovered, absorbed, and applied. I am notthe same man I was ten years ago, five years ago,or even one year ago. Im a better person, a betterhusband, a better father, and a better friend. And Iam quite certain that I still have a long way to gobefore Ill be the person my loved ones deserve.Please, enjoy this booklet, and if you do, pass it on.

11 INTRODUCTION

A free society, where liberty is secure, isnecessarily one where you'll find the widespreadobservance of the voluntary principle (all humanrelations should happen voluntarily, or not all).2 Ofcourse, not everyone is required to practicevoluntaryism3, but enough must so that societyremains free, a state of affairs demanded by ourpsychological needs. Good and well. But how dowe achieve a free society? What are theprerequisites? The antecedents? Before we'll havewidespread liberty, we must build a culture of

2 Read The Voluntary Principle by the author athttp://skyler.link/evcprinciple3 Read The Philosophy of Voluntaryism by the author athttp://skyler.link/evcphilosophy

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liberty. How are cultures built? We aren't born witha culture. That's a process that occurs over ourlifetimes, beginning at birth. Enculturation,socialization, and education are the antecedentsfor every kind of society we can imagine orobserve. When it comes to liberty, it seems bestsecured through a popular feeling of moral outragetoward its denial. How do we accomplish that?We'll explore what I consider to be a very goodanswer in this booklet, beginning with definitions.

DefinitionsLiberty is when one is "free from restraint" by

another.4 Imposing your will by force onto others isto deny them liberty. The authority to deny aperson their liberty must either be granted by thatperson, or obtained as a result of that personinitiating the use of force against others. Theauthority to retaliate by force to another'sinitiation of force is granted by virtue of theirobvious belief that the initiation of force is a validhuman interaction. Liberty, then, is the naturalstate of every person, and its denial must bejustified on the aforementioned grounds.5

4 Read Liberty, Freedom, and Power by the author athttp://skyler.link/evclibertyfreedom5 Read Punishment and Proportionality by Stephan Kinsellaat http://skyler.link/misesestoppel (PDF)

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Enculturation is the "gradual acquisition of thecharacteristics and norms of a culture or group by aperson" not yet enculturated.6 As people growfrom babies into adults, they are introduced to thevarious practices of their family's culture. Theylearn to value certain aspects of culture, things likesocial organization, customs and traditions,language, art and literature, forms of government,economic systems, and religion.

Socialization is "the lifelong process ofinheriting and disseminating norms, customs andideologies, providing an individual with the skillsand habits necessary for participating within his orher own society."7 Similar to enculturation,socialization is how one learns to get along andcooperate with others around him, others whomay or may not share one's culture.

Moral outrage is a feeling of disgust and/oranger "to infringements or transgressions on whatpeople perceive to be the immunities they, orothers with whom they identify, can expect on thebasis of their rights and privileges and what theyunderstand to be their reasonable expectations

6 See the Wikipedia entry for Enculturation athttp://skyler.link/wikienculturation7 See the Wikipedia entry for Socialization athttp://skyler.link/wikisocialization

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regarding the behavior of others."8 One'ssocialization will determine what is considered theimmunities, rights, and privileges of differentgroups or classes of people, their violation of whichproduces the feeling of moral outrage. As it stands,the possibility of moral outrage is a result of one'ssocialization and enculturation.

Education is the process of receiving "a body ofknowledge" and wisdom, the latter a result of theapplication of our knowledge through experience.9

As we learn new things, we naturally try to fit themin to what we've learned before, building forourselves an academic tapestry from which toevaluate the socialization and enculturation that isalways occurring within us. Through education, weexperience re-socialization and re-enculturation,which will lead to a change in the list of behaviorsby others that will cause us to feel moral outrage,as well as the list of behaviors that won't.

Having given detailed definitions of thepreceding terms, I will now use them throughoutthe remainder of this booklet. We'll first look at

8 Read Moral Outrage: Territoriality in Human Guise byWard H. Goodenough at http://skyler.link/whgmo (PDF)9 See the Wikipedia entry for Education athttp://skyler.link/wikieducation


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parenting, followed by schooling. And then we'lllook at building a culture of liberty through radicalunschooling and agorism, broadly applied. I'll finishthis booklet on the topic of "moral outrage" andwhy this is a key component for achieving a freesociety.

