dreams of anarchy

DREAMS OF ANARCHY
Way back in the day, I accidentally introduced myself to anarchy when I ordered a book from the now defunct Loompanics bookseller. I loved Loompanics, with its strange selection of books usually available nowhere else. It’s catalog arrival was on par with sex or a surf and turf meal that someone else paid for. My first and only purchased article was through them for a catalog publication ( each quarterly catalog had two articles and the annual catalog had several more- to be selected was quite the honor ). One of the downsides to ordering obscene amounts of mail order books is you end up with a lot of expensive ass wipe or fire starter. One of the great things is that you run across treasures unexpectedly. I’m not positive, I think the title was “A market for liberty”. Anyway, at the time I was under the oppressive thumb of the Big Green Weenie and ripe for revolution. Anarchy was just what the doctor ordered. And to be clear, anarchy as in the literal definition “no government”, not the propaganda laden meaning of violence and mayhem.
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Looking back, the study and love for the subject has not weathered time easily. I no longer care to study politics, now understanding that government is no more than a dancing puppet for the central bankers. How could I possibly have gotten excited that a foreign born half breed Muslim got elected when the whole thing is just a farce, being a Selection rather than an Election? I don’t get too worked up about economics anymore either, now that the big players have pretty much rigged the game and any market moves send out the wrong information. And the possibility of a system of liberty has recently been under assault as I have been studying the possible life after a collapse. Is it even possible that an anarchist society can ever be achieved ( to clarify, my previous article on an anarchist society now seems naïve as I was basing it on a resource rich environment )?
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It’s not that I don’t strongly believe in anarchy, I still do. Heck, I still think Libertarians are pussies. You can’t just have a little government, it’s all or nothing. I’m just no longer sure it can ever happen. I ran across a blurb stating that anthropologists can correctly guess any societies social customs based on how they get their food ( if anyone knows a book on that, please let me know as I think it would have fascination details ). Farmers will always follow certain patterns as far as marriage and government, etc., and nomads yet another. We can guess that farmers will never see anarchy, because historically they have always needed an army to protect them. Even America couldn’t have done without some kind of government organization clearing farmland of Indians. Certain conditions might decrease the level of government but I don’t think you can eliminate it altogether for farming. Nomads might have more individual rights, but I don’t think you can eliminate the warlord position. I don’t you can have nomads without them being warriors, and certainly they need a unifying leadership at times. Plus the whole “armies stealing the next tribes resources as survival” aspect.
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Anarchist dreams were based on individuals being able to protect themselves in a modern industrial capitalist society. Unfortunately, Peak Oil kind of took a big steaming pile on top of that reality. That was the missing ingredient from the theory, that only an energy surplus allowed individuals the means to provide and protect themselves. Which was flawed itself, since only an industrial society needing central government protection could provide that surplus. Unless Abiotic Oil theory turns out to be true, as was the case in a recent sci-fi ( that genre itself is in jeopardy from Peak Oil ) book by L. Neil Smith. See how depressing it is looking at the big picture? Shattering your illusions and dreams.
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