[Bill,
August 2, 2007]
So I introduced myself and said, 'Hi. I'm Bill. I'm an anarchist.'
That was my freshman year in college. The statement had the twin benefits of being extreme while being extremely ambiguous. I was not one of those let's kill all the leaders anarchists that assassinated so many told around 1900 (including President McKinley).
No, I was the kind of anarchist who believed that the government should be minimal and even periodically shut down and leave everyone alone. I've often said back in the day I was a liberal democrat, but that wasn't really true.
It was just that back then, like now, I wanted my freedom, and didn't want to take away yours, and I expected the same from you. And since back when I was younger, I was more concerned about social freedom than economic freedom, I was a Democrat. Later, after economic freedom became more important to me, I became a Republican. See, it all makes sense. Largely, your determination of Democrat or Republican is determined by whether you stress social freedom or economic freedom.
Plus, it was the Democrats who introduced PC, totalitarianism writ small, and have now attacked social freedoms in ways that I've never dreamed. Friggin' fascists, really, trying to take away my cigars and tax all my sins. Meanwhile, the GOP fights back. We have a effed up situation where in some states it's legal to ride a motorcycle without a helmet, but not a bicycle.
But we were talking about anarchy. By anarchy, I meant a spontaneous, natural order, a little like how we dreamed the Indians lived (except they didn't). Those with two, toss one into the communal pot. Those with none, draw one. Pretty simple. It would work if we didn't have greedy power-mad people on one hand and busybody killjoys on the other. Just leave me alone to drink a beer and read my book, you know? I don't tell you how to live. But it would never work. So I'm no longer an anarchist.
Interesting times. As in "may you live in"
No, I was the kind of anarchist who believed that the government should be minimal and even periodically shut down and leave everyone alone. I've often said back in the day I was a liberal democrat, but that wasn't really true.
It was just that back then, like now, I wanted my freedom, and didn't want to take away yours, and I expected the same from you. And since back when I was younger, I was more concerned about social freedom than economic freedom, I was a Democrat. Later, after economic freedom became more important to me, I became a Republican. See, it all makes sense. Largely, your determination of Democrat or Republican is determined by whether you stress social freedom or economic freedom.
Plus, it was the Democrats who introduced PC, totalitarianism writ small, and have now attacked social freedoms in ways that I've never dreamed. Friggin' fascists, really, trying to take away my cigars and tax all my sins. Meanwhile, the GOP fights back. We have a effed up situation where in some states it's legal to ride a motorcycle without a helmet, but not a bicycle.
But we were talking about anarchy. By anarchy, I meant a spontaneous, natural order, a little like how we dreamed the Indians lived (except they didn't). Those with two, toss one into the communal pot. Those with none, draw one. Pretty simple. It would work if we didn't have greedy power-mad people on one hand and busybody killjoys on the other. Just leave me alone to drink a beer and read my book, you know? I don't tell you how to live. But it would never work. So I'm no longer an anarchist.
Interesting times. As in "may you live in"