Why I Broke Up with the Anarchist Community

Would he were fatter! But I fear him not:
Yet if my name were liable to fear, 
 I do not know the man I should avoid
So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much;
He is a great observer

Something I have noticed: generally speaking, people involved in the political movements in the 60s and 70s fizzled out as they became parents. I wonder if the responsibilities of life and making a living in western industrial culture grinds down the revolutionary political drive.

What makes me ask this is that I look at the people who used to be political and, in general, they become like their parents. That's not what this author is talking about. But it is something I have noticed about other people.

...But as much as you identify with the ideals of anarchy, it will get you nowhere.

When I was young and started to gain my intellectual identity I gravitated very much towards the anarchist cause. It just made sense. I envisioned a world in which the then-beginning information age would bring an end to ignorance and create a real opportunity for a society to govern itself. I was enthralled. As I got older and more independent I did everything I could to get involved in anarchy functions. At first it was exhilarating to be surrounded by people chanting the same ideals, complaining about the same issues with our current social structure. But as time wore on I quickly recognized the problems with my group, and indeed the issues with similar groups all across the nation. Problems which Amy Hamilton has encapsulated in this article better than I have ever seen done before. As the information age matured, and the internet went from a tool of the savvy revolutionaries to a pass-time for ordinary people; reality hit me hard. The reason we have such a faulty and mediocre society is simple:

Most People Don't Care.

For most people, if their basic needs are met, they become so disinterested in serious change that they cannot even begin to fathom something as radical as the anarchist movement. Easily 80% or more of Americans are happy to put up with irresponsible leadership and crushing debt and a doubtful future if they are able to have their cable TV and fizzy drinks today. I have learned that humans, by their very nature, are complacent; lazy. It is a basic function that has allowed societies to exist at all. If it where not for the 80% happy-to-be-a-peon ratio, society as we know it would have torn itself apart long ago. If human minds where compatible with the 100% independent 100% individual-driven social setup of anarchy the human race would have been all but wiped out. Leaders lead, and they need followers to do that. Followers are great, but they are not independent enough to be compatible with anarchy. They simply won't take enough personal responsibility to function that way. "its not my fault", "this isn't my job", "I don't want to do this." We can't all be revolutionaries. Averaged out, human beings, let alone Americans, are incapable of being responsible enough to run their own society. This simple fact puts a steak in the heart of wide-scale anarchy. It just can't happen, at least not until the human mind has gone through some considerable evolution. All that widespread anarchy could bring is conflict and poverty and ignorance and a massive leap backwards in the standards for human life.

So I abandoned anarchy; both it's title and it's ideals. I went back to basics, I went back to the core of my beliefs. When I got down to it, the only thing I felt was a universal truth of life was the theory of evolution. Natural Selection. Survival of the Fittest. It is a relentless, unending process that always produces results, regardless of variables. It is the ultimate mechanism of life, un-defeatable so long as the basic requirements for life are met. So powerful is it that it can even change what those basic requirements for life are. It even works in the absence of life. The process of natural selection has been used by science to design components that the human mind would not have dreamed up on its own. Only strange widgets so far: audio-sensing chips and weird little radio antennae, but it does work, almost frighteningly well.

Natural Selection works, and it is something embraced by a wide variety of free-thinkers, though each in their own way. Anarchists, Naturalists, Existentialists, Environmentalists, "Liberals", none of them will deny that it exists and that it works. Yet I find it strange that none of these people are willing to apply it to society. But I was. I felt myself gravitating most strongly towards people who embrace evolution most strongly in terms of the way society should be handled.

To my own bafflement, this lead me straight into the heart of those I had hated most when I was young: Capitalists. Capitalist pigs: hunters of the week and vulnerable. Destroyers of nature and the will of the average man. Scheming, thieving, soulless monsters who have plagued human society since it's very beginning. How on earth could I get into bed with these people?

Shocked, but not enough to turn away, I gingerly waded in. All I could do at first was turn a blind eye towards the vast majority of capitalists in search of those who shared my vision. Slowly at first, but then with increasing regularity, I found them. Small business owners, free-thinkers, researchers, volunteers, charity workers; some of the most radical and independent individuals I had ever met. The older and more experienced of them introduced me to a political ideal that grabbed me and never let go: Small Government 

The idea of small government is something that could satiate the ideals and desires of so many forward-thinking political movements. Liberals, greenies, anarchists, everyone. However, unlike all of their movements, small government actually has the potential to make BIG changes to our society. A major overhaul that results in better life for everyone, not just some small-town movement that only effects a few thousand individuals in a single isolated community. Does this sound familiar anarchists? A revolution? A sweeping change that will forever banish the corrupt leaders of yesteryear to the history books? A country-wide movement that values high standards for human life, fair distribution of wealth, and above all: Personal Responsibility!

