By: Gary D. Barnett
“Anarchism is not a romantic fable but the hardheaded realization, based on five thousand years of experience, that we cannot entrust the management of our lives to kings, priests, politicians, generals, and county commissioners.”
~ Edward Abbey
What Anarchy Is:
I tire of constantly having to explain what anarchy is and what it is not. I tire of having to explain our language to those who seem never to have the time or inclination to study and learn it on their own, and without prejudice. Words mean things, and cannot be arbitrarily changed, or altered to suit a mood, an agenda, or be used improperly in order to create out of thin air, a State or political narrative, or to advance any particular agenda. To begin my comments, I will clarify that the word anarchy simply means no rule – no rulers, and therefore, no master or government; period. With that, we can begin to examine the complete bastardization, purposeful and misleading I might add, of this grand and liberating idea that is anarchy. From any moral perspective, no human has any ‘right’ whatsoever, to rule over or enslave another, so no ‘right’ exists that could allow one to delegate any ‘right’ to another to ‘legally’ rule or enslave, yet that is exactly what all government claims’ as its right’ to do.
First, it is imperative to stress that true anarchy is not a political system, a political party, a system of ‘rule’ for nation-states, and it cannot be achieved for extreme collectives, especially entire states and nations. It is simply independent rule of self without any force against another. This can be accomplished locally, or can be achieved by any freedom oriented group of individuals in a larger setting. This is why secession at every level from any master/slave relationship, such as all government and State authoritative structures, is critical if true freedom is desired. Anarchy is not for everyone, it is only appropriate for those who desire and understand personal responsibility, and are willing to practice self-rule and non-aggression. Anarchy can only exist in a free society, because everyone and every like-thinking group should be able to govern themselves, but also allow others to have any type of system or not, that they desire, so long as they never attempt to force their political system on others. That is an honest voluntary system.
In other words, all should be able to live their preferred life without interference from anyone or any entity, but leave all others to enjoy that same freedom. In an environment such as this, multiple political systems along with anarchy, could co-exist peacefully, so long as total freedom of the individual was the rule, and absolutely no force or aggression was present by any opposing organized political scheme. But in such an setting, no State or nation could survive as an overall political structure, since the State only exists due to extreme force, violence, and rule over others, which is the antithesis of freedom. Basically then, all states, nations, and ruling classes, would disappear if the value of anarchism were known and accepted by the masses.
If the country were split into anarchial units, such as could happen with mass and major secession, but the State survived in part, it is almost a certainty that conflict would result. This conflict would not be due to those who gained their freedom due to self-rule, but would always be pursued by the surviving State’s attempts to gain universal control. Therefore, since the State as a political structure is always aggressive, its elimination is necessary for liberty to reign supreme.
As Murray Rothbard explained in Libertarian Forum v. 1, p. 535:
… I define an anarchist society as one where there is no legal possibility for coercive aggression against the person or property of any individual. Anarchists oppose the State because it has its very being in such aggression, namely, the expropriation of private property through taxation, the coercive exclusion of other providers of defense service from its territory, and all of the other depredations and coercions that are built upon these twin foci of invasions of individual rights.
What Anarchy Is Not:
If one is to go to most any modern dictionary, or look at dictionary synonyms, the list is common. The synonyms used to describe anarchy are: chaos, confusion, disorder, lawlessness, nihilism, rebellion, riot, turmoil, disorganization, insurrection, mutiny, revolution, tumult, mobocracy, mob rule, non-government, reign of terror, and unrest. Only one of these terms is correct; all the others are false, and have been intentionally manufactured to change the true meaning of anarchy. Non-government (no government) is the only correct synonym used, but all other descriptions are what most any would not only find if searching for the meaning of anarchy, but what they would also believe. Of course, few would search out the true meaning by going to the Greek root system of our language, and of course, that is by design as well. Why else do ‘public’ (government controlled ) schools (government indoctrination training centers) exist?
The control and manipulation of language has reached an offensive pinnacle in this ‘modern’ day and age. Much, if not a major portion of our language, has been decimated, altered, bastardized, and false meanings entrenched in the minds of the indoctrinated and brainwashed common proletariat. This is a designed plot meant to create dishonest revision and confusion, in order to more easily manage the collective herd. With the vast communication networks today, and a government-controlled massive media propaganda machine, this deceit concerning the meaning of things, has become a weapon against individual intellect, and therefore, the result has been the intentional dumbing down of society as a whole. No good can come from this deception by the State.
To understand what anarchy is not, can lead to an awakening by large numbers, as to what anarchy really is, but the lies perpetrated by the State will be aggressively defended by the entire ruling class and their corrupt and immoral enforcers called police and military. The most dangerous problem with society today is due to dependence on the State for nearly every aspect of their lives. Dependence leads to obedience, and obedience to a false authority such as government, leads directly to enslavement. This cannot be argued, and any assessment of our current tyrannical situation, can be traced precisely back to dependence on government instead of self. This paradigm is the exact opposite of any idea of liberty, and the epitome of the destruction of the individual and self-rule.
Overview:
Anyone who seeks relief from totalitarian rule by use of any political process or system, is completely lost in a sea of insanity and madness. The epitome of rule lies in obedience and voluntary compliance by those subjects of the State. Those subjects are any and all who believe in, allow, approve, condone, worship, or participate in, any State system or government that survives by a top-down ruling structure. Any rule of one monarch or any oligarchy over any other is absolutely immoral. No politician, no political party, no government, no president, no congress, no ‘democracy,’ no ‘republic,’ or any other insane power and control system, can exist if freedom is to be achieved. Only anarchy, self-rule; of, by, and for the individual, can co-exist with liberty.
Voting therefore, whether for republican, democrat, independent, Libertarian, or any other flawed system relying on government, is the death knell of freedom, for it is an admission that a master or ruling class, is necessary in order for societal harmony and freedom to prevail. In fact, rule (government) is the very reason that chaos, theft of property, corruption, coercion, violence, incarceration, torture, murder, war, and collective enslavement, can and will always exist in any environment other than anarchy.
Remember, when you elect, select, or allow another human or group of humans, (supposed ‘representatives’) who are just like all others, except in the case of politicians, who are the worst of mankind, psychopathic in fact, to lord over and control you, you have given up your individuality and your freedom. If you accept this lot in life, you do not even deserve the freedom that you naturally possessed when you were born!
“Order derived through submission and maintained by terror is not much of a safe guaranty; yet that is the only ‘order’ that governments have ever maintained.”
~ Emma Goldman, Anarchism and Other Essays
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