62 PARENTING

Having thus defined our terms, we can beginexploring the necessary prerequisites to building aculture of liberty, and ultimately, a free society. Wemust start at the same place where each if usbegan life, the home. Our parents are first toinfluence our enculturation and socialization,followed by our siblings, grandparents, cousins,friends, and so forth.

Attachment ParentingParenting science in the realm of attachment

theory posits that our ability to empathize withothers begins its development in infancy.10

10 Read Observations on Attachment Parenting Outcomesby Dr. Sears at http://skyler.link/searsapoutcomes


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Mother/baby eye contact and bonding is the firststep. From there, breastfeeding, babywearing, andcosleeping continue the process. Empathy isimportant if we are to make sense of the plight ofothers. Feeling moral outrage toward someonebeing violated is as important for the desire tosecure their rights as it is our own.11 Followingattachment parenting practices is the first steptoward building a culture of liberty.12

Children's RightsThe second is the practice of respecting a

child's self-ownership and property rights.13 "Therights of children" is an oft-debated topic amonglibertarians, but as I hope to show here, irrelevantto the need to socialize them to expect their rightsbe respected once they've entered adulthood. Iflittle people will one day be big people, and wewant them to consider themselves as self-ownershaving the right to own and trade property, thenwe should socialize them as self-owners havingproperty rights throughout their entire life.

11 Read Rights are a Tool by the author athttp://skyler.link/evcrightstool12 See the Natural Child Projects attachment parenting articlearchive at http://skyler.link/ncpaparchive13 Read How We Came to Own Ourselves by StephanKinsella at http://skyler.link/misesownourselves

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As self-owners with property rights, all themainstream parenting practices that includearbitrary consequences to either "good" or "bad"behavior go right out the window. Why? Becausearbitrary consequences are disrespectful to thechild's rights (spanking and time-outs are acts ofaggression). Think about it. Because children areignorant (without knowledge and wisdom, oruneducated) and still early in the socializationprocess, they make many mistakes, which include,among other things, the handling of their bigemotions. As self-owners with property rights,children must be met where they're at. They have aright to feel the things they feel, and to make themistakes they make.14 Their mistakes are evidenceof their ignorance. What they need so that theymake less mistakes, is more honest knowledge andwisdom.

Natural ConsequencesArbitrary consequences are educational, sure,

but because they are arbitrary, they do not conveyhonest knowledge and wisdom regarding theparticular mistake being corrected. Rather, theyconvey dishonest knowledge and wisdom. For

14 Read Emotions are Not Bad Behavior by Robin Grille athttp://skyler.link/ncprgemotions


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example, when a child steals a toy from anotherchild, his mistake is being the cause of hurt in thechild whose toy he stole. That child is not only hurt,but also less trusting and more resentful of the firstchild. Those are the natural consequences ofstealing someone's stuff. It's even possible, andnatural, for the second child to feel anger anddesire to use his power to take back his toy andattempt revenge.

The correction that the first child needs is tobe made aware of how his actions negativelyaffected someone else, and all the fallout fromthat. This is an honest approach to the child.Alternatively, when a parent offers an arbitraryconsequence, what the child learns as naturalcause and effect is wrong.15 He learns not thatstealing causes pain in others and their resentmenttoward him, but rather that stealing causes his ownpain and resentment from him toward his parent.He's thus been defrauded out of a genuine andhonest learning experience through the use ofarbitrary consequences. His rights have beendisrespected because he's been attacked by hisparent, given fraudulent information, and nowexpected to act in accordance with a lie. He's been

15 Read Why Do We Hurt Our Children? by James Kimmellat http://skyler.link/evcwhyhurtchildren

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set up to fail, in other words, and to take thatfailure, and every failure compounded after that,into the future, with less of an expectation ofhaving his self-ownership and property rightsrespected by others, and more of a willingness toviolate the self-ownership or property rights ofothers. And more, he's socialized into the beliefthat his parents have a greater right to enactarbitrary consequences and to handle him than hisright to experience natural consequences andchoose how he'll be handled by others. This bodespoorly for building a culture of liberty.

