VIDEO: Helping People Without Coercion
Liberty on Tour investigates the St. Louis Bread Company’s awesome experiment in charity. Guess what? Turns out people really do care about each other and that we don’t need a violent monopoly to facilitate helping the poor:
Comments
18 Comments on VIDEO: Helping People Without Coercion
That is really awesome. Love what you guys are doing with your time away on MARV. Looking forward to more Liberty on Tour.
Cinnamon Crunch Bagel? BLASPHEMY.
Whatever happened to a good onion or salt bagel? Eh?!
I think that bit with depositing the Shire Silver in the collection box was absolutely brilliant! In fact I liked the entire video. Some folks are just so used to the idea of what they think is gooberment taking care of us that they never knew a time when private charity actually did do so and did it incredibly well.
I came up with an idea some time back for giving people an incentive to donate their time and/or funds to charity:
When you donate time or cash you get a receipt from a participating charity. You take that receipt to the local charity clearing house and present it to the volunteer staff. Depending on what level you gave (let the bean counters figure out the rewards) you receive coupons for certain percentages off a product or service, free goodies from restaurants, and other stuff.
If say the local gas or oil home fuel company clerk gets your ticket, you get maybe 15-20% (again, the charity bean counters get to figure out the actual amount you’d get) off your bill. Cable or satellite same deal 15-20%, Hannafords, Market Basket, Price Chopper, Walmart or Shaws same deal. Companies would have an incentive to take your discount tickets to get more customers in the door, especially in these hard economic times.
It could be used for many more goods and services than the ones I mentioned. Car inspection discounts, oil changes, computer parts & services, beauty salons & barber shops, you name it. This is also a chance for budding agorists to get their foot in the door as well.
In time this would also do something that has been long overdue, end gooberment charity and replace it with 100% voluntary charity.
The needy would be helped on many levels. They would get the good resources they would need. Families would learn to be more charitable, and the poor would get substantial discounts on goods and services. Everybody wins and nobody has a gun to their heads to cough up dough for a system that is at best, a sham. If you don’t want the discount, don’t take the discount tickets. If you do, then you end up saving a bunch of cash on things you need.
Brilliant Idea, Panera. Do this in my area, and I will eat there every day (and volunteer several hours a week)
Excellent video, guys. Now, I need to go buy some Shire Silver.
Anyone in Keene interested in Shire Silver and gold can contact me. I’ll be at the Live Free or Die Rally this weekend promoting it.
Yay, Shire Silver!
Yay, MARV!
Yay, Liberty on Tour!
These ideas need more exposure, and you all are great messengers.
Keep up the good work, and good works!
Great video, keep it up!
I agree that government “charity” is false philanthropy and should end; however, I fail to understand the love that people have for charity.
We are bombarded with charity guilt everywhere: church, the office, shopping malls, etc.. Frankly, I’m sick of it. I’m sick of being expected to work so that I can give my money to people I don’t know. Charity among friends and family is one thing. Blindly giving to strangers is another.
My grandmother used to say, “Offered services stink,” meaning people don’t appreciate what is just given to them. Recently, I came across the line, “Despise the free lunch”. That’s great. My favorite comes from a movie, Cocktail, I believe: “I’m my own favorite charity”!
If Gold is trading at $39.88/gram, why would I pay $29.00 for a half-gram card?
How is that at all in line with free market principles?
There’s lots of ways to help people without enabling dependency tripp. You can support charities that deal one on one with folks, to help them get on their feet — create jobs for them (even if they’re somewhat makeworkish), etc.
There are panhandlers who game people, but most of the people in need are genuine. A willingness to help others is essential to a healthy society. But, you’re right that the best kind of help is based on relationship, and community — neighbors, friends, family.
“I’m my own favorite charity”!
I couldn’t disagree with that sentiment more.
Paul,
I agree that a “willingness to help others is essential to a healthy society” and that working one on one to help a person get on his feet is a responsible way for both the giver and receiver to benefit. I believe the restaurant in the LOT video let’s people earn meals. That’s good.
