the challenge of becoming an anarchist - why nearly everyone's a statist

Kurt Buff kurt.buff at gmail.com
Sat Jun 11 22:53:04 PDT 2016


On Sat, Jun 11, 2016 at 10:02 PM, Александр <afalex169 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Zenaan Harkness, zen at freedbms.net:
>>
>> It seems that nearly everyone in this day and age is a statist to some
>> degree, Juan excepted :)
>>
>> Why is this so, I have asked myself.
>>
>> The state is a bully, and no one has escaped the experiences of being
>> bullied by the state - RBTs, license checks, seizing of bank accounts
>> outside of any court hearing nor any chance for the target to be heard in
>> a court of law with a righteous jurisdiction;
>> and anyway, the courts, that last bastion of freedom and justice against
>> the tyranny of the state, is almost completely, systemically,
>> instutitionally corrupt by any common man standard.
>>
>> The state seizes taxes at every corner, violates our constitutions,
>> unilaterally attacks other states, and conspires year after year to
>> increase the burdens and the violations of its own constituents, namely we
>> the people.
>>
>> The state (whether USA, Australia, etc) is nowadays so abhorrent, so in
>> violation of the constitution which created it, so outside of ethics,
>> morals, anything resembling higher causes or principles, it really is a
>> beast of epic proportion which must be slayed or transformed, or the
>> descent to total chaos war and bloodshed will once again happen, just
>> another war to end all wars.
>>
>> Yet nearly everyone still clings to the state. Whether implicitly (it's
>> the best history has given us, other options would of course be so much
>> worse) or explicitly (driver licenses are our only hope to rid the world
>> of evil environment destroying cars).
>>
>> 'We' have lost faith in our fellow humans to a high degree. We don't trust
>> ourselves and so we don't trust our fellow 'citizens'. We put money,
>> creativity, leisure, life, family, mortgage and the rest before any higher
>> principle, in denial of the magnificence of that which we be, that which
>> we are, these incredible universes we stroll around in.
>>
>> We expect "others won't stand behind me if I did take a stand against a
>> bully or a tyranny, because deep down I know I am probably unlikely to get
>> behind someone else taking a stand - especially since I haven't seen
>> myself do so yet, so I have no evidence suggesting I'm that way inclined,
>> so it's most likely true."
>>
>> We hail the heroes "oh I think it's awesome that history proves that
>> someone comes along to fix things up every now and then - at a minimum on
>> average of every 400 years".
>>
>> Yes this and endless more excuses for not supporing your local freedom
>> "fighters" even in a small way, fatalism is just one more excuse. I've
>> heard so many of them.
>>
>> 'We' live in golden cages. By historical standards, almost everyone in the
>> West can eat cheesecake every day, travel to friends and sights and events
>> one way or another, drape ourselves in silk and suede, or lounge on the
>> beach.
>>
>> And the gold cage is never enough, the car or pushbike really needs to be
>> newer, faster, with better suspension, and I want more and my kids need to
>> go to more activities and events and and and... I have my life to live.
>>
>> And the state redistributes the wealth of others to make our golden cages.
>> So we encage one another, binding our fellow man to tyranny,
>> binding ourselves to self serving, self centered, selfish non action.
>>
>> Sleepwalking in comfort whilst the beast prepares its final meal.
>>
>> Gee it's great that heroes come along and solve such problems in history
>> occasionally... now don't interrupt me whilst I shout down your Trump
>> rebellion and screem the benefits of The Democratic Platform
>> notwithstanding the evil that my state has become regardless.
>>
>> Cowards most of us.
>
> Wonderful speech, Zenaan. Gives so much food for thought & actions...
> In the past 4 days i have read so much powerful stuff from you... something
> really great is going on in your head-heart-soul. DON"T STOP IT! :)
>
>> 2016-06-12 6:54 GMT+03:00 Kurt Buff <kurt.buff at gmail.com>:
>> Try reading Lysander Spooner, Benjamin Tucker, Ludwig von Mises and,
>> most especially, Murray Rothbard. Maybe a bit of David Friedman, too.
>>
>> Once you've made your way through their works, you can call yourself
>> educated in anarchism.
>
> That's really great, Kurt. But Zenaan is asking WHY don't we
> act? Why do we live like SLAVES? and WHEN will we start putting great words
> (like in the books you listed) into ACTIONS?
>
> Knowledge is NOT ONLY about "knowing" it in brain, you know... It's about
> incarnating it into actions = into ones physical life!
>
> Even in this cypherpunk list, i believe there are 80% at least, who don't
> need more "insights/education of how everything sucks and how one should (at
> least try to) repair it".
> BUT
> as Zenaan says in his speech,- self serving (egoismus) and self delusion get
> the victory over all our great intentions and insights.
>
> Cowards most of us.


There's a difference between cowardice and understanding that
some/many/most actions in support of liberty are
[un|counter]productive. Plus, as we age, we accumulate obligations,
some of which (marriage and children especially) are vastly
inhibitory. This is not to say that action for freedom is worthless,
but it does mean that one must be judicious in choosing those actions
which will productive and worth the risk.

It's important to realize that not all actions which are morally
legitimate are reasonable. Take for instance the writings of Richard
Slomon, who advocated for a number of (in his philosophy) morally
legitimate actions (cf "retaliatory recapture"), but who didn't
actually undertake those actions, for various reasons.
(https://thedegree.org/research/richard-r-slomon-archive/)

Lastly, one should realize that your first obligation is to yourself,
then to your [chosen] family/friends, and finally none at all to
"society", which is a construct of dubious utility, and which doesn't
exist on its own. It's not a matter of "every man for himself and
devil take the hindmost", it's a matter of "there's only so much one
can do, and the most important things come first".

Kurt




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