Strike the Root has posted an excellent and succinct listing of the often self-contradictary and violent nature of statism, and of the state itself.
6. That states, institutions responsible for some 200 million cruel deaths in the 20th Century alone, are supposed to offer protection from “private criminals,” who even in their most organized form of international mafia networks never managed to take even the tiniest fraction of the statist death toll.
In understanding exactly why the concept of a state is counter to the ideals of liberty, we can better understand how to structure our lives to be as free as possible; and how to organize our dealings with those (statists) who would use force to carry out their own, destructive ends.
I, too, find it somewhat woefully amusing that people who espouse the necessity of the state are often the first to describe the concept of anarchy as “radical.” If the status quo determines what is and is not radical, then it stands to reason that anarchy is just as much – if not more – a status quo than is statism.
After all, our species was anarchic and tribal for millennia prior to the existence of kings and empires; and, generally speaking, the common, merchant-class man under such regimes was in many ways much more free than he is today under the “auspices” of democracy.
7. That the state of anarchy among individuals, each of which can generally finance his activities out of his private pocket only, would lead to an intolerable escalation of violence and bloodshed, but the state of anarchy among states, each of which can impose the costs of its activities (including warfare) on private individuals, is at least a tolerable and relatively peaceful arrangement.
This list is well worth reading in full, and provides much philosophical ammunition for discussions about the true nature of freedom, and of the state.
Recent Comments
May 6th, 2012 11:28 AM
yet you have access to computers... impressive for a tribalist ;)
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