Carl Watner is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 author and historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

 of libertarian

Libertarianism

Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...

 studies, and a voluntaryist

Voluntaryism

Voluntarism, or voluntaryism, is a philosophy according to which all forms of human association should be voluntary. This moral principle is called the non-aggression principle, which prohibits the initiation of aggressive force or coercion...

. He has written articles for Reason magazine, The Libertarian Forum, and The Journal of Libertarian Studies

Journal of Libertarian Studies

The Journal of Libertarian Studies is a scholarly journal published annually by the Ludwig von Mises Institute and Lew Rockwell. It was established in the spring of 1977 by Murray Rothbard who also served as its editor until his death in 1995...

.

He publishes and edits The Voluntaryist newsletter since 1982. The Voluntaryist promotes libertarian economics

Economics

Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...

, abstention from voting

Voting

Voting is a method for a group such as a meeting or an electorate to make a decision or express an opinion—often following discussions, debates, or election campaigns. It is often found in democracies and republics.- Reasons for voting :...

, nonviolence

Nonviolence

Nonviolence has two meanings. It can refer, first, to a general philosophy of abstention from violence because of moral or religious principle It can refer to the behaviour of people using nonviolent action Nonviolence has two (closely related) meanings. (1) It can refer, first, to a general...

, and abolition of the state through conscious non-cooperation. The libertarian philosophy of the late Robert LeFevre

Robert LeFevre

Robert LeFevre was an American libertarian businessman, radio personality, and primary theorist of autarchism.-Early life:...

, of whom he was a student, was influential in Watner's intellectual development. In addition to writing articles for The Voluntaryist, Watner researches and writes about historical libertarian texts. Murray Rothbard

Murray Rothbard

Murray Newton Rothbard was an American author and economist of the Austrian School who helped define capitalist libertarianism and popularized a form of free-market anarchism he termed "anarcho-capitalism." Rothbard wrote over twenty books and is considered a centrally important figure in the...

 credited Watner for "uncovering an unknown work by the great Lysander Spooner

Lysander Spooner

Lysander Spooner was an American individualist anarchist, political philosopher, Deist, abolitionist, supporter of the labor movement, legal theorist, and entrepreneur of the nineteenth century. He is also known for competing with the U.S...

, one that managed to escape the editor of Spooner's Collected Works" entitled "Vices are not Crimes." His work has been discussed and cited by Roderick Long

Roderick Long

Roderick Tracy Long is a professor of philosophy at Auburn University and libertarian anarchist blogger. He also serves as a senior scholar for the Ludwig von Mises Institute, an editor of the Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, director and president of the Molinari Institute, and an advisory panel...

, David Gordon

David Gordon (philosopher)

David Gordon is a libertarian philosopher and intellectual historian influenced by Rothbardian views of economics. He is a senior fellow at the Ludwig von Mises Institute and editor of "The Mises Review."...

 of the Ludwig von Mises Institute

Ludwig von Mises Institute

The Ludwig von Mises Institute , based in Auburn, Alabama, is a libertarian academic organization engaged in research and scholarship in the fields of economics, philosophy and political economy. Its scholarship is inspired by the work of Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises...

, and other scholars.

Books

• Editor. I Must Speak Out: The Best of the Voluntaryist 1982-1999. Fox & Wilkes, 1999.
• Businessmen Versus Neocheaters. Neo-Tech Publishing, 1986.
• Your Document for the Use of Silence as the Ultimate Protector of Individual Rights. The Zon Association., 1984
• with McElroy, W.
  Wendy McElroy
  Wendy McElroy is a Canadian individualist anarchist and individualist feminist. She was a co-founder along with Carl Watner and George H. Smith of The Voluntaryist in 1982.-Sex-positive:...
  
   Dissenting Electorate: Those Who Refuse to Vote and the Legitimacy of Their Opposition. McFarland & Company, 2004.
• with McElroy, W.
  Wendy McElroy
  Wendy McElroy is a Canadian individualist anarchist and individualist feminist. She was a co-founder along with Carl Watner and George H. Smith of The Voluntaryist in 1982.-Sex-positive:...
  
   National Identification Systems: Essays in Opposition. McFarland & Company, 2004.
• Robert LeFevre: "Truth Is Not a Half-way Place". The Voluntaryists, 1988.
• Toward a Proprietary Theory of Justice. Watner, 1976.
• Neither Bullets Nor Ballots. The Voluntaryists, 1983.

External links

• Voluntaryist.Com Voluntaryist writings featuring essays by Carl Watner
• The Voluntaryist Website for newsletter edited by Carl Watner espousing voluntaryism
  Voluntaryism
  Voluntarism, or voluntaryism, is a philosophy according to which all forms of human association should be voluntary. This moral principle is called the non-aggression principle, which prohibits the initiation of aggressive force or coercion...