To be entirely honest, there is a part of my that is attracted to the political philosophy of anarchism or “anarcho-capitalism.” At this point I’m not really sure where I land in terms of political philosophy, right now I simply tell people I’m a Libertarian. I’m sure there are staunch Libertarians who could confront me on this claim and I wouldn’t hate them for doing so. But I’m digressing, I don’t want this to be a post about my wanderings in the realm of political philosophy. I simply want to talk about the concept of “anarchy.” More specifically, I want to hold a mirror up in hopes that what people fear about “anarchy” is already happening.

If you go up to an average American and tell them that you believe in an anarchical political philosophy they are bound to be taken aback. More often than not they will gawk at what they perceive as a moral bankruptcy in your worldview.

“So you just think people should go around killing each other?!?!?!” they will exclaim. Or perhaps, “So whatever corporation and people are strongest just get to bully everyone else around?”

If you bring up anarchy these are the questions that are bound to be raised by a typical American. My typical response to these exclamations is always the same. “That’s already happening...It’s just being done by governments.”

Again, I’m not an anarchist. I like to think I’m a Libertarian but I honestly might not really be one. But I do want to show how little self-awareness many Americans have around these issues.

At least a true anarchist has the awareness to see that moral atrocities are already being committed by every major government around the world. Moreover, the anarchist knows that these governments are being bank-rolled and defended (to the death in many cases) by their citizens who are apparently opposed to the kind of immorality proposed in an anarchical philosophy.

The difference between an anarchist and their opponent in this situation is not that an anarchist wants chaos and their opponent wants order. To the contrary, the anarchist is opposed to legally sanctioned and government approved moral atrocities, while their opponent seems to be fine with these things. The anarchist would rather moral atrocities be committed by a corporation he/she is not legally forced to support (taxes/enlistment). An anarchist knows that these things are going to happen but would rather them not happen under the guise of propaganda which governments are so skilled at producing.

The real “anarchy” in our day can be found in the back rooms of congress halls around the world. It is in these rooms where governments decide that they can do whatever they want without consequence. Anarchist, and I sympathize with them here, would simply rather not be forced to keep these governments going and be told that they must fight to defend them whenever they decide they are going to war with each other.

Food for thought.

Michae