As a rebellious youth I found myself drawn to Anarchism and it`s core principle. By Anarchism I do not of course refer to the violent lawlessness picture painted by mainstream opponents to it although I think the violent overthrow of government perhaps appeals to all who find themselves angry humans in an inhumane world.

Some of the greatest minds throughout history have impressed me with their views on humanity and the state. There is no question in my mind that Anarchism would give the world a great new landscape. I am sure life would suddenly be about "what can we do today?" instead of "what will happen to us today?"

As I have grown older however the way I view Anarchism has changed a little. I still don`t think that I need the Government telling me what to do and not do. I do not want wars waged in my name and things of an oppressive nature like that. I do however see that although government does a lot of bad things in society I have seen the other side of that coin. Since being in the US I have started trying to figure out American politics. I never really mastered English politics because I was always of the view that politicians were bad and that was that. To me learning about Government would be like reading a biography about Hitler. I had no interest in it. Now though I see a benefit in learning about that which I do not like. I am still not too interested in Hitler but perhaps it is worth learning about government since it has an impact on my life.

The rise of "Libertarian" politics in USA made me think for a moment that maybe that was the compromise. A Libertarian government would be about liberty and not about war etc. Then of course I thought about all the things that Libertarians believed and it made me ponder Anarchism some more. If Libertarians want small government then it seems they would probably take away everything that I like about government. I know it is unpopular to say you like things about government but there are functions that government serves. I am talking about the infrastructure of our society. In many cases those things are no longer government controlled due to privatization but it seems that such things are bad and so if government took them back then they could improve greatly. I am also talking about regulatory organizations such as the environmental protection agency. These groups might be subject to some problems. They might not function very well even in some cases but what happens if you remove theme entirely.

I am thinking about things from a practical position. I work a lot of power plant jobs. They are places of pollution. The EPA fines these power companies for their pollution levels and often the power companies pay the fine as it is cheaper than cleaning up their act. Currently the EPA does not always get the job done but it does apply some pressure and I have worked on a couple of "scrubber projects", these are costly renovations for coal burning power plants that filter emissions from the smoke stacks. With small government you would have power companies facing no resistance at all. So to Anarchists and Libertarians alike I say that is not good enough. Of course Anarchists might say that they don't want coal at all but how do we deal with it right now in the real world? It is there and the easiest thing to do is to blame people for it`s existence but the harder thing is to attempt to actually address the issue.

The EPA is just an example. The issues are broad and complex. It is not just a question of voting and then sitting back. Government often fails because of money and so often people find themselves voting for a government that does not appear to be working for the people. Of course the system is very broken but right now smashing the state is just like the "American Dream". Am I likely to have my own island anytime soon? Probably not. Anarchy is a great ideal to have and anarchism can prosper within society but we are very far from getting it on a national scale. That does not mean that we should abandon our dreams whether we dream of riches for ourselves or riches for everybody.

So my essential point is that working within the system might be seen as a sell out but I live in the real world. I know that these politicians have an impact on my life. When they attack unions they diminish my family and it`s income suffers. Sure I could quit my union job and get a bunch of non union jobs and work all the time. Maybe I will even find myself in a better job running work in a non union company but that would be at the expense of others and I am not interested in that.

The big question that always got asked when I would declare my allegiance to Anarchism was along the lines of "who fights crime?" I would always talk about the root causes of crime in my response. Yes in a perfect Anarchist world crime would be handled by communities and there would be less crime. I agree with those principles still but that again is a philosophy and it reaches past the present into the future. We are not there yet. In the meantime we have crime etc and we need police. Of course people often dislike police. They point out corruption etc in the Police, abuses of power etc. Again this is fair comment. The Police department is clearly not perfect, by any stretch. Crime is not going down and people do not like how the resources are used. The drug war and the prison system being prime examples. Perhaps abolishing the police department will fix everything? Probably not though. It is worth noting that the Police do serve other functions. They do simple things like directing traffic when the power goes out for example. I agree their resources are poorly distributed and that again comes back to politics. If you get involved in politics maybe you can work towards fixing things like this instead of just complaining and blaming.

It seems like an uphill struggle to me but It beats feeling helpless. I could "drop out" of society and attempt to live outside of the system but that seems even tougher.

Georgia is very much a Republican state. Atlanta itself is for the most part Democratic but the state as a whole is Republican. The people that could change the State of Georgia are either not there or more likely just apathetic about the difference they could make. Maybe they don`t want to vote because they see nobody that represents them. But what the apathetic forget is that by not voting they essentially let everybody else decide for them. So in the past I have been ridiculed for my desire to participate in politics but it is just my desire to have a say in my life. The reason I would vote(when I am able since I can not vote here yet) is because I don`t want the worst possible people running things. It might be lesser of two evils to you but to me it is about having less Evil involved in my life. We live in a very evil world and I am just trying to stand up for myself.

People have been talking about Thatcher attributing her length of office to her popularity. Where were people on election day? Was everybody being selfish or apathetic or what?

I am not bashing anybody with this I just wanted to clearly state my position.

That's why I remain pretty adamant that anarchism cannot exist in isolation. It requires a global 'awakening' to fulfill it's potential because it's potential is based on harnessing the greatest ideas for our existence, not for our consumption/profit and it therefore stands to reason that the more of an invested interest we have in our own and each others needs the more likely we are to look for cleaner and more sustainable means.

We all have material needs, even if it's logs for the fire. If we looked at a Venus Project type approach to supplying every single persons needs,these are debatable but I'd argue for shelter, running water and a staple food supply as a minimum for all regardless of where they are in the 'left right paradigm'. The fact that some would discriminate on whose needs should be catered for is the only obstacle towards the beginning of anarchism in my mind hence my objection to discriminatory politics of any flavour.

If we take it into the 21st century and bring in the luxury of power, solar power is abundant in sunny places, Africa is quite sunny I believe yet plundering minerals seems to be the priority there rather than harvesting rays.

While people are struggling for the things they need I can understand why not everyone is focused on seeking the way/means/end that will take us towards 'utopia'.

Not enough people participate in government or try to understand it. They assume that it's just for politicians.
But when their representative or other elected official messes up it's a huge deal.
I see no rationale there. If you do not keep your government under watch, do you expect it to watch itself?
Anarchism could only work if every single person is self-sufficient. This is not the case. The first governments in ancient societies were established for this reason--to keep order and to provide for those who cannot. But i am in no way endorsing a socialist world. There should always be limitations to government help.

All the worlds problems could be fixed by tomorrow morning if humans would just behave a little bit better.

It's mind-blowing how simple it all really is...

Some humans are a little to greedy and others a little to violent.

I can't even blame tptb anymore if the general population does not have enough heart to put them in check.

Capitalism does not give people the right to be Greedy...

And Poverty does not give anyone the right to be violent...

These are personal human decisions...

i-baster wrote:


bristol.indymedia.org/article/733280