You are viewing a single comment's thread from:
RE: Take this quick quiz to discover you're actually an anarchist.
If you want to be able to end my relationship with the state, then you're an anarchist.
The button is just as imaginary as the government.
There are buildings and cars, uniforms and guns, and words on paper; but they're not government.
They're just stuff. Government is only in our heads.
Haha! You got me there. I still can't accept myself as an anarchist. But, I will concede that some of my beliefs coincide with anarchism. Although, these days, I feel so much discontent with my government, that those beliefs seem inevitable.
But, at the end of the day, whether the government is imaginary, corrupt, inefficient, and even useless, I still think we need some semblance of government to keep things from deteriorating into a The Walking Dead type of situation.
Can it be voluntary, though? I don't have an issue with organising, co-operating, trading, contracting, etc.
As long as anyone who doesn't like what's on offer can quit, it's all good.
Voluntary organizations could work. Though, once you get big enough and continue to grow, wouldn't your leadership structure begin to look more and more like a regular government, too? Even if you choose to leave that voluntary organization and move to another, the process will just start again until that organization grows into something very much like the government you are trying to escape.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying people shouldn't aspire to be free of their government or that working to minimize government control over its citizens is good or bad. I just believe government is inescapable.
So, if saying that I will grant you freedom from government because that's what you want makes me an anarchist. Then, ok I'll accept that. However, I would be an anarchist who believes anarchy is impossible. But that wouldn't make sense. How can I be an anarchist, if I don't believe it is something that can be achieved in the first place? I guess the point I'm trying to make is that the question you posed to determine whether or not one is an anarchist casts a pretty wide net for a litmus test. Anyone who values freedom, then becomes an anarchist.