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At their very simplest, anarchist beliefs turn on to two elementary assumptions. The first is that human beings are, under ordinary circumstances, about as reasonable and decent as they are allowed to be, and can organize themselves and their communities without needing to be told how. The second is that power corrupts. Most of all, anarchism is just a matter of having the courage to take the simple principles of common decency that we all live by, and to follow them through to their logical conclusions. Odd though this may seem, in most important ways you are probably already an anarchist — you just don’t realize it.
Most anarchists start with beliefs like these ime. He makes a kind of naive argument using the socratic method, as pro-state beliefs mostly appear when asking questions about coordinating at scale, but he takes a small stab at that near the end:
Now, you might object that all this is well and good as a way for small groups of people to get on with each other, but managing a city, or a country, is an entirely different matter. And of course there is something to this. Even if you decentralize society and put as much power as possible in the hands of small communities, there will still be plenty of things that need to be coordinated, from running railroads to deciding on directions for medical research. But just because something is complicated does not mean there is no way to do it democratically. It would just be complicated. In fact, anarchists have all sorts of different ideas and visions about how a complex society might manage itself. To explain them though would go far beyond the scope of a little introductory text like this. Suffice it to say, first of all, that a lot of people have spent a lot of time coming up with models for how a really democratic, healthy society might work; but second, and just as importantly, no anarchist claims to have a perfect blueprint. The last thing we want is to impose prefab models on society anyway. The truth is we probably can’t even imagine half the problems that will come up when we try to create a democratic society; still, we’re confident that, human ingenuity being what it is, such problems can always be solved, so long as it is in the spirit of our basic principles — which are, in the final analysis, simply the principles of fundamental human decency.
Anarchism working at scale seems undecided to me. One thing I am decided on, however, is that better coordination tech will make scaling anarchism better whether anarchism is feasible today or not.
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Anarchism is one of the most misunderstood philosophies. Even more than libertarianism. I see a massive difference in response when I describe it vs use the label. Most think of masked men throwing molitov cocktails. Over the years I have found many anarchists through the years and they are not throwing anything. Cool people. Smart people. Curious people. People that look at the world and think something is not right.
The shortest explainion I like is "No rulers, not no rules".
I may not fit the mold but I agree with most anarchists on most things. As a Christian this puts me in a special category with my brothers in Christ. But there have been many Christian anarchists through the years. It aligns just fine with Jesus teaching IMO.
I often tell my fellow believers I have "no King but Christ". The modern state seems to me to be a religious system of its own. But that's a whole over topic.
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It's interesting that on the scale people are familiar with and understand, they accept that you don't need someone bossing everyone around under threat of violence.
It's only when they start abstracting to levels they don't understand and aren't familiar with that they lose confidence in people's ability to coordinate and cooperate.
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It's only when they start abstracting to levels they don't understand and aren't familiar with that they lose confidence in people's ability to coordinate and cooperate.
I guess that's not surprising, but it is mighty interesting. "I don't understand this thing, so let's impose structures I do understand." (Or, "that I think I understand.")
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Totally. Tech has definitely reduced the optimal size of everything, so yeah why not governance too.
This resonates with me personally:
Most of all, anarchism is just a matter of having the courage to take the simple principles of common decency that we all live by, and to follow them through to their logical conclusions. Odd though this may seem, in most important ways you are probably already an anarchist — you just don’t realize it.
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19 sats \ 1 reply \ @Shugard 24 Dec
Most people don't understand anarchism, they often misunderstand it as chaos or violence, but it is fundamentally about self-organization, voluntary cooperation, and resisting the corrupting influence of power. That's the self-responsibility we should all strive for!
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The state is violence. Anarchism is the opposite of that.
People throwing Molotov cocktails are competing with the state.
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45 sats \ 1 reply \ @siggy47 24 Dec
A good book to explore:
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Ordered, whatever happens next is on you bucko xDDD
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I really started warming up to anarchism lately, the more I get into bitcoin, the more reason I find to hate the government.
Here's where I take issue, and please someone correct me if I'm wrong, I honestly enjoy learning.
Wouldn't an anarchist society ways be in danger of being overrun by a neighbor with a government. The neighbor can print unlimited fiat and steal as much as they want through inflation, how does an anarchist society compete with an authoritarian government?
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It doesn't IMO, that's the whole point, people would just be able to opt-out their current system, otherwise it's not just a matter of using fiat but of being prisoners.
And when it comes to security, an anarchist society must be able to defend itself and there are different ways to achieve that I believe.
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I consider myself a voluntarist. We are about the same as anarchists because neither of us believes that he state is good for anything besides theft, murder and kidnapping. People can handle all of it privately on a voluntary basis. Justice can even be meted out by the voluntarism principles. The non aggression principle is one of the bedrocks of both. Well, perhaps voluntarism is the same as anarchism (but anarchists have a really bad rep).
