From: E
Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2019 5:03 PM
To: [email protected]
Subject: do parents “own” children?

Walter:

I was hoping you would jump in on the Lew Rockwell blog on the “legal obligation to feed their children”.

My thoughts would be more towards Rothbard’s on no positive obligations. I tend to think that your idea of Guardianship makes sense here. If you don’t feed your children, then you should lose guardianship rights – different from ownership rights. If you don’t want to feed your children, then anyone who is willing to step up, should then be able to adopt your children our from under you.

And also, if nobody want’s your children, then you should be able to leave them to die – perhaps you should have to inform others of your decision to permit adopters to rescue the child before he/she dies.

But, I don’t believe we own our children.

Also, do you own a pet dog or are you a guardian? Must you feed your dog, or not torture it etc. Can you leave your dog in the desert to die?

Regards, E

Dear E:

In my view, libertarianism concerns itself only with intra human relationships, not human and animal. I think you can own your dog, cat, etc. If you torture your pet, you are really evil (I say this as a non libertarian), but not a criminal, and, the function of libertarianism is to distinguish the criminal from the noncriminal acts, not nice acts from truly heinous ones.

We fully agree on the children issue. Here are some of my publications on that topic:

Block, Walter E. 2014. “Rozeff on Zwolinski; Block on Rozeff.” April 28;

http://archive.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/rozeff-on-zwolinski-block-on-rozeff/ (starve child? Positive rights?).

Smith, Edward, Jordan Reel and Walter E. Block. 2014. “The Natural Rights of Children” International Journal of Health Policy and Management. Vol. 2, No. 2, February, pp. 85-89; http://www.ijhpm.com/?_action=article&vol=602

December 9, 2013. Debate: Walter E. Block and Stefan Molyneux, Freedomain Radio on spanking children. Michael DeMarco; [email protected]; skype: michaelmdemarco; 716-533-2171; Video: http://youtu.be/EgCmoVbdYtE

MP3: http://cdn.media.freedomainradio.com/feed/FDR_2552_Walter_Block_Debate.mp3

Block, Walter E. and Michael Fleischer. 2010. “How Would An Anarchist Society Handle Child Abuse?” October 13; http://archive.lewrockwell.com/block/block167.html

Block, Walter E. 2015. “Expiration of private property rights.” The Journal of Philosophical Economics. Vol. VIII, Issue 2, Spring; http://www.jpe.ro/?id=revista&p=410;

http://www.jpe.ro/pdf.php?id=7114

Block, Walter E. 2004. “Libertarianism, Positive Obligations and Property Abandonment: Children’s Rights,” International Journal of Social Economics; Vol. 31, No. 3, pp 275-286; http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContainer.do?containerType=Issue&containerId=18709; http://www.walterblock.com/wp-content/uploads/publications/block-children.pdf; https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/03068290410518256; https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/03068290410518256?fullSc=1&journalCode=ijse

Block, Walter E. 2003.  “Libertarianism vs. Objectivism; A Response to Peter Schwartz,” Reason Papers, Vol. 26, Summer, pp. 39-62; http://www.reasonpapers.com/pdf/26/rp_26_4.pdf  Nambla, child sexuality, child abuse

Block, Walter E. 1991 [1976]. Defending the Undefendable, New York: Fleet Press, first printing 1976, second printing 1980, third printing 1985; New York: Fox and Wilkes, fourth printing, 1991; chapter on “The Litterer” translated into Italian as “L’imbrattatore Di Luoghi Pubblici: Un Eroe”, in Claustrofobia, March 1978, No. 33, pp. 19-24; chapter on “The Employer of Child Labor” reprinted in Libertarian Familist, Vol. 11, No. 8, October 1992, pp. 1-4

April 27, 2015. Michael FreeMan [mailto:[email protected]]; Josh Davis;

https://plus.google.com/hangouts/_/hoaevent/AP36tYf_4FiPkEMZZUXkwGLSWokcvU1VB6JoPapQz1DLdLfXJFYM0Q?authuser=0&hl=en;  how I became a libertarian, minimum wage, the future of higher education, anarchism versus monarchism, children’s rights, pro choice versus pro life, kid’s rights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIwYRxVlKTQ; http://www.targetliberty.com/2015/05/walter-block-on-how-he-became.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TargetLiberty+%28Target+Liberty%29

Spanking children:

December 9, 2013. Debate: Walter Block and Stefan Molyneux, Freedomain Radio on spanking children. Michael DeMarco; [email protected]; skype: michaelmdemarco; 716-533-2171; Video: http://youtu.be/EgCmoVbdYtE;

MP3: http://cdn.media.freedomainradio.com/feed/FDR_2552_Walter_Block_Debate.mp3; http://libertariannerds.com/2016/11/19/wizardly-wisdom-reality-anxiety-ep-4-darien-sumner-from-bumblingbees-net/

Block, Walter E. 2016. Starving Child, Part III: Spanking Children; November 5;

Starving Child, Part III: Spanking Children

Mosquito, Bionic. 2016. “Walter Hits One Out of the Park.” November 5;

http://bionicmosquito.blogspot.com/2016/11/walter-hits-one-out-of-park.html

July 16, 2017. Vancouver, BC, Canada. Walter Block debates Tim Moen, Leader of the Canadian Libertarian Party. https://www.facebook.com/events/1800169280300222/

436 W Pender Street, downtown Vancouver at 2:30pm.  Topic: Is spanking children compatible with libertarianism? Contact: Victor Pross: [email protected]; or go here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1800169280300222/1831218550528628/?acontext=%7B%22ref%22%3A%2229%22%2C%22ref_notif_type%22%3A%22admin_plan_mall_activity%22%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D&notif_t=admin_plan_mall_activity&notif_id=1498028247599964. Open to the public. https://youtu.be/J6Kto38tk1I

July 21, 2013. Interview with Steve Patterson, FEE

http://libertariannerds.com/2016/11/19/wizardly-wisdom-reality-anxiety-ep-4-darien-sumner-

from-bumblingbees-net/

Best regards,

Walter

1:36 pm on April 15, 2019

The Best of Walter E. Block