A Voluntaryist 7-Point Plan

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Jim Davies's picture

Alex's "7-point Plan" is quite good, as far as it goes. Its location on Everything-Voluntary doesn't seem friendly to commenters (seems one has to belong to Facebook, Google+ or Twitter, and I don't) so I'll review it briefly here.
 
He grades the seven suggestions in decreasing order of importance, and rightly puts first the spreading of our ideas. Unfortunately he doesn't suggest a systematic way of doing that, even though he is aware of TOLFA, the equal of which I have not yet seen. Merely to mention those ideas unsystematically is of course hopeless; the math cannot possibly work.
 
But all of them are sound, it's a good list, none of them will hurt and the increasing use of AltCoins will help a lot. Perhaps in some expanded version of his "Plan" Alex will detail how that increase might be promoted. It seems to me a chicken/egg problem; the supermarket won't accept Bitcoins because users are so few, and users are few because there are not many places to spend them.
 
Item 4 is vital, though it's not identified as such: Avoid Government Employ. Yes, as an ethical choice; but very much more. Only a complete withdrawal of labor will cause government to vanish. No word on how to cause that.
 
A good list, but its chief defect is in the title line: it's not a "Plan" at all. It doesn't even have the shape of a plan. It does not contain the essential components of a plan - rather like the Pugsley Plan, which I reviewed here four years ago but which Alex may have missed, as a plan it fails even to get airborne. In my STRticle What a Time to be Alive! in 2012 I spelled out the five essential components of any plan; it seems he missed that one too. They are:

  1. Define and describe the objective
  2. Identify the method to be used
  3. Specify the time scale and milestones
  4. List the resources required, and where they can be found
  5. Name the key dependencies assumed, and test for credibility

 
Not one of those components is stated in Alex's "7-point Plan" and, accordingly, it's not a plan. But otherwise, again, it's a useful list.

Alex R. Knight III's picture

I can only ask the rest of you:  Can any of you even believe this?  I mean, really.  Get a life.  :-D

Samarami's picture

I am, thankfully, a free and sovereign state. It's a good state in which to be.

I could, conversely, be in a state of anger, egomania, and belligerence (over the comments and behaviors of those upon whom I have absolutely no control). That's a sad, sad state.

Because here we have the opportunity to "..come out from under.." Not that many sites left on the web, I submit. Many (most that I'm aware) have bit-the-dust over anger and angst -- too often generated by one or more "gurus" who won't accept and believe in the tripe of the other guru(s). Seems "Daily Anarchist" followed that dogmatic path to perdition.

No place for shemexperts. Sam

Jim Davies's picture

Sam, you're a nice guy and I wish you well; but you are heavily delusional.  Except in one important but very limited sense, you are NOT a "free and sovereign state". None of us are. We are, to one degree or another as Paul Hein recently pointed out, all "prisoners, fugitives, or slaves." That's the reality; and it will stay that way until government disappears. What matters above all is therefore to make it disappear.
 
The On Line Freedom Academy, with its integral, exponential growth method, is the only feasible way that I've seen so far. (In contrast for example, Alex's "7-point Plan" does not, as above, even come close.) It may well be that someone, some time soon, will produce a better alternative. Bring it on! The more, the merrier!
 
But until then, it's the only show in town. Use it, or remain in slavery.

Samarami's picture

Today's STR on-page quote rather relates my mantra (in better words than mine):

    "What do we mean when we say that first of all we seek liberty? I often wonder whether we do not rest our hopes too much upon constitutions, upon laws and upon courts. These are false hopes; believe me, these are false hopes. Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it…."

~ Learned Hand

Sam

Jim Davies's picture

[Re-posted as a Reply. Sorry.]

Samarami's picture
    "...you're a nice guy and I wish you well, but..."

I must truly be delusional. 'Cause every time I hear or read this intro, I tend to place my hand firmly over my wallet pocket. Sam

Jim Davies's picture

Relax! I don't want your money. Just your attention.

Samarami's picture

You've had my "attention" for years, Jim. And my admiration.

I'll not enter into disputes with anyone over nit-picking. The price of freedom is too great.

As mentioned earlier (might have been on a different thread -- I'm old, absent-minded, and can't always remember what thread I'm on), I've been going over many old essays (including many of yours, but also many of others here on STR -- folks I would like to see come back with more contributions). I often glean concepts today that I had overlooked previously from those same essays. Perhaps because now I'm not distracted by the internet, and can concentrate to the bottom of the topic or subject -- not put it off for a later date.

Today I spent time here: http://faculty.msb.edu/hasnasj/GTWebSite/MythWeb.htm

I had thought I had pretty much absorbed Hasnas' "Myth of the Rule of Law". But after the intro exercises he gets into some real deep anarchist principal. I suppose I had read (perused) the entire thing, but think I might have overlooked the real meat of the topic. I'd urge anyone still looking over essays and comments on STR to give this old essay a second read.

Was also looking over a more recent ( https://www.lewrockwell.com/2011/09/lew-rockwell/trial-by-police-state/ couldn't get the link to "fire" for some reason) regarding how (if I choose to refuse to be free) I'm certainly a "victim of the police state", according to Rockwell:

    "...Today, every single citizen, no matter how free he or she may feel in daily life, is in reality a sitting duck. You can be made to disappear. There is essentially no way you can escape once the feds sweep you into their net. There is no justice. The total states of the past used to pretend to have trial-based convictions. The total state of the present doesn't even bother. It just puts a sack over your head and takes you away..."

I'm sure Lew would gleefully agree that I am NOT a sovereign state! Thankfully, I don't need his "agreement". And he can still enjoy my admiration. For most things.

The world revolves around my belly-button -- not yours, or Lew's. My world. What makes this thesis so powerful for my sovereignty is the knowledge that your (and Lew's) world(s) revolve around your belly buttons, whether you admit it or not. Therefore, I can admire (and, for the most part agree with) both you and Lew.

That ability to admire (even in the heat of dissension at times) enhances my sovereignty.

"...it's the only game in town..." Sam