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PaperclipPerfector  6d ago (text post)   23856 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 2, 2026

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I think there should be the ability for smart 15-year-olds to become emancipated in cases where their parents lack ability, are abusive, or are just too different from their own tastes.

Libertarian discussion of this idea

But when are we to say that this parental trustee jurisdiction over children shall come to an end? Surely any particular age (21,18, or whatever) can only be completely arbitrary. The clue to the solution of this thorny question lies in the parental property rights in their home. For the child has his full rights of self-ownership when he demonstrates that he has them in nature—in short, when he leaves or “runs away” from home. Regardless of his age, we must grant to every child the absolute right to run away and to find new foster parents who will voluntarily adopt him, or to try to exist on his own. Parents may try to persuade the runaway child to return, but it is totally impermissible enslavement and an aggression upon his right of self-ownership for them to use force to compel him to return. The absolute right to run away is the child’s ultimate expression of his right of self-ownership, regardless of age.

The absolute right to run away is the child’s ultimate expression of his right of self-ownership, regardless of age.

So, 5 years old who leaves home to move in with nice uncle who promises him as much chocolate as he wants to eat, is adult citizen with full rights, while 50 years old who is living with mom is still legally a baby?

Very cool. Misesistan is going to be interesting place. Perhaps not to live in, but certainly to watch from the other side of the world.

For what it's worth I don't think Ludwig von Mises would have supported this. Mises Institute's Mises is really Murray Rothbard wearing a Mises mask.

The problem is that libertarianism is a fundamentally lazy attempt to systematize and plan social structure. The problem with this plan for children is that parents are adapted to maximize their childrens' fertility. Understanding how exactly this works gets into a ton of math and science very quickly, and that's where the NAP writer checks out.

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