Diamond-Michael Scott

Pullman porters worked punishing hours under segregation, but the job opened doors that were otherwise closed. Their wages, travel, networks, and organizing helped lift families and reshape Black America.

Bourdain saw what polished institutions often miss: people usually know how to make things work when they’re trusted to get on with it.

Digital money can still leave someone else holding the keys. Paul Puey asks a more basic question: who can stop you from using your own money?

Supply disruptions expose how much daily life depends on fragile networks. A resilient voluntary community needs more than ideology—it needs food systems, mutual aid, trusted institutions, and real ways to cooperate.

Cherry Creek North offers a real-world lesson in spontaneous order: loosen constraints, clarify the rules, and let builders, businesses, investors, and customers discover what works.

Shut out of Florida’s segregated galleries, the Highwaymen took their paintings to the road—building an art economy through ingenuity, voluntary exchange, and sheer adaptability.

Albert Jay Nock drew a sharp line between government and society. His challenge remains powerful—but self-government requires subjecting Nock’s own ideas to scrutiny too.

For generations, college was treated as the surest path to a good life. But as costs rise and alternatives multiply, the four-year degree is beginning to look less like a necessity and more like one choice among many.

AI can put extraordinary capabilities in the hands of ordinary people. But as governments and corporations determine what these systems may say and do, the struggle over AI is increasingly becoming a struggle over individual control.

A liberal arts education was never meant to train workers. It was meant to cultivate free minds. Drawing on Adam Smith, Thoreau, Mill, and Taoist philosophy, this essay argues that genuine self-government begins with learning to think for yourself rather than inheriting someone else's conclusions.

Anarchism once seemed synonymous with violence and disorder. A closer look at Lao Tzu, Emma Goldman, and Robert LeFevre reveals a philosophy centered not on destroying order, but on locating legitimate authority within the individual.

After a mysterious illness followed six travel vaccines, former Apple executive Alix Mayer spent thirteen years searching for answers. Her journey from patient to plaintiff became a broader fight over bodily autonomy, informed consent, and the principle of self-ownership.

A chance conversation in a Denver bar introduced the author to agorism, but it took years to realize the philosophy already described the life he was living. Along the way, the writings of Samuel Konkin, Lao Tzu, and Murray Rothbard converged around a shared idea: freedom is practiced through voluntary cooperation, not granted by permission.

True freedom begins with examining the assumptions we rarely question. This reflection explores self-government, authenticity, and the courage to choose differently.

Why did a $48 dry-cleaning bill feel outrageous while a $61 meal felt worthwhile? A personal story explores free markets, value, choice, and voluntary exchange.

Juneteenth marks the final enforcement of emancipation in Texas and celebrates the long struggle for Black freedom in America.

What if many of society’s problems are caused by too much intervention? Lao Tzu’s “small fish” offers a timeless lesson in self-government.

Tom Wheelwright explains how taxes erode wealth, why high earners are fleeing certain states, and how to legally keep more of what you earn.

Endless scrolling is replacing real connection. A growing analog revival shows people choosing presence, conversation, and self-governance over screens.

U.S. healthcare isn’t failing from too much market—it’s the wrong kind. Real competition on outcomes could lower costs, raise quality, and expand access.