MisbehaviorA better approach for socializing liberty than

the use of arbitrary consequences is to recognizethat every mistake a child makes is the result ofsome need not being met. I no longer believe thatchildren "misbehave", rather, they behave exactlyas I would expect given their needs and theirignorance in meeting them properly.16 They do thebest they can under the circumstances. In theexample above, the first child has a genuine needto explore the toy being played with by someoneelse. Had he enough knowledge and wisdom, he'd

16 Read Children Dont Really Misbehave by Thomas Gordonat http://skyler.link/ncptgmisbehave


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know that he should either wait for it to be free orpersuade the other child to part with it. Butbecause he's still ignorant, he does the next bestthing (from his perspective), he takes it. Thenatural consequences as described above are theresult. The first child, if he is to survive in societyand maintain his life and liberty, needs to learnabout these consequences so that he's more likelyto value cooperation (over domination) in thefuture. He learns through being made aware ofthem by either a parent or the natural course ofevents. But the parent's job is not done there.

The child also needs to learn how best to meethis need to explore the toys being explored byothers. He needs to learn both how and why tocooperate. And he'll only learn these things if theyare taught to him in the proper way for his age. Asalready explained, arbitrary consequences arealways improper if we want our children to learnthe value of cooperation, which those of us whovalue liberty, do. Instead, we should learn how tobe effective listeners or discerners of, andcommunicators to, our children while fullyrespecting their self-ownership and property rights.The two programs - at the very least - that Irecommend be studied by every parent who

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desires to live in a free society are ThomasGordon's Parent Effectiveness Training 17 and LauraMarkham's Peaceful Parent, Happy Kids. 18

17Available in several formats at http://skyler.link/amznpet18Available in several formats at http://skyler.link/amznpphk

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3 SCHOOLING

Schooling is the typical next step in a person'slife, and the socialization that occurs in school isquite ill-suited to building a culture of liberty.That's the intent, actually. Modern schooling wasfounded in Prussia as a means to socialize childreninto the acceptance of state authority (alwaysillegitimate19) and a life of subservience to parents,opinion makers, educators, bureaucrats, andinvoluntary bosses.20 The brilliance of schooling inthis regard was not lost on the rest of the world'sruling class. It quickly spread to every country on

19 Read Why States are Illegitimate by the author athttp://skyler.link/evcillegitimate20 Read Education: Free and Compulsory by Murray Rothbardat http://skyler.link/misesmrefc

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earth. Today, schooling is touted as a child's rightand necessary for becoming a functional adult. Buteverything about school is antithetical to building aculture of liberty.

Unnatural AuthorityTo start, children are expected to obey adults

who are emotional strangers to them. Teachersdemand love, respect, and obedience withoutearning them the only way they can be earned,through bonding, connection, and impression.21

And so, children learn to follow others becausethey said so, or else! The seeds of totalitarianismare thus planted, and watered with every"authority" the child encounters.22 His life becomesone of obedience and regimentation.

Intellectual PrisonChildren in school must do everything the

person-in-charge tells them to do, whether theyreally want to or not, and often contrary to theirown instincts. They must sit down and be quietwhen they want to run around and be noisy. Themust ask permission to get a tissue or go to the

21 Read Whence Cometh Respect? by the author athttp://skyler.link/evcrespect22 Read Natural Law and Authority by Michael Bakunin athttp://skyler.link/evcauthority


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bathroom. They must work on projects they mightfind uninteresting. When they do discoversomething interesting, the time they're allowed tofocus on it is temporary and fleeting. Also, whenthey are presented with new information, it'spresented in an unnatural way. Life does notapproach us in subjects, nor does life separate factsfrom skills. Reading, writing, and arithmetic areskills. History, geography, and science are facts. Lifehas a way of throwing a big mess of experience(skills) and knowledge (facts) at us in a less thancompartmentalized way. To approach learningunnaturally creates a handicap and, I believe,damages the desire to learn new things. I wouldcall all of the above "intellectual prison" because oftheir non-intuitive and unnatural effects on thekind of education that children need to live in afree society, ie. freedom of thought and curiosity.23

BullyingThe prison metaphor certainly doesn't stop at

the intellect, unfortunately. Children in school areforced to work all day in the classroom, and allevening at home. And when their work isunsatisfactory, they are punished. Not to mention

