It has been a project working in the back of my mind for forty years. I used to devour political literature, articles and podcasts with great pleasure while I was consuming them. Then, in between came periods of frustration because they were all just scattered pieces, it never add up. The puzzle-pieces never revealed a clear and simple picture.
Then I published the booklet “HoppeUnplugged”. Its purpose is to make the ideas of Prof. Hans Hermann Hoppe accessible to a broad audience because I believe that they have broad appeal, much beyond those who know his name, beyond the “libertarian bubble”. But how can I present the essence of his thinking politically neutral and appealing to a wide public? That’s when I decided to tackle the challenge to find a simple structure for political thinking and for structuring the topics in the most simple way I can imagine.
The pieces started falling into place while I re-read Hoppes book “A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism”.|
In the chapters he titles ”Socialism”, he dissects the logic of state actions, regardless of whether they are motivated by conservative, social democrat or communist ideas. This is the part where he looks onto the existing world.
In the other chapters, he goes beyond todays reality on Earth and constructs the workings of a stateless society. In particular, he describes the voluntary and contractual provision of the most basic state functions of law and order.
There it was, the distinction between analyzing the current world and envisioning a stateless society.
Now, for full disclosure: while I recommend this book as one of the best introductions to libertarian theory, Hoppe does not hold back with criticising all and everything about the states. Experience has shown, that his hard hitting logic is exciting for some and too much for others. There are other authors with other approaches, some of them mentioned throughout the website. Do not let yourself be turned off by the style or personal valuations of different authors. All of them have pearls of wisdom spread throughout their works. Think of it this way: you are exploring a new planet, a new continent. Go look for the places and travel reports that you like and forget the rest – for the moment.
The OboxPlanet is a structure for political thinking. It allows you to leave all political quarrelling “back in the box”. It serves as a platform for envisioning and exploring the possibilities of a society built on voluntary cooperation. By contemplating how things would function on the OboxPlanet, we can adopt a dispassionate yet discerning perspective when looking at our world today. This detachment allows for a greater sense of serenity, while the optimistic outlook stems from the realization that the solutions developed on the OboxPlanet can potentially be implemented on Earth. All it takes is that humans decide to do so.
I hope this structure will be as useful for you as it has been for me.
Thomas Jacob, initiator of the project
June 2023