Enemies of the State, in Memoriam

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“One Voluntaryist’s Perspective” is an original column appearing most Mondays at Everything-Voluntary.com, by the founder and editor Skyler J. Collins. Archived columns can be found here. OVP-only RSS feed available here.

This (and every) Memorial Day, I would like to reverse its purpose from a day of remembrance for those whose lives were lost while in service to the state, to a day of remembrance for those whose lives the state took, or in other words, those who were honorably and nobly called, the enemies of the state.

In Memoriam

Let us remember those who were conquered by the various thieving and murderous bands of criminals who first laid club to face in their attempt to subjugate the productive, both those who lost their lives and those whose lives were taken and made the object of another’s means of continuous plunder.

Let us remember those who continued to defy their conquerors demands and survived but for a time before ultimately falling prey to the wolves who would eat them for dinner.

Let us remember those who agitated, one way or another, against that state’s illegitimate authority and monopolizing of the provision of law and order.

Let us remember those who fought for their right to trade with their fellow man in direct defiance of state prohibitions of their industry, including, but not limited to, alcohol, marijuana, hard drugs, prostitution, insider trading, intellectual piracy, and state secrets sharing.

Let us remember those who have promoted philosophies contrary to statism, including, but not limited to, Frederic Bastiat, Gustave de Molinari, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Benjamin Tucker, Auberon Herbert, Albert Nock, Ludwig von Mises, Henry Hazlitt, Frank Chodorov, Robert LeFevre, Samuel Konkin, and Murray Rothbard.

Let us remember those whose lives have been taken through incarceration by the state, for offending the state, including but not limited to, everyone in prison who was convicted by a monopoly court of injustice, everyone in prison who fell victim to the state’s War on Drugs, everyone in prison who fell victim to the state’s War on Terror, everyone in prison for leaking information about the state’s illegal or immoral activities, and everyone in prison for evading the state’s plundering of their wealth.

Final Thoughts

Memorial Day can be a day of remembrance for those who have fallen in service to the largest criminal organization in society, or it can be a day of remembrance for those who fell victim to that criminal organization. I choose to remember the latter, from everywhere on Earth, and from all time. May they rest in peace.