23 Read Why Dont Students Like School? Well, Duh byPeter Gray at http://skyler.link/ptpgwdsls

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the punishing effect that rewards like stickers andgrades have.24 Alfie Kohn has explained thedeleterious effects that grades have on the drive tolearn and explore.25 Artificial incentives causepeople to put more focus on the incentive than ontheir work. The results are disinterest, shortmemory, and cheating. Another likely result isbullying. Some kids are made to feel stupid andashamed of their poor performance in academics, afeeling that likely finds its relief in finding triumphon the playground, either in competitive sports, orin dominating those who they're compared againstinside the classroom. Bullying is also a result ofviolent parenting.26 This makes for impropersocialization of both bullies and the bullied if thegoal is a culture of liberty.27

For these and other reasons, including the pro-state "facts" that are disseminated, schooling is a

24 Read Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn, available inseveral formats at http://skyler.link/amznrewards25 Read The Case Against Grades by Alfie Kohn athttp://skyler.link/akgrades26 Read Natural Born Bullies by Robin Grille athttp://skyler.link/evcbullies27 Read The Long-Term Effects of Bullying on The Victim, theBully, and the Bystander by Rita Brhel athttp://skyler.link/tafbullying


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very bad place for children both as it regards theirphysical and intellectual needs and for theprospects of a free society.28 Government schoolsare worse than private schools, which are worsethan home schools. As I've written elsewhere,schooling is akin to prison, a plantation, and anindoctrination center.29 The socialization thatoccurs in school is contrary to the socializationneeded to achieve and maintain a free society. Forthat, our children need a radical approach to theireducation.

28 Read Weapons of Mass Instruction by John Taylor Gatto,available in several formats athttp://skyler.link/amzninstruction29 Read Prison, Plantation, and Indoctrination Center by theauthor at http://skyler.link/evcppic

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4 RADICAL UNSCHOOLING

As shown in the previous chapter, schooling isan extremely poor practice for building a culture ofliberty. Parents who've begun building that cultureat home through attachment and peacefuldiscipline will find schooling to be a major counter-productive step in the socialization andenculturation of their children toward liberty.30

Instead, such parents should educate themselveson the philosophy known as radical unschooling.31

Not only does it meet the psychological andintellectual needs of children better than schooling,

30 Read The Trouble with Traditional Schooling by GregoryDiehl at http://skyler.link/evctrouble31 Read A Primer on Radical Unschooling compiled by theauthor at http://skyler.link/evcunschooling


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but it's also the best way to continue building aculture of liberty.32

Interest-led LearningUnschooling is the philosophy that says that

children learn best when they are focused on whatinterests them most.33 Rather than followingsomeone else's plan for learning, unschoolers aregiven the freedom to explore the world aroundthem in their own way and on their own timescale.Both knowledge and wisdom are obtained as amatter of living joyfully alongside the necessaryresources, which includes people, beginning butnot ending with mom and dad, and things.34

Unschoolers usually have unlimited access to theresources around them, which allows them tospend sufficient time learning or doing the thingsthey find interesting. Because unschooled childrenare in complete control of their lives and theirfocus, they are naturally socialized into expectingsuch liberties in the future.35 My own children

32 Read Free to Learn by Peter Gray, available in severalformats at http://skyler.link/amznfree2learn33 Read The Unschooling Philosophy by Pam Sorooshian athttp://skyler.link/joyphilosophy34 Read Living Joyfully: Unschooling by Pam Laricchia athttp://skyler.link/ljunschooling35 Read Whatever They Want by the author athttp://skyler.link/evcwhatever

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show remarkable assertiveness when the libertiesthey've been granted are being encroached.

Rules vs. PrinciplesWhat separates radical unschooling from

unschooling is the former's focus on principles overrules. Rules are arbitrary and dictated, and may ormay not be based on wisdom, but principles are amatter of reason and discovered throughrespectful dialogue and negotiation.36 Going to bedat a certain time and place, eating all of one's food,doing chores on certain days, et cetera, are rulesusually imposed on children by their parents.Contrary to rules like this, radical unschoolingparents would discuss each of these things withtheir children, respectfully explaining why oneshould or shouldn't do this or that as it concernseach, and then let the child choose his own courseof action.

