People argue with me all the time about anarchy. A lot of people can’t get over the erroneous dictionary definition equating anarchy with chaos. Anarchy means the absence of government, the absence of state. I ask you…do bad people stop doing bad things because there are laws against them? do good people need laws to behave ethically? I realize that lawmaking is not the sole function of government, but that is the reason most people give when I ask why they don’t think anarchy could work. I guess that a lot of people would rather have organized criminals in charge of everything instead of the Road Warrior future most imagine when thinking of anarchy. Ah well. But I will say this. My main reason for being an anarchist is that people who want authority over others rarely, if ever, have the best interest of those they rule over at heart. OK, to be technical I really believe I am a social libertarian, but we don’t really have that in the US. It’s really a european concept that grew out of the anarchist movement there, but I can still like it.
Do you also believe that ones only interest should be themselves and those things that are personally beneficial? That is, as I understand, a component of the concept. I would be hesitant to align myself personally with anarchist (or true libertarians, tbh) since I find the long term impacts to be unsustainable.
no, absolutely not. I suppose that is why I really identify as more social libertarian than say, objectivist, which really IS self interest only, the only time I’ve felt I had more in common with hard line republicans than someone else in the room was when I met some objectivists. I base a lot of my belief that people can be autonomous on the fact that I have experience as an unschooling parent and have seen what people act like when they aren’t raised in a competitive, punitive environment. I realize it will be a long time, if ever, before the human race has reached the point where anarchy would be a viable option for us. Too many people are engaged in competitive, alpha type behavior for the rest of us to just relax and live. I just like talking about it because if we don’t, how can we ever imagine it into reality?
oh, and also, I think we need to make sure that people realize we are a social animal and that what is good for the species as a whole actually IS in the best interest of the individual too. Too many people hear me say that and cry “socialist”…I don’t really think it’s socialist to believe that everyone should have enough to eat and a decent place to live and medical care. That’s just common sense. What harms our species is the fact that we are all TOO self interested, and that we have created a way for some people to hoard so much wealth that it impoverishes others.