I am taking a deep breath as I say this. I think I am an Anarchist. There I said it. Let’s back up and survey the landscape, at
least from my perspective.
Much of what passes for political/economic commentary these
days is tainted by propaganda, the intentional promotion of ideas which are
designed to perpetuate a belief, often a widely held belief. Ideas which are essentially bogus. An example of this is putting forth the view
that Capitalism represents freedom, freedom to innovate, freedom to invent, and
freedom to work hard for personal gain.
In a nutshell freedom to prosper.
Capitalism then is deemed a superior economic system.
Such propaganda relies heavily on vilifying opposing
systems, in this case Socialism. It says
Socialism is bad. It is the antithesis
of hard work and innovation. It is the
culmination of big government trying to control our lives in a misguided
attempt to create a more just society. It
rewards freeloaders at the expense of hard working millionaires.
We are now ready to connect the dots in our propaganda
campaign. Since big government is bad
and big government is trying to control our lives, then it goes without saying
that regulation is bad. Food stamps are
bad. Welfare is bad, etc. Let the open market reign supreme. Give us Freedom. The fallacy in this line of reasoning goes
unnoticed by many.
The fallacy is the failure to recognize Private Power as the
dominant underlying force in our political/economic system. Private Power trumps government power and
operates at an unseen level, far away from the tempering influence of the
ballot box. You can identify this
Private Power in a number of ways. Some
call it an Oligarchy. Others call it
Corporatism. I have given those who hold
power the name MiLords, to correspond to the .1% who wield a disproportionate
share of the wealth. MiLords control
us. We are not Free.
Then there those that
purport that Private Power and Government Power are all mixed up. They call this the Deep State. More than a half century ago, President
Eisenhower warned us of the coming military industrial complex. It is
this complex that makes a mockery of the notion that we are a free, democratic,
capitalist society. Private Power takes
us into war after war for the mundane purpose of making a buck.
So what does all this have to do with being an
Anarchist? I turn to the ideas of Noam
Chomsky for inspiration. “Well, anarchism is, in my view,
basically a kind of tendency in human thought which shows up in different forms
in different circumstances, and has some leading characteristics.
Primarily it is a tendency that is suspicious and skeptical of domination,
authority, and hierarchy. It seeks structures of hierarchy and domination
in human life over the whole range, extending from, say, patriarchal families
to, say, imperial systems, and it asks whether those systems are
justified. It assumes that the burden of proof for anyone in a position
of power and authority lies on them. Their authority is not self-justifying.
They have to give a reason for it, a justification. And if they can’t
justify that authority and power and control, which is the usual case, then the
authority ought to be dismantled and replaced by something more free and
just. And, as I understand it, anarchy is just that tendency. It
takes different forms at different times.”
In essence the debate pitting Capitalism against Socialism
is a clever distraction. It is without
meaning. For one thing we are not living
under free market conditions and we are not therefore practicing
Capitalism. For another thing it is
simply not true that if government establishes a means to make health care more
available, or raises the minimum wage or tries to regulate the bundling of bad
mortgages, that means it is a Socialist Government. It is a hollow debate because the reality is
MiLords are in control.
Confusing matters further is the wildly disparate group of
people who identify themselves as Libertarians.
Too often the Libertarian framework is twisted to defend Private Power
in the name of giving private individuals more freedom. This according to Chomsky. In some realms Libertarians and Anarchists
have a lot in common. Not in America
where the Private Power just uses the sentiment to preserve wealth and
privilege.
And so it goes.
Freedom is the Holy Grail that is used time and time again to undergird
devious propaganda. Practicing
Capitalism makes us a free society until we besmirch it with Socialism. If only we as individuals could be left alone
to do our business, all would be well.
Meanwhile MiLords chuckle to themselves about the nameless masses who do
not even know they are being led like sheep.
I am an Anarchist because I choose to engage in Critical
Thinking* by being suspicious of domination, authority, and hierarchy. I refuse to be distracted by the meaningless
chatter we call party politics. I
challenge Libertarians to withdraw their protection for Private Power. I reject out of hand the notion that market
capitalism is being practiced anywhere.
I choose to look more deeply into the systemic issues that are
propelling us toward the abyss.
In Part II of this post we will delve into the mechanisms
employed by MiLords, drivers of the Deep State, to deprive us of our
freedom. This pursuit will take us back
all the way back to the creation of The United States of America and the
attempts to form a permanent Central Bank rooted in debt instead of
wealth. This will help us understand the
issue of debt being used as a means to enslave us. An effort opposed by none other than Thomas
Jefferson. We will set the stage for a
series of posts that will trace the 200 year development of the subjugation of
money (gold and silver) in favor of debt backed notes declared valuable by
fiat. (what you have in your wallet is
not money, it is rather a debt instrument)
In the mean time I will try to get used to being an
Anarchist. Anarchy is not Nihilism. It is not on the side of chaotic
violence. It is not fooled by propaganda
put out by Private Power. I have thought
for some time that the line from left to right should really be shown as a
circle. Go far enough left and you end
up sharing a lot of values with those on the true right. Strip away all the propaganda and you are
left with a search for freedom within the bounds of humanity.
Are you an Anarchist too?
*See earlier post: Are You A Critical Thinker?