For example, with bed times, mom and dadwouldn't assign a time for their kids to go to bed,but instead discuss with them any plans they havethe next day, and what each person's needs are inkeeping them.37 Dad might have to work early, and

36 Read Living by Principles instead of by Rules compiled bySandra Dodd at http://skyler.link/doddrules37 Read Sleeping compiled by Sandra Dodd athttp://skyler.link/doddsleeping


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so needs to retire sooner than the rest of thefamily. And because dad needs a quiet house inorder to get the sleep he needs to wake up on timefor work (which finances everyone's lives andinterests at the moment), he would appreciate it ifeveryone staying up could refrain from making toomuch noise. So long as this is all talked aboutrespectfully, with willing consideration ofeveryone's needs, the family is likely to find anacceptable solution for all. Because radicalunschoolers focus on principles rather than rules,children learn wisdom, negotiation, and respectfulcommunication.38 They also learn that theiropinion matters and that they have a legitimatechoice in the actions they take.

Natural AuthorityWhen children have choice, have control, they

learn something different about authority. Ratherthan authority being the person or persons whomakes the rules that others must follow - or else! -authority is the person that can help others learnwhat they want to learn. Natural authority, in otherwords. Unschoolers discover all sorts of naturalauthorities throughout life as they explore and do

38 Read Living by Principles compiled by Sandra Dodd athttp://skyler.link/doddprinciples

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interesting things. Nobody's born knowingeverything, and so we must learn, and quite a bit oflearning comes through the help of others. Whenothers help us with our interests, our passions,they earn our respect and admiration as authoritiesin their field. Rather than being an arbitrarymaster, those who are considered "authorityfigures" are in actuality, servants. And any attemptat mastery over others is more likely seen asmorally outrageous by those who've beensocialized to view authorities in this way. Mom anddad included.39

Intellectual FreedomUnlike those who are forced to go to school,

unschoolers enjoy intellectual freedom, ie.freedom of the mind; the right to choose one'sintellectual pursuits. Curiosity is one of humanity'sgreatest traits. It's unfortunately curtailed andoften abolished through schooling, ie. educationalcompulsion. Anyone who's ever had kids will tellyou how curious and fascinated about new thingsyoung children are.40 This isn't something that'ssupposed to disappear as children get older. It only

39 Read Parental Authority compiled by Sandra Dodd athttp://skyler.link/doddauthority40 Read Born to Explore by Missy Willis athttp://skyler.link/evcexplore


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seems that way because schooling is the norm andpeople lose that natural drive to be curious anddesire to learn new things when so much of theirtime and mental content is being forcefullyprescribed by others. Those who maintain or re-discover their curiosity become the saviors of theworld, those who invent new things and embark onnew entrepreneurial ventures. The more peopleretain their natural curiosity, the harder it is to takeaway their liberties. And any attempt is more likelyto be thwarted in creative ways.41

RespectAll of the above has the effect of creating

genuine respect between adults and children.Respect is earned as a matter of the bonding thatoccurs between individuals. Bonding requires thecommitment to allow each other to be and controlthemselves however they choose. Children whofeel respected are socialized and enculturated intoexpecting that respect is earned on this basis. Theyare more interested in earning the respect of thosethey encounter in life. As they understand therequirements for genuine respect, they are lesslikely to be interested in domination-based

41 Read Fifty Ways to Leave Leviathan by Jeffrey Tucker andMax Borders at http://skyler.link/fee50lev

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relationships. This bodes well for building a cultureof liberty.

Many homeschoolers practice aspects ofunschooling, but unfortunately homeschooling canbe just as incompatible toward building a culture ofliberty as is schooling. All compulsory means ofeducation should be abandoned if the goal isliberty.42 Children won't grow up understandingand demanding freedom if they don't experience itin their formative years. A radical unschoolinghome - and to a lesser extent attending a SudburyValley-modeled democratic school - is the bestenvironment to building and maintaining a cultureof liberty.43

42 Read The Right to Control Ones Learning by John Holt athttp://skyler.link/evclearning43 Read Children Educate Themselves by Peter Gray athttp://skyler.link/ptpgcet4

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5 AGORISM

"Agorism is a libertarian social philosophy thatadvocates creating a society in which all relationsbetween people are voluntary exchanges by meansof counter-economics, thus engaging in a mannerwith aspects of peaceful revolution." So saysWikipedia.44 What is counter-economics?According to the father of Agorism, Samuel Konkin,"the study or practice of all peaceful human actionwhich is forbidden by the State."45 I think agorismis a much broader concept and practice than was

44 See the Wikipedia entry for Agorism athttp://skyler.link/wikiagorism45 See the Wikipedia entry for Counter Economics athttp://skyler.link/wikicntrecon

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ever suggested by Konkin, and a necessaryfoundation to building a culture of liberty.