Small government could deliver all of this and more. On top of that, it actually has a realistic chance of working; unlike other head-in-the-clouds liberal movements popping up all over the country. Would it be nice for no American to go hungry? Yes. Would it be great to provide for every single last homeless, disabled, elderly or otherwise needy person? Sure. Would it be wonderful to have universal health care that doesn't lower our existing standards? Hell yea. Are anarchists/existentialists/ecofeminists/anti-consumerists/etc capable of accomplishing any of these things?

NO

The fact of the matter is this: humans need stuff. Do we need as much stuff as we Americans currently consume? Absolutely not. But that doesn't change the fact that there are things we need that no anarchy movement, no matter how big, could ever provide for. Example: The Internet. That wonderful tool that anarchists love so much; that has allowed them to connect and organize like never before. A tool that the author of this very article has leveraged to make her voice heard by many times more people than would ever be able to have heard her through other means. Sorry anarchists, but capitalism is the only social force that could keep the internet going at this scale, and expand it continuously! Sure, open-source programming picks up more steam every day, but without capitalism those coders would have nothing to work with. No cutting-edge computers, no software development tools, hell, no wires and fiber optic cables with which to communicate.

Long story made short: We Need Capitalism!

Now, does that mean we should let capitalists run the show? Hell no! Greedy bastards, they'll happily poison the planet and take advantage of the ignorant and do countless other unspeakable acts to improve their profits. They get away with far too much as is, they need reining in. But like it or not, its that ruthless pursuit of better profits that makes it such a powerful force for good. Even very small, honest mom-and-pop businesses practice cunning penny-pinching and haggling techniques to stay alive. Its evolution: survival of the fittest and it is good. All that needs done is to do more to make this process work for people, not against them. The information age is already taking care of a lot of this. Corporations can't get away with the bullshit they used to. Corporate scams and scandals are ferreted out and shared with the world at an ever-increasing pace by organizations like The Consumerist. Its happening naturally and supporters of Small Government can make it happen faster.

Fiscal conservatism, planning for the future, practical approaches towards preserving the environment, sustainable social services, high-quality and widespread health-care, a common-sense approach to currently-illegal drugs, higher average standards of living, emphasis on education, efforts to reduce world-wide conflict, and personal responsibility.

These are my ideals and the ideals of an ever-increasing number of Small Government supporters. Our ranks are spread throughout the country and are given many labels: new-age conservatism, tea partiers, young republicans, all the labels are crap; but our message is strong. Down with the over-sized, over-spending government mega-monster. What the people can do, the people can do better. Anarchy and Small Government supporters want a lot of the same things. We both want the government to back off, shrink away and to let the people get on with the business of taking care of ourselves.

The difference is that we acknowledge not every single person is willing or able to take up that responsibility. We realize that, evil as it may become, governments are necessary because it just isn't practical to get every last man woman and child involved in running our society. Many of them don't want to and so we don't want them to. We take a much more realistic and pragmatic approach. We've got the best chance of making significant, national change because the changes we need to make are closest to reality. As interesting as anarchy is, it won't be practical on a wide scale inside of the next hundred years.

Many anarchists shout us down. "Sell-outs" who compromise and are willing to get into bed with the current establishment. Small Government isn't "cool" or "indy" or "progressive". It doesn't have whole genres of popular music dedicated to it. It doesn't have a sexy appeal, or daring avant-garde books and movies that explore its social meaning. Its not an excuse for young angry white men to get together and complain and throw rocks through Starbucks windows. It isn't a fucking "scene". What it does have is a diverse, pragmatic, common-sense oriented group of people dedicated to finding a better way for society to serve private citizens. We'll let anarchists bitch and moan about the establishment and talk about the Spanish civil war while we get on with the business of improving society for real. We'll get on with dismantling the flawed establishment from the inside instead of worthlessly tossing stones at it's unassailable walls from the outside.

Mock if you want. Cling to your 'superior' ideals. Gather in your community centers and hand out fliers and fruitlessly chase an impossible dream. Meanwhile we'll be busy building an improved society for future generations. It won't be cool, it won't be sexy, it won't be revolutionary, but by God it will be better.