Voluntaryism??

February 1983

The Voluntaryists are libertarians who have organized to promote non-political strategies to achieve a free society. They 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 de-legitimize the State through education, and they advocate withdrawal of cooperation and tacit consent on which state power ultimately depends.

The term "voluntaryist" was commonly used throughout the 19th century to describe the libertarian movement. They have adopted the term to refer specifically to libertarians who reject the effort to elect libertarians to political office.

Voluntaryists believe that many political libertarians, however much they understand the principles of liberty, have failed to examine the process of social and political change in depth. They overlook the Voluntaryist insight that State power ultimately depends on the tacit acquiescence of the majority of its citizens. Governments maintain this "voluntary servitude" by enveloping themselves in a mystique of moral sanctity. The only long-range and lasting way to curtail State power is to dissolve this illusion of moral legitimacy. When people see the actions of the State as subject to the same more principles as the actions of an individual -- when theft, fraud and murder are no more tolerated and excused when committed by a government than when committed by an individual -- then the foundation for a free society has been secured.

As long as the Libertarian Party continues to run candidates for office, thereby encouraging people to vote and otherwise participate in the electoral process, it will not achieve its libertarian objectives.

Political activity must invariably sabotage the Voluntaryist goal of de-legitimizing the State. Only principled abstention from electoral politics, coupled with an educational campaign designed to show the connection between political activity and the illusion of State legitimacy, can achieve libertarian goals. Alternative strategies have been virtually ignored as a result of libertarian political activity. Little thought, much less systematic theory, has been devoted to this topic. One function of the Voluntaryists is to explore alternative strategies such as education, nonviolent resistance to the State, counter-economics, and so forth. The Voluntaryists invite fellow libertarians to join them in developing these strategies to their full potential and implementing them for the realization of liberty.