I just think that Americans’ generosity is taken advantage of shamelessly by the government, churches, private charities, foreigners, etc. We are shamed into giving and giving and giving. I’ve had enough.
Regarding the idea of being your own favorite charity, I’m not sure why you so strongly disagree with it, but my point is that you must take care of yourself first. If you don’t take care of yourself, who will? Too many people pour themselves into charity work and neglect themselves and their family. For what? Life is short. Time is valuable. Your money represents your work (time, energy and skills). Make your use of those things counts. Why not make sure what you do is an investment in yourself and your family.
All the more reason why there should be a reward for charitable activity. If it is all voluntary, then the guilt should be just about gone from it.
If a bunch of agorists can be part of the people who receive more customers from discounts offered to the masses by folks that do charitable donations of time and/or money, then all the better. It should give them that needed boost to make them part of the competition against the fools that play gooberment’s game.
No guilt, just goods. How can anyone not like that?
“Turns out people really do care about each other and that we don’t need a violent monopoly to facilitate helping the poor”
While I completely agree with that statement, I would like to know if the kind of system that the Free Keene and “Free State” activists are working towards would promote this kind of altruism and solidarity. I’m not trying to troll anyone here (I saw Ridley’s latest video where the free talk live hosts mentioned the “anti-liberty trolls” on the FK blog), I would just like to sound off on this subject.
I agree that human beings are naturally altruistic. We wouldn’t have been able to survive as a species if we only acted out of self-interest. But the issue I want to address is the kind of social and economic system that the “liberty movements” in NH want to create, since so much of our views and behaviors are influenced by our material conditions and the kind of system we’re subjected to.
For example, if we build a system based on solidarity by building institutions that are participatory, democratic (where people have the most say in the issues that most effect them), and non-hierarchal (meaning: no bosses or landlords) we could succeed in creating a much more ethical and altruistic culture and a much better living standard. But this system would most likely mean the abolition of money, the market (replaced with a gift economy based on people’s needs instead of trying to sell them useless crap), rent, private property not intended for active personal use, usury, etc. etc. The best modern example which illustrates a society like this would be Catalonia from 1936-1939 where the Spanish labor unions succeeded in building this kind of society and as such created a change of culture.
Now, if we take the opposite direction and further the system we have now, which is based on greed and the love of material possessions, we will only create more greed and oppression and less solidarity. Oppression doesn’t just come from “the evil big government taking away your liberty” but also from the economic system and institutions in place (a good analysis: http://flag.blackened.net/daver/anarchism/bakunin/capstate.html). So in other words, unless FK and the FSP want to abolish the capitalist system and replace it with one based on workers’ self-management and people’s needs, don’t expect much liberty to come out of it.
Do whatever you’d like with my comment. Read it on the radio if you’d like and respond to it.
Great points, Chaz!!!
Julia, I look forward to living in a voluntary society, where your ideas can take place in parts and other ideas can take place in others. Quite frankly, if what you say will bring true freedom, I can’t see anyone not jumping on board after seeing such in action.
I know “let the market decide” is such a cop-out phrase lately, but it really isn’t. If the system that has no money seems to work for people who are using that sort of system, then you will have people joining you in it. If it doesn’t work so well, thankfully there will be other systems to take on.
Hey, Pete’s got Boob sweat!!
Julia, I do want to promote altruism and charity, strong communities where people genuinely look out for eachother’s interests. I also think there’s a valuable place for trade, though, and money is a good tool for that. Not the current money, which is manipulated and abused by government and bankers, mind you, but some medium of exchange.
But, as someone else said, any movement away from aggression and violence is worthy of support! For me, I guess my vision of society still includes neighbors trading with each other to an extent, but I support those who want to try alternatives too, like voluntary communes.
rent, private property not intended for active personal use
What’s wrong with these things? If you see that people need a place to rent, and you have the means to do so, why not build some apartments? If I’d rather pay my neighbor to use their property for a period of time, rather than pay a lot more money to own it outright, should we not be allowed to have this agreement?
There are lots of occasions when I’m glad of the opportunity to rent things.
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