Forum libero

Excerpts from The Ethics of Liberty by Murray N. Rothbard of the Ludwig Von Mises Institute
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"When, or in what way, does a growing child acquire his natural right to liberty and self-ownership? Gradually, or all at once? At what age? And what criteria do we set forth for this shift or transition?...

Even from birth, the parental ownership is not absolute but of a 'trustee' or guardianship kind. In short, every baby as soon as it is born and is therefore no longer contained within his mother's body possesses the right of self-ownership by virtue of being a separate entity and a potential adult. It must therefore be illegal and a violation of the child's rights for a parent to aggress against his person by mutilating, torturing, murdering him, etc."

"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 rights of children, even more than those of parents, have been systematically invaded by the state. Compulsory school attendance laws, endemic in the United States since the turn of this century, force children either into public schools or into private schools officially approved by the state. Supposedly 'humanitarian' child labor laws have systematically forcibly prevented children from entering the labor force, thereby privileging their adult competitors. Forcibly prevented from working and earning a living, and forced into schools which they often dislike or are not suited for, children often become 'truants,' a charge used by the state to corral them into penal institutions in the name of 'reform' schools, where children are in effect imprisoned for actions or non-actions that would never be considered 'crimes' if committed by adults."

"[The Illinois Bill of Rights...declares that] 'all men are, by nature, free and independent, and have certain inherent and inalienable rights — among these life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' This language is not restrictive; it is broad and comprehensive, and declares a grand truth, that 'all men,' all people, everywhere, have the inherent and inalienable right to liberty. Shall we say to the children of the State, you shall not enjoy this right — a right independent of all human laws and regulations? Even criminals cannot be convicted and imprisoned without due process of law."