Freedomain Radio

I'm not so sure how many of you here have been influenced by Spooner, but he was one of the first Anarchist authors I took seriously. Spooner influenced Rothbard himself and virtually every Market Anarchist (that I know personally). No Treason was written with the flavor of the time and I am curious whether or not No Treason still applies as well as it did back then. Perhaps it applies more so today than it does back then. I'm hoping just to start some conversation. This being my first post.

He had a huge impact on the way I thought. He was the first person I ever read who cogently laid out the truth with regard to the constitution simply being a piece of paper, with no more contractual obligation able to be wrought from it onto myself than any other piece of of paper I never signed.

His willingness to see the hypocrisy in the so-called "abolitionist" Republican Party was outstanding.

I definitely have a profound respect for Lysander Spooner. I most certainly have been influenced by his crushing criticism of social contract theory and legal positivism in "No Treason". He practically demolished the idea of a voluntary state in one swoop. "No Treason" applies even moreso today then it did back then, for many more generations have passed with the assumption that everyone is implictly agreeing to the constitution, and the document has become even more archiac then it was then. It's definitely a classic and must read for all libertarians.