Should Libertarians Support Slavery?

Should those who call themselves “libertarians” object to people contracting themselves into slavery? If so, are they right? 

Libertarianism, Free States, and Oppressive States

I am not going to here portray the free state utopia of the libertarian imagination, but instead will explore the logic of the libertarianism, by testing its “free state” and “oppressive state” categories in extreme cases selected for the purpose of bringing the logic of the theory to the surface.

Libertarianism and Open Borders

There are some who think of themselves as Minimal Government Libertarians who nonetheless believe in restrictive immigration policy, or, at least, are perfectly happy to vote for politicians committed to such policies. On its face, this is inconsistent. Restrictive immigration is state use of force and coercion to keep people from going where they would go and from entering into labor contracts that both sides would enthusiastically execute. Libertarians are great friends of labor contracts, condemning such government interferences as minimum wage and overtime laws. You can’t have a free market in labor without open borders. So how can any libertarian have anything to do with a restrictive immigration policy?

Libertarian Island II: Individual Rights

In this second installment of the adventures of shipwrecked Libertarian Bob and Left Libertarian Ann somewhere in the south seas.

Choosing Libertarian Island

Shipwreck survivors on unknown islands are beloved by the writers of fiction, by cartoonists, and also by philosophers. Crawling up the beach on day on the island I have in mind were a "libertarian" Bob, and Ann,  who might, for want of a better label, be called a “left libertarian,” as will emerge. The pair were spotted by a stranger who helped them into the shade of the nearest palm.

Self-Ownership and Individual Rights

It has been said that all rights we have as human beings are rooted in individual self-ownership. If taken literally, and not as some sort of metaphor, this cannot be right.

Some talk suggesting self-ownership is the source of rights might be nothing more than rhetorical flourish, elaborating the observation that we have rights with respect, e.g., to our hands that are, in many respects, at least as strong as our rights with respect to our gloves. That I will not dispute. I here take issue only with those, perhaps few in number, who have been carried away and truly embrace the theory that the fundamental basis of individual rights is a property right of self-ownership