EducationJosef Stalin, the anti-libertarian Russian despot

said that "Ideas are more powerful than guns. Wewould not let our enemies have guns, why shouldwe let them have ideas?" Indeed. Ideas are apowerful thing. So much so that governmentseverywhere have set up schools and, with very fewexceptions, require attendance. Today we seegovernments encouraging parents to send theirlittle ones to school earlier and earlier.46 And whatideas are children taught in school? Along witheverything I covered in Chapter 3, they're taughtpro-government ideas, beginning with thecoercively required recital every morning of the"Pledge of Allegiance" to the nation-state (at leastin the US). When parents choose radicalunschooling over government schools, they areentering the agora (Greek for "open space") andproviding a foundation of educational freedom andexploration, where no idea is prohibited, for theirchildren. Some of the more dangerous ideaslearned in the agora, other than attachment

46 See the Wikipedia entry for Head Start Program athttp://skyler.link/wikiheadstart


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parenting and radical unschooling, from thegovernment's point of view, are as follows.

Governance vs. the StateOnce someone decides that they value liberty,

the often begin studying liberty. For me, I beganvaluing liberty after I learned a bit of economics.47

Once I understood the disastrous effects ofgovernment interventions in the market, I wantedto know more about getting rid of thoseinterventions, about increasing liberty. As Ifollowed this path, it became clearer to me thenature of government, of the state. I've alwaysvalued and still value "governance", what MarkBevir defines as "all processes of governing,whether undertaken by a government [the state],market or network, whether over a family, tribe,formal or informal organization or territory andwhether through laws, norms, power orlanguage."48 So, isn't that the state? Not exactly.

The state is a non-contractual monopoly ofgovernance (the legal use of force) within a defined

47 Read My Road to Liberty Went Through Economics by theauthor at http://skyler.link/evcmyroad48 See the Wikipedia entry on Governance athttp://skyler.link/wikigovernance

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territorial boundary.49 As it's non-contractual, itwas founded and maintained on the basis ofconquest, not consent. Therefore, the state is aviolation of liberty. And every state, everygovernment, that exists today was founded and ismaintained in this same way.50 Once I discoveredthis, I began opposing the existence of the statebecause of the conflicts it presented to my values(consent, legitimacy, morality, liberty, peace). Ibecame a voluntaryist, one who opposes the ideasthat some people may rule over others; that mightmakes right; that its morally or philosophicallyright to initiation coercion against the innocent.51

State Law is Mere RiskOnce the state is understood, how should one

view its laws? The agorist, understanding theillegitimate nature of the state, views its laws as amatter of risk. One is not honor-bound to obeyillegitimate state law other than where its violationputs the realization of one's values at risk. Thestate is simply a larger and better organized

49 Read Government vs. the State, Redux by the author athttp://skyler.link/evcgovvsstate50 Read The Anatomy of the State by Murray Rothbard athttp://skyler.link/evcanatomy51 Read The Ethics of Voluntaryism by the author athttp://skyler.link/evcethics


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criminal syndicate. We go about our livesmitigating such risks as natural disasters, accidents,and petty crime. State laws are merely one moretype of risk to be mitigated.52 We pay our taxes notbecause paying taxes is the good and moral thingto do, but because if we don't, we risk beingthrown in the rape factory that is prison, orworse.53 The less risky it is to violate a given statelaw, the agorist will do so without shame, all in thehope that the more this occurs the greater thechance the given law will be seen as obsolete andremain unenforced.54 The more laws that agoristactivity can make obsolete, the bettercircumstances are for building a culture of liberty,which leads us to entrepreneurship.