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I also like the voluntarist label and use it often. One of the reasons I like it is that people don't already have a sense of what it is, so they have to actually think about my description of it.
I'd say it's a sub-category of anarchism. There are anarchists who are fine with violent expropriation and "voluntarism" sets us apart from them.
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Yes, there are all too many people who did their murder that got classified as “Anarchist” for my tastes. Also, the NAP is a very strong feature in workable societies, but not the state. FTS!!
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31 sats \ 1 reply \ @galt 13h
In anarchy, there are rules but no rulers, meaning that nobody is above the law which is unlike our current system where being part of the government gives licence to break them all (e.g., lie, steal, kill...)
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This is one of the reasons I like the idea of anarchy. The people around you can enforce any rules that are being broken the way they decide is just. I know in some places being ostracized is an almost fatal outcome, but people will do it when rules are broken.
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Anarchists are usually the people on the wrong side of power and are being oppressed in some way.. I remember being told a long time ago that during ww2, the resistance movement were anarchists. Makes you think for a minute.
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20 sats \ 1 reply \ @Skipper 24 Dec
people on the wrong side of power
What does this mean?
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Usually it means people who oppose the government.
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Anarchism working at scale seems undecided to me.
At the very least because, whatever its virtues, part of "working at scale" is being able to thrive in an ecosystem of that scale. If you have a system that is fantastic but can't defend itself or propagate itself vs competing systems, then it's not fantastic. Or rather, it is, literally, fantastic: it is a fantasy that the thing can work in the real world, whatever its theoretical properties.
That's my critique against most speculative philosophies in a nutshell, including anarchism. That's my critique against most things, in fact.
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Only the real, only what you can see, not what people may think is a better alternative because it is just “fantasy”. I think that we are now living in someone’s fantasy world and moving towards something that was only a fantasy in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
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You know what's crazy to me? People might disagree on the solution, that's fine, but disagreeing with the problem anarchism is trying to solve doesn't reasonable.
As with all ideologies, it might even have a theoretical literature and everything, but enduring the test of modern times will inevitably make it evolve or die in the process.
In other words, unless we become anarchists we won't really know what works and what doesn't beyond theory. Well, that's not entirely true, Bitcoin let us opt-out a part of society we dislike and disagree right now.
One thing I am decided on, however, is that better coordination tech will make scaling anarchism better whether anarchism is feasible today or not.
Fully agree with @k00b here, we'll build the tech (or as much of it we can anyway) but it will be our descendants who will actually put it to practice, it will be up to them if they want to try living differently or not, but they will have the option as a gift from us.
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"do it democratically"
"a really democratic, healthy society"
"no anarchist claims to have a perfect blueprint"
"principles of fundamental human decency"
This guy sounds more utopian than an anarchist
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Javier Milei will show to the world that Anarcho Capitalism works in practice and at large scale. His beginning is just paving the way for a global renew
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I don’t quite think that an Anarcho-Capitalist would be the man in charge of the state in any country. He may be something else but, I think not an A-C.
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i agree, we can't fit AnarCap into existing power structures, one of the key principles is Rejection of the state, Milei is still part of the state
Milei would need to somehow devour the system from within-not just nibble at the edges, but go all in and replace the old with the new.
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He says he despises the state and among his plans are cutting 90% of all taxes, a 90% ancap will lead us into 100% Anarcho capitalism still, we just need the results to speak by themselves
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To be honest, I'm not optimistic, it's a tight timeframe, and even if he does succeed, it's one election awayy from a leftist candidate winning and somehow roll back all his progress
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if you let people vote, it will always lead to: less freedoms, less privacy, higher taxes, bigger gov
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I’m not sure of that, but I agree with Bastiat: The state is everyone trying to live at the expense of everyone else.
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that would never happen in "our democracy" based on "fundamental human decency"
<cough, cough>
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Wow, I just broke out with whooping cough!
I agree with that one. The lefty/Marxist/socialist/communist/murderers just have to rouse the populace’s envy and greed and they are off to the races again. Until we find a way to defeat envy and greed, nothing will change. Perhaps the only way to defeat envy and greed is to have abundance of everything. Then, we would only have greed for power to deal with.
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10% is 10%! If I were to put a gun to your head and demand 10% of your property, would that be ancap? I don’t think so.
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Well I already have a gun on my head that says pay 50% tax, 10% of my property is as ancap as it gets! And that was deemed impossible until the Milei phenomenon, in the future 100% ancap will be the new normal
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The only change is the slave collar you wear is slightly smaller and lighter. However, the slave collar is still firmly attached to you and locked around your neck.
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If everyone feels a lighter and smaller collar at the same time, they will want even less of it, this is why I believe Milei will pave the way to 100% freedom if his project succeeds, most people don't feel the weight of the collar until it is lighter, then they are like "holy fuck that thing was heavy on me before"
exactly. taxation is theft, doesn't matter if it's 50%, 10%, or even 1%, theft is theft
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for a second i read 'are you the antichrist'
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😆
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