New articles

I've had two new articles posted at Strike The Root.com. One is about black market anarchism. The other is about whether humans truly do submit to authority.

New article

I've had an article published at The Libertarian Enterprise.

It's basically a piece questioning whether humans naturally submit to authority (which is a common rebuke against anarchism).

You can read it here.

VAT fraud

A report by Panorama on the BBC indicates that VAT fraud has reached record levels.

This is based upon statistics from HM Revenue and Customs. Well this is the price you pay for an over-regulated economy. Without excessive indirect and regressive taxation, people would see little to no reason to succumb to fraud.

Imagine if companies didn't have to pay taxes. It would be a boon! Companies could use the extra money retained to either pay employees more, or to re-invest such funds hence creating opportunities for greater profits.

If the business environment is completely free of burden and regulation, then it would benefit everyone in the long run.

Knife amnesty

More than 100,000 knives were handed to the police during the knife amnesty in June.

Of course, the state would welcome this, since society is being made "safer". But outlawing knives would only have a minimal effect. People in the underworld can still obtain knives, just as people in the underworld can still obtain guns.

Also, who is to say what means can you used to defend oneself? In some US states, people are permitted to have "concealed carry" weapons. This means that they can carry a gun or weapon on their person, which is concealed, for protection of their person. If anything, we should have the same scheme in the UK.

How would a market anarchy deal with this? Well, maybe membership of a protection agency/DRO would require concealed carry or at least permit it. DRO membership could also forbid it, if necessary. Still, the market would offer lots of options regarding personal defence in an anarcho-capitalist society.

Anniversary of London Bombings

Today is the anniversary of the London Bombings.

My thoughts regarding it haven't changed since the actual attack. I believe the attack occured because of Blair's intervention in Iraq and our "special relationship" with the United States. I disagree with Blair in saying that the Islamists "hate our way of life".

Look at it this way. Let's say these Islamist extremists do hate Western values and liberal democracy. Why is it that Al Qaeda have claimed responsibilty for attacks in only THREE Western liberal democracies in the world (,i.e. the USA, the UK and Spain)? If they despise liberal democracy so much, then why be so selective in whom they attack? Are America, Britain and Spain the most powerful or influential liberal democracies? Well the USA and the UK are relatively powerful nations, but Spain isn't (at least not to the same degree).

I believe the solution to Islamist terrorism is not to provoke them into attacking us. Britain should remove ALL troops from Iraq, Afghanistan and the entire Middle East. Of course, in a market anarchy situation there would be no state who could send troops overseas. Instead, if people want to voluntarily fight in war zones around the world, then they should be free to do so. At least then, the entire population would not be a target for people who feel agrieved or have been wronged.

The "West Lothian Question"

The Conservatives are proposing to stop Scottish MP's from voting on English issues, if they achieve power at the next general election.

It's about time there some kind of answer to this question. It's not fair or just for English MP's not to vote on Scottish issues, but Scottish MP's can vote on English issues. New Labour really should have thoroughly considered this whilst they were outlining plans for devolution.

The libertarian stance on this? Well I cannot naturally speak for all British libertarians. And evidently as a market anarchist, I don't believe in the state at all. Personally I think this issue should be resolved by making the UK a truly federal state. Have Westminster retain control over foreign affairs, economic policy, defence, etc. But let England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have control over all other policy issues. We'd probably have to create a codified constitution for this arrangement to come into effect, but so what? The current British constitution is "unlibertarian" in the sense that there are few to little provisions for limited government. I'd favour a constitutionally limited government as a stepping stone to a market anarchy situation.