Voluntarist
Auberon Herbert pioneered Voluntarism, arguing for a non-coercive government funded solely by voluntary contributions. He opposed taxation and state-imposed regulations, envisioning a society where individuals opt into security and public services without force. His philosophy influenced debates on stateless governance and personal autonomy, emphasizing voluntary contracts and self-determination over government mandates.
What it believes
Consent is the entire law: every human arrangement — protection, arbitration, roads, charity — legitimate only if uncoerced, with the state failing the test by definition. Not a policy program; a moral axiom applied without exception.
The appeal
Its force is the force of a syllogism: if aggression is wrong for you, it is wrong in uniform. Every tax, draft, and mandate must answer the same childlike, unanswerable question — did I agree to this?
Where it breaks
Consent is a thin theory of a thick world: children, emergencies, externalities, and the born-into conditions nobody chose all fall outside the axiom, and 'you may exit' does the quiet coercive work the theory disclaims.
Among its neighbours
The Libertarian above still tolerates the minimal state this cell's axiom forbids. The National Libertarian beside it fails the consent test at the border. Below, the Crypto-Anarchist builds the consent-only world in software. Leftward, the Minarchist is the compromise this cell exists to refuse.
Figures — real and imagined — who share the Voluntarist base ideology. They differ only on the third axis: from radical to restorationist, each is a different face of a Voluntarist.
The company you keep.
The social axis (progressive ↔ traditional) splits Voluntarist into nine named shades. Take the quiz to find out which one is yours.
- Radical Voluntarist
- Progressive Voluntarist
- Reformist Voluntarist
- Heterodox Voluntarist
- Voluntarist
- Rooted Voluntarist
- Traditional Voluntarist
- Reactionary Voluntarist
- Restorationist Voluntarist