The ghost of Cypherpunks

[ken]

James A. Donald wrote:
>     --
> From:           	ken <bbrow07 at students.bbk.ac.uk>
> 
>>Do you really think that politics only exists where
>>there is a state?  I'd have thought the opposite is
>>true. Most states actively prevent most people
>>participating in politics.
> 
> 
> The more authoritarian the state, the more in compells
> people to participate in politics, making eveything they
> do or think political, for example the endless meetings
> in Cuba and Mao's china,


That seems almost the opposite of politics to me. The actual 
politics - the arguments, the decisions - has been done in some 
smoke-filled room beforehand. The public meeting is nothing more 
than the product launch.

>>Where there is no state everyone is a politician, all 
>>the time, and all public acts are overtly political.
> 
> So when I buy coffee, that is political?

Well, yes. If only because the buyer and seller are both extending 
the reach of their lives to influence others to behave in the way 
that they want. Using money in this case rather than votes or 
threats, but still in a sense a kind of politics.

And of course on a large scale more obviously what is more 
conventionally called politics - that small transaction, a dollar 
for a cup of coffee, multiplied by millions can cause armies to 
move, can set up and tear down governments, induce luxury in one 
place, famine in another. If we can say that war is  politics 
carried on by another means we can also say that markets are 
politics carried on by other means.

> Surely the non state area of our lives is the non
> political area of our lives. 

Not unless we are living as hermits.  Our entire lives involve 
rubbing up against other people and negotiating our relations with 
them. Which is basically what politics is