The “Criminal” Metaphor In the Libertarian Tradition

The doctrine of natural liberty is ultimately grounded on two premises which are necessary to the understanding of why governments are “criminal.” By the self-ownership axiom, every individual has an absolute right to his or her own mind and body and the labor thereof; i.e., each person has the right to control that mind and body free of coercive interference. By the homesteading axiom, the first user, the first person who transforms and uses previously unclaimed and unused resources, becomes their absolute owner.

Volume 5, Number 3 (1981)