Book:Achieving Freedom: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 20:42, 12 October 2012

Achieving Freedom is a book by Stefan Molyneux. It was preceded by Everyday Anarchy and Practical Anarchy. Only the first part of the book has been released so far. In the part of the book that has been released, Molyneux challenges the view that academia, religion, and politics will lead to a reduction in the size of government. The book offers arguments and evidence that supports this criticism. The book also examines why people are resistant to the philosophy of liberty. Molyneux has written the next part of the book and is expected to release it some time in the near future. This part of the book will deal with the actual process of achieving freedom.

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-'''''Achieving Freedom''''' is a book by [[Stefan Molyneux]]. It was preceded by ''[[Everyday Anarchy]]'' and ''[[Practical Anarchy]]''. Only the first part of the book has been released so far.
+{{Book Displaytitle}}
+'''''Achieving Freedom''''' is a book by [[Stefan Molyneux]]. It was preceded by ''[[Everyday Anarchy]]'' and ''[[Practical Anarchy]]''. Only the first part of the book has been released so far. In the part of the book that has been released, Molyneux challenges the view that academia, religion, and politics will lead to a reduction in the size of government. The book offers arguments and evidence that supports this criticism. The book also examines why people are resistant to the philosophy of liberty. Molyneux has written the next part of the book and is expected to release it some time in the near future. This part of the book will deal with the actual process of achieving freedom.
-== How (Not) To Achieve Freedom ==
+== Contents ==
-Before we start talking about how to achieve a stateless society, I think that it is important to spend some time talking about how not to achieve a stateless society.
+*[[Achieving Freedom/1|How (Not) To Achieve Freedom]]
+*[[Achieving Freedom/2|Root Causes]]
-For the past several hundred years – really since the late eighteenth century – intellectuals, priests, philosophers, academics, and activists of every stripe and hue have been striving with all their considerable intellectual and moral might to place theoretical and practical limits upon the power of the state.
+== Links ==
+*[http://www.fdrurl.com/HNTAFPDF Digital version]
+*[http://fdrurl.com/HNTAF Audio version]
-The original American experiment was at least intellectually founded upon the ideal of creating a government by and for the people, with the express knowledge that the state was a dangerous servant and a terrible master.
+[[Category:Writings of Stefan Molyneux]]
-It is hard to think of other examples in history where so many checks and balances were placed upon centralised political power – and it is also impossible to think of a more dangerous and powerful government than the modern American leviathan.
-The abysmal failure of such a noble experiment should give all moralists pause.
-If the smallest possible government has grown into the largest conceivable government – within a few hundred years – it is hard to imagine what kind of theoretical system could conceivably control state growth in the future.
-=== Triple Treat ===
-Traditionally, three approaches have been taken to reducing the power and size of the state. The first is political action, the second is academic education, the third is religious partnership.
-==== Political Action ====
-This approach takes as its fundamental axiom the idea that if the general citizens were educated enough, motivated enough, and insistent enough, then the natural democratic process would shrink the size and power of the state. Candidates such as Ron Paul would gain enough of a popular mandate to stride into Washington, wrestle the entrenched special interest groups, flush out the sewage of accumulated corruption, and take back the government for the people!
-To this end, libertarians of all persuasions have either directly participated in or supported the pursuit of political action, usually from a grass-roots level. The political process is considered either to be a practical way of gaining – and thus diminishing – political power, or at the very least a “bully pulpit” from which to communicate to a wider audience the libertarian ideals of small government.
-==== Academic Education ====
-This second approach – often allied with the political approach – is based on the belief that if knowledge about the efficiency and virtue of the free market can be researched, peer-reviewed, published, and communicated clearly and widely enough, the general population will forsake their desire for statist solutions to complex social problems in favour of voluntary and free market solutions. In a similar manner to the political approach, the growth in state power is perceived to result from a deficiency in knowledge among the general population about the free market – just as the political approach assumes that state power increases as a result of a deficiency of political knowledge among the general population, such as a detailed understanding of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Federalist Papers, and so on.
-==== Religious Partnership ====
-At the true heart of the libertarian movement, however, sits a well-worn altar. Religious faith is the very bedrock of the anti-government movement – in particular, the anti-Federal movement. Ron Paul is a fundamentalist Christian who rejects evolution, the Mises Institute is specifically Catholic, Bob Barr is also a fundamentalist Christian...<ref>At a purely anecdotal level, I have also co-hosted dozens of libertarian talk shows, and almost every caller has been a fundamentalist Christian.</ref>
-It is not exactly that the libertarian movement is populated by fundamentalists, but rather that libertarianism can be considered an off-shoot of Christian fundamentalism.<ref>Although it is true that several prominent libertarians are atheists, they regularly praise religion for its contributions to freedom, or avoid the topic in general. For an example of this, please see: http://www.lewrockwell.com/block/block103.html</ref>
-=== Follow The ===
-=== The Track Record ===
-==== Achieving Goals ====
-==== Show Me The Money ====
-=== Reasonable Alternatives ===
-=== Unreasonable Compromises ===
-=== Politics ===
-==== Success! ====
-==== Market Positioning! ====
-==== No Testing! ====
-==== Academia ====
-==== Actions Versus Words ====
-==== Academic Voluntarism ====
-==== Do As I Say, Not As I Do ====
-==== The Price Of Academics ====
-==== Kiss The Ring ====
-==== Freedomain Radio ====
-==== The Contradiction Of Academia ====
-=== Religious Affiliations ===
-==== Fellow Travellers ====
-==== Premises And Conclusions ====
-==== The Tragedy Of Compromise ====
-=== The Goal - And Soul - Of An Organisation ===
-=== The Addiction ===
-=== Close Competition ===
-==== Methodology Versus Conclusions ====
-==== Academia ====
-==== Religion ====
-==== Politics ====
-==== Voting Away The Post Office ====
-==== Successful Privatisations? ====
-==== A Libertarian Majority? ====
-==== A Millenial Catastrophe ====
-==== Reversing Self-Interest ====
-==== A Modest Proposal ====
-==== Failure To Act ====
-==== Libertarian Mysticism ====
-=== So - Why Does Libertarianism Exist? ===
-==== Libertarianism And Exploitation? ====
-==== Progress And Illusion ====
-==== Academics And Theft ====
-==== Libertarianism And Theft ====
-==== The Path? ====
-==== Libertarian Dentistry ====
-=== Extraordinary Claims, Extraordinary Evidence ===
-==== A Private Sector Example ====
-==== Failure? ====
-=== The Effects Of Ethics ===
-==== The Libertarian Division ====
-=== The Presence Of Absence ===
-=== Why People Reject The TEF Argument ===
-==== Psychology ====
-=== Withdrawing Projection: An Example ===
-=== Why People Resist Libertarianism ===
-==== Resistance To Truth ====
-==== The Rational Fear Of Truth ====
-==== Anger In The Face Of Truth ====
-==== Levelling ====
-==== The Fear Of Others ====
-=== On A Personal Note ===
-==== Psychology An Me ====
-=== Rational Libertarians ===
-==== The Company One Keeps ====
-==== A Universal Contradiction? ====
-=== Empiricism And This Book ===
-=== We Can Only Hope We Are Screwing Up ===