Worst Anarchist Ever

Mrs Vache Folle reckons that I am the worst anarchist ever. This is because I always come to a full stop at every stop sign, even when it is clear that I can get away with a roll through without endangering anyone. Moreover, I observe the traffic laws scrupulously and can't stand even to park illegally or violate even the slightest regulation or ordinance. I'm also not a faithful anti-state ranter. I have been known to vote and to contribute to political campaigns.

And I haven't been posting much about how evil the state is and how we should work tirelessly to bring about a stateless society. I just don't have the heart for it. We live in a world of states, and states are likely going to be around for many generations to come. I'm not even sure that a stateless society would necessarily be as great as I used to think given the depraved state of mankind at present.

I have come to the point where I reckon that railing against the existence of the state or the concept of the state is fruitless. Rather, I have decided to be content with advocating the idea of dealing with the state, using the state, serving the state, and talking about the state mindfully. It would do some good I think to take the concept of the state, work to remove it from the existential substrate, and problematize it in the context of mainstream discourse about politics and policy. For the most part, the concept of the state and the the propriety of government action are givens which are rarely deconstructed and given any consideration in political discourse. I would like to see more instances of having the violent and coercive nature of the state exposed and discussed in discourse about current events and issues. If we are determined to resort in the first instance to violence and coercion, then by all means let us do so mindfully.

And if I live subject to a state and have some influence, however slight, over how it rules over me, I ought to be able to state opinions without being assumed to have abandoned my skepticism about whether state action was warranted, wise or moral in the first place. If we are determined to act through states, I am determined to opine about alternative courses of action.

If I must be ruled by a state, and it appears that I must, I am determined to raise the alarm whenever it appears that the authoritarian nutcase wing of the GOP gets any more control of that state. It may seem at times that I have become a partisan of the Democratic Party, and this is true to the extent that I believe that the Democratic Party is significantly less likely to get us all killed or to bring about an authoritarian shift than the GOP.