EntrepreneurshipAn entrepreneur is someone who operates a

business, taking on greater than normal financialrisk. In order to succeed, they must successfullyanticipate consumer demand and offer theagreeably-priced supply. This takes, among other

52 Read The Law is Mere Risk by the author athttp://skyler.link/evclawrisk53 Read When Does Law Become Criminal? by the author athttp://skyler.link/evclawcriminal54 Read Agorist Living by Nicholas Hooton athttp://skyler.link/evcagoristliving

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things, creativity, inventiveness, and foresight. Italso takes capital and a willingness to jump throughany number of legal hurdles, some areas moreonerous than others. Entrepreneurs, in my opinion,are the heroes of the world.55 They've brought tothe masses the printing press, the automobile, thecomputer, the Internet56, and every other amazingthing we take for granted these days. In short, theymake us more powerful, and often that power isgreat enough to increase our liberties.Entrepreneurs continue to make us more powerfuland help us get what we want, and today we seethings like cryptocurrencies, decentralized webcommerce, and encrypted peer-to-peer networks,each of which are making great strides in battlingmeddlesome government.57 The moreentrepreneurial activity the better, in my opinion.A relevant fact, a far higher percentage of radical

55 Read The Entrepreneur on the Heroic Journey by DwightLee and Candace Allen at http://skyler.link/feeheroic56 Listen to Ep. 333 Could There Have Been an InternetWithout the State? from the Tom Woods Show athttp://skyler.link/tw333internet57 See the Wikipedia entries on Cryptocurrency athttp://skyler.link/wikicryptocurrency, OpenBazaar athttp://skyler.link/wikiopenbazaar, Peer-to-peer athttp://skyler.link/wikip2p


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unschoolers become entrepreneurs than theirschooled or homeschooled counterparts.58

Spreading libertarian ideas, makinggovernment laws obsolete, and building theproducts and services that will give greater andgreater power to the masses is what agorism is allabout. These things are what's keeping liberty alivetoday. If we ever want a free society, we must eachfind ways to contribute in these areas. Start byraising your children in liberty, in the agora. In thenext and final chapter of this booklet, I'll explorehow moral outrage is developed and why itsnecessary in building a culture of liberty.

58 Read Survey of Grown Unschoolers by Peter Gray athttp://skyler.link/ptpgsgu3

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6 MORAL OUTRAGE

Here we are at the conclusion of this booklet. Ibegan by defining several important concepts, eachof which I've used here and there, except for moraloutrage. (Alright, I used it once.) That is the topic ofthis final chapter, and the culmination of my thesison how to build a culture of liberty. Let's go.

What is Moral Outrage?Let me share once again the definition I

offered in Chapter 1:

Moral outrage is a feeling of disgustand/or anger "to infringements ortransgressions on what people perceive to bethe immunities they, or others with whom theyidentify, can expect on the basis of their rights


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and privileges and what they understand to betheir reasonable expectations regarding thebehavior of others." One's socialization willdetermine what is considered the immunities,rights, and privileges of different groups orclasses of people, their violation of whichproduces the feeling of moral outrage. As itstands, the possibility of moral outrage is aresult of one's socialization and enculturation.

Where can we see this today? Here's oneexample: Americans grow up socialized ingovernment schools and raised by parents andgrandparents who were socialized in governmentschools and possibly served in the military or in apublic capacity or is close to someone who did. So,what sort of response is given to someone makinga show of burning an American flag? Moral outrage(disgust and anger), because most Americans weresocialized and enculturated to hold the Americanflag and its ideals as not only good and true, butsacred. Non-Americans, who weren't socialized andenculturated to revere the American flag feel nosuch particular outrage. As is obvious, how one issocialized and enculturated determines when andwhy one feels moral outrage.59 Let us explore the

59 Read Whence Cometh Moral Outrage? by the author athttp://skyler.link/evcmoraloutrage

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relevance of moral outrage as it concerns the topicexplored in each preceding chapter.

ParentingHow children are treated by their parents sets

them up to expect certain types of treatments byothers. When they are treated in contrary ways,they'll experience moral outrage. If a child's self-ownership is respected, meaning that he's nothandled against his will, and he's given honestknowledge and wisdom, then he'll be far less likelyto tolerate others violating his self-ownership ordealing with him dishonestly. I see this all the timein children whose rights have been respected bytheir parents, primarily in my own. They're moreassertive of their boundaries and not afraid tostand up for themselves. And more, theyempathize with others whose rights are beingviolated. They experience these violations as theirown and the result is moral outrage.

