Little Phantom Millworks & Company   To understand Little Phantom Millworks and the premise under which it conducts its private affairs it is necessary to understand its philosophy.  Below is a dissertation based upon the writings of Ken Schooland in his book, The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible, that should explain it quite well.  One exception should be noted, Jonathan's words are in the color green, any alternative word preferred by Little Phantom Millworks will follow the subject word in red. Click HERE to view a Flash Animation based on this philosophy Please Note:  The Flash Animation presentation currently does not work with some versions of Internet Explorer; Version 6 is one that does not work, but it seems to work OK with Netscape and Versions of IE prior to 5.0.  Problem appears to be with security updates of Windows and/or Internet Explorer and is being investigated.  If you find a solution please let me know by email and I will make appropriate adjustments. My philosophy is based on self-ownership.  You own your life.  To deny this is to imply that another person [man] has a higher claim on your life than you do.  No other person [man], or group of persons [men], owns your life nor do you own the life of others. You exist in time: future, present and past.  This is manifest in life, liberty and the product of your life and liberty.  The exercise of choices over life and liberty is your prosperity.  To lose your life is to lose your future.  To lose your liberty is to lose your present.  And to lose the product of your life and liberty is to lose the portion of your past that produced it.  A product of your life and liberty is your property.  Property is: the fruit of your labor, the product of your time, energy and talent.  It is that part of nature that you turn to valuable use; and the property of others that is given to you by voluntary exchange and mutual consent.  Two people who exchange property voluntarily are both better off, or they would not do it.  Only they may rightfully make that decision for themselves. At times some people use force or fraud to take from others without their willful, voluntary consent.  Normally, the initiation of force to take life is murder, to take liberty is slavery, and to take property is theft.  It is the same whether these actions are done by one person [man] acting alone, by the many acting against a few, or even by officials with fine hats and titles. You have the right to protect your own life, liberty, and justly acquired property from the forceful aggression of others; so, you may rightfully ask others to protect you, but you do not have the right to initiate force against the life, liberty, or property of others; thus, you have no right to designate some person [man] to initiate force against others on your behalf. You have the right to seek leaders for yourself, but you have no right to impose rules on others.  No matter how officials are selected, they are only human beings [men] and they have no rights or claims that are higher than those of any other human beings [men].  Regardless of the imaginative labels for their behavior or the numbers of people encouraging them, officials have no right to murder, to enslave, or to steal.  You can not give them any rights that you do not have yourself. Since you own your life, you are responsible for your life.  You do not rent your life from others who demand your obedience.  Nor are you a slave to others who demand your sacrifice.  You choose your own goals based on your own values.  Success and failure are both the necessary incentives to learn and to grow.  Your action on behalf of others, or their action on behalf of you, is only virtuous when it is derived from voluntary, mutual consent.  For virtue can only exist when there is free choice. This is the basis of a truly free society.  It is not only the most practical and humanitarian foundation for human action, it is also the most ethical. Problems that arise from the initiation of force by government have a solution.  The solution is for people of the world to stop asking officials to initiate force on their behalf.  Evil does not arise only from evil people, but also from good people who tolerate the initiation of force as a means to their own ends.  In this manner, good people have empowered evil throughout history. Having confidence in a free society is to focus on the process of discovery in the marketplace of values rather than to focus on some imposed vision or goal.  Using governmental force to impose a vision on others is intellectual sloth and typically results in unintended, perverse consequences.  Achieving the free society requires courage to think, to talk, and to act responsibly, especially when it is easier to do nothing.