My response to the false idea that anarchy...a society based on voluntary interaction, without the need for the state, for a ruling class...is simply an unrealistic fantasy: The overall arc of human history so far has been towards a higher standard of living/material prosperity and towards MORE freedom for a greater and greater percentage of the human population over time. Now ,granted, in the path of that arc there are many disheartening instances of two steps forward, one step back cycles...for example, American colonists throw off the yoke of the most powerful empire on Earth at the time only to continue the practice of direct human slavery and also go on to brutalize the indigenous population of their new land...Americans put an end to direct slavery only to enhance federal power and trade direct slavery over one race for indirect slavery over all...until just over two centuries later what began, ostensibly, as a bold new experiment in human freedom, in a government supposedly limited to protecting the rights of the individual, has grown into NOT ONLY the most powerful empire of its time, but the most powerful empire of ALL TIMES yet seen by man. But still, even in the face of every war, of every overreaching law, of every case of those who stood up to institutionalized injustice only to be crushed under its boot heel...the evidence is undeniable...people generally WANT freedom and little by little, down through the ages, they win back more and more of it from the clutches of those who would take that birthright. History shows, again and again, that every state and every empire inevitably collapses. And it is because of these lessons of history, that we who would advance the cause of individual liberty should view all the states that have existed throughout history, indeed the very CONCEPT of states and rulers, as simply one metaphorical state itself on a macro scale, that has extended its empire over centuries, over millenia, falsely convincing the minds of generation after generation of countless billions of its benevolence and necessity, until just like any actual state, it grows so large it becomes unsustainable and intolerable and collapses to dust. The gatekeepers of society are already perilously staring into the abyss of their own obsolescence. The creation and widespread adoption and usage of the internet, for instance, may one day in the future be seen as the single most revolutionary paradigm shift in human history. We arent beholden solely to the mainstream oligarch controlled media anymore for all our information...most people you know and that I know can, if they wish, simply REACH INTO THEIR OWN POCKET and start searching for real answers to what troubles them about the world, can find and network with like-minded free-thinkers. New technologies like 3d printing(3d printed handguns anyone?), new energy sources, medical breakthroughs and more have the potential to further loosen the grip that tyrants can extend over the rest of us. Im not saying it is likely to be an easy road...Im not saying you and I will definitely see it within our lifetimes, and yes, I can even concede that it MIGHT never happen...but a voluntary society is NOT an unattainable pipe dream.
Posted on: Fri, 03 Oct 2014 08:06:14 +0000
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