SchoolingHow does schooling socialize and enculturate

children? And how likely are children to feel moraloutrage at the anti-liberty practices found in andout of school, during and after they've left? Asalready explained, the intent of modern schooling


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is the production of a conforming and compliantcitizenry. Schooling ensures that children aresocialized and enculturated not to feel moraloutrage toward statist, anti-liberty practices likeregimentation, deference to authority, andthought-policing. The requisite culture of liberty fora free society cannot be built on a foundation ofschooling (compulsory education).

Radical UnschoolingWhen those who are committed to achieving a

free society abandon schooling in lieu of the onlyalternative, radical unschooling (non-compulsoryeducation), they establish an important foundationfor increasing the chances of moral outrage towardanti-liberty practices. Children quickly come toexpect freedom when experiencing freedom is thenorm. When this expectation is unrealized, they'llget confused and angry. They've been allowed todo as they please, and now suddenly someone withmore power is telling them they can't. They at firstexpect a good reason, and failing that theirconfusion and anger is likely to become full blownmoral outrage, at least until their denier offreedom asserts himself as capable of hurtingthem. They then become resentful, whichresentment may one day become violent. My point

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is, it becomes very difficult and costly to denychildren their freedom once they've been allowedto experience it, like anyone else. Ensuring ourchildren experience freedom this early and for aslong as possible will create adults who are far morelikely to expect and demand freedom.

AgorismAs I expanded my worldview and

understanding of economics, philosophy, and soforth, I began feeling a higher degree of moraloutrage toward those who forcefully interfere inthe lives of others. Education and free thought area big part of the agora. Likewise, as one engages inpeaceful trade, viewing government-made law asjust another risk to be mitigated, any increase tothat risk can - either as the law expands or as one'strade networks expand - cause a feeling of moraloutrage induced by the stress of mitigating such arisk. This can be a healthy feeling as stress is oftena catalyst for creative thinking and thedevelopment of solutions to overcome the risk. Theculture of liberty is then expanded as others adoptand innovate on the solutions discovered.

Here are we at the end. I've written thisbooklet to provide a way forward for those who


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value and desire to live in a free society. Unlikeothers who value liberty, I do not believe that afree society can be achieved through violentrevolution. A free society can only result and bemaintained on the basis of a culture of liberty, andcultures are the result of socialization,enculturation, and education. As such, I do notbelieve that a free society and its culture of libertywill remain while parents use either physical orsocial coercion against their children. Violence inthe home teaches domination, not cooperation,nor the equality of liberty and power.60 Arguably,the home is our greatest sphere of control. We arearound our families constantly, and how webehave in relation to them will determine ourchances of ever enjoying complete liberty, peace,and prosperity. If you, like me, value these things,then your very first commitment must be to raiseyour children in a culture of liberty and peace. Theydeserve it, and you deserve it. Godspeed!

60 Read Liberty: The Other Equality by Roderick Long athttp://skyler.link/feelibertyequality

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FURTHER READING

An Agorist Primer, Samuel Konkin IIIBasic Economics, Thomas SowellEconomics in One Lesson, Henry HazlittEducation: Free and Compulsory, Murray RothbardFree to Learn, Peter GrayNatural Born Learners, edited by B. E. EkokoNonviolent Communication, Marshall RosenbergParenting a Free Child, Rue KreamParenting Effectiveness Training, Thomas GordonParenting for a Peaceful World, Robin GrillePlayful Parenting, Lawrence CohenPunished by Rewards, Alfie KohnThe Problem of Political Authority, M. HuemerUnconditional Parenting, by Alfie KohnWeapons of Mass Instruction, John Taylor Gatto

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Skyler J. Collins lives with his beautiful wife andthree wonderful children in Salt Lake City, Utah.He's a voluntaryist and radical unschooler. Heenjoys reading, writing, and podcasting aboutanything on liberty, economics, philosophy,religion, science, health, and childhooddevelopment. He and his wife are committed toraising their children in peace and love, exploringthe world with them, and showing them how todeal with others respectfully, and enjoy theirfreedom responsibly. He is the founder ofEverything-Voluntary.com. His websites alsoinclude skylerjcollins.com, LibertySearch.info, andLargePrintLiberty.com.

toward a free society: a short guide on building a culture of liberty

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