Have You Ever Actually Thought About Anarchism?

It's difficult to state that you favour a stateless society (or dare I even use the 'A' word) in regular company because you'll be instantly dismissed as being some kind of nutter, and funnily enough the people who call you a nutter are the very ones who have never actually thought about anarchism seriously. Believe me I know what that's like, I once was that person dismissing anarchism with almost no thought as to how it could work. So what I want to do in this blog is to spell out the basics of why I'm proud to call myself an Anarchist.

 

Anything You Like...Just Not That
 

It seems that in Britain in 2014 were allowed to theorize endlessly about what kind of political system we'd like to have. There are the mainstream political parties who are basically on the same page about the big things like EU membership and feeding the military-industrial complex with constant wars. In fact whether it's the Conservatives, Labour, The SNP or the Liberal Democrats, the only difference between their governments is how they manage and implement the agenda. Vote for who you like, the agenda will just keep rolling on.

But maybe you think you've stepped out of the mainstream world and maybe you gravitate to the Socialist Workers Party or UKIP or the British National Party. That's fine, you can have the debate about which system would work better. Just as long as you start your argument from the premise “We need a state, the state exists. Now, how big or small is that state and how do we manage it?” That's why you have no serious anarcho-capitalists on television. The mainstream media wants you to think that anarchy is compete Mad-Max style chaos and anarchists are those people at protests who cover their faces with scarves and lob stuff at the police. I dunno, maybe those people have a firm grasp of Austrian economics, although I doubt it.

So the reason that anarchy seems so exotic and crazy is because people don't stop for a while to seriously consider it. Let me tackle the most basic questions that people ask me.

Q- If there was anarchy then would people not be killing and raping each other in the streets?

A- That would be true if your personal morals are based on the diktats of a group of largely immoral people calling themselves government. I don't believe that people are fundamentally evil and without a scalding Daddy government telling them what's right and wrong they'll just go mental.

Q- But you must admit that some people will want to rape and kill.

A- Of course but there are people that do it now do it in spite of laws. They don't care that it's illegal, if people want to do something they'll do it anyway regardless of what the law says.

Q- You're only championing this anarchy stuff because you want to do whatever the hell you like aren't you?

A- Yes, but by “whatever the hell I like” I don't mean raping or killing. I tend to abide by the non-aggression principle which clearly states that it is wrong to initiate aggression towards another person for no reason. What I do mean by “whatever the hell I like” is being able to choose what I spend my money on, to enter into voluntary contracts with people in my day-to-day life and even to smoke a joint while walking my dog in the park on a nice sunny day if I choose without being arrested or harassed by the governments goons.

Why Government Doesn't Work
 

Deep down everyone knows that government is violent, tyrannical, wasteful and extremely inefficient. People complain endlessly about government but seem to believe Winston Churchill when he said in a House of Commons speech on November 11, 1947 "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time." That really is the attitude I encounter from ordinary people, “It may be bad but it's the only way.” I feel that if I was in the House of Commons on that day (why would I be? But just play along at home for fun) I would have stood up and said “Could I suggest to the honourable gentleman that we just do away with government all together?” To which I'm sure I would have heard the thunderous laughter that some people still respond with when I advance that proposition. Ah, some things never change.

Okay, so let's use a silly example to show how inefficient government is at providing for the public. Suppose for example I want to buy a pair of shoes. Imagine that there exists a government entity called the NSC (National Shoe Company) who give out poor quality shoes for 'free' to the public. Maybe I don't want those shoes. Maybe I want to buy private shoes that are of a better quality but I can't afford it because there isn't much competition to the NSC because everyone has to pay for them anyway through their tax money. So we all have the same poor quality (but 'free') shoes. Now, it's a silly example but it does illustrate the fact that when government's provide things they are generally inferior to private goods. Why is this? Well, if you have a government monopoly then (we'll stick with the example) shoe's can be made however is cheapest really because there's no real competition or incentive to make high-quality footwear. But in a free market then you damn well better be sure that your footwear quality reflects your prices or people simply won't buy your shoes, they'll just buy better value for money shoes from someone else and you my friend will go right out of business (and you won't even get a bail-out).

What this example - silly as it is - shows is that when a monopoly that everyone has to pay for through tax exists then quality will suffer greatly. Now just think about this, the example I have given is about shoes but that's how our socialised health-care works. Something so unbelievably important compared to shoes. But people defend the line as it's fed to them by the government they proudly state that it as a “progressive step in the right direction.”

 

Taxation Is Theft
 

In my current job we get our wage slips on a Thursday and there's the usual moaning and groaning about the mythical tax man who's stolen a large chunk of everyone's hard-earned wages. Or when there's a bonus to be paid like at Christmas colleagues of mine will say things like “Yeah, it's meant to be £200 but it'll be much less once they tax the shit out of it.”

This attitude I agree with completely. But with the people I know who will bitch about tax, as soon as you suggest that we don't need to pay it at all they begin to say things like “Well, it's necessary isn't it? You have to pay for your services.” So, we're led into this Jekyll and Hyde thinking. It's like walking down a dark street at night and a mugger jumps out and demands all your money at knife-point. You rummage around in your pockets and find a £20 note. So you hand it over and the mugger runs off. A while later while passing a 24-hour garage you see the mugger inside and he sees you. He then walks out of the door and straight up to you and extending a hand says “Here, I bought you a train ticket home.” He took way more than the price of said train ticket, but at least you got something out of it, right? Wouldn't you love to know where the rest went?

Taxation is theft and violence because it is not voluntary. We are forced against our will to pay a gang of thugs money (sound like the Mafia extorting shopkeepers?) or else they'll show up at our door and haul us into a court room and if we still refuse they will imprison us against our will – an act of violence.

You, dear reader may be happy paying a chunk of your wages to pay for a crumbling health service, or the military so they can continue the murder of people in wars in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, or paying for MP's expense accounts and lavish lifestyles, or bailing out banks who can use whatever ridiculous business models they like as long as they line their own pockets before going cap-in-hand to daddy government or even a police force who will waste time and money arresting people for victimless crimes such as smoking a joint. Your tax money at work ladies and gentlemen!

Conclusion

Obviously theorizing about how a stateless society could function in minute detail is far, far beyond the scope of this blog but I hope you may be a little closer to peering behind the veil and seeing past the state's lies and propaganda. All I'm asking is that you give anarchist idea's some real thought instead of dismissing them straight away. You never know, the 'A' word might become one you use more often.

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