A Reformed Baptist Perspective of Voluntaryism

Voluntaryism is a simple philosophy that has significant implications today's world. Voluntaryism is the notion that all human to human relationships must be voluntary or not at all. Voluntaryism is rooted in the concept of Self-Ownership. Voluntaryism is the logical conclusion of libertarianism. If a person has the right to Self-Ownership, then everything must be voluntary or not at all.

An Argument for Self-Ownership:
Think of the concept of responsibility. If someone robs a store, he/she is responsible for the damages that they incur and the lost of property that they have stolen. The robber would need to give back the stolen property or if it was consumed the market value of the property. The robber is responsible hence he/she would be punished for their actions (either by the courts or by the market). Here is a more positive way of looking at it. A student earned a degree, in which he/she is responsible for getting that degree. There are countless of examples of responsibility. If one is responsible for his/her actions it would then mean that they own themselves, no one can claim ownership of another person.

A Biblical Argument:
In the Ten Commandments, we as humans are not allowed to steal or murder, amongst other things. As a Reformed Baptist, I must conclude that Voluntaryism is the only suitable philosophy to hold. Logically speaking, I can't participate in government, especially politicing. One of the biggest things that I get referred to is Romans 13; I must obey the government because it is the "authority" that which God has placed. I don't like it, but I will obey the government or the authority of society. If there is an opportunity to live in a private city that is self-ruled, sign me up. This is where I differentiate government from authority. The government has authority, but I don't agree how it is done.

Biblically speaking God owns the universe but when self-ownership is brought up, I tend to refer to it as a human to human "point of view" not God to human point of view. God to human point of view I take the more reformed line of thinking.

Other Arguments and Final thoughts.
I would like to see America to become a voluntaryist society, in which private individuals will have the most freedom that they could ever imagine and the wealthiest (defined by the individual, not necessarily by the culture) one could imagine.

Private cities would be the authority, and it would also be a lot more voluntary system than the governments that are here today. If I were to govern a group of people, I would only want voluntary consent and nothing else. So, if I were to build a floating city in international waters, I would be able to be the authority over anybody that wants to live with me. It would reflect a voluntaryist type of lifestyle, which everyone would respect each other's property, self-ownership and contract rights.