Greetings ATS,
I don't know about you, but I get the sense that the majority of ATS members are in a manner of speaking essentially LIBERTARIAN in their political
thinking, and I concur broadly with the same in terms of my own politics.
One thing that I have learned, is that the philosophical dream of an idealised society would be purely anarchic in nature, a cooperative of mutual
benefit through collective efforts & individual striving, between equal parties who are free from the burden of heavy taxation - collaborators who are
able to perceive the public good & then to arrange a means of working towards that without impinging on personal liberty, rather than living in the
condition of being ruled by oppressive State architecture & bureaucracy.
This is the ideal; however, I do not believe it is workable, except in small societies in which all are capable, strong men & women, able to strive
individually & collectively as & when the circumstances call for it - for example building a public sewage disposal system, or with the establishment
of a militia for mutual self-defence. The main problem we face in terms of striving towards an anarchic philosophical ideal, is that there are
naturally a range of levels of intellect & capacity for goal driven activity - there's a bell curve distribution of capability in these areas, and
unfortunately, some people would end up being incapable of truly striving individually, whether that comes from physical disability, poor mental
health, or simple lack of intellect through natural causes. We would need to partly carry some members of society, and we would need permanent
facilities for covering all bases - dotting the i's & crossing the t's.
I have come to believe that in order to create a just, tolerant & faithful society, we would need a libertarian outlook generally, which would be
taught in schools & cooperative fellowship groups - and essentially, the main functions of establishing order & civility in the society would need a
MINARCHIST approach to government - essential services such as defence, policing & public infrastructure would be run by a volunteer-led governing
body which accepted a low single rate of taxation - with formalised appeals for individual donations when raising funds for public works. Welfare
support would be operated by cooperatives which act as a form of insurance, again with a low standard rate for membership to assure participation when
able to work & keep oneself prepared for the worst eventuality by membership of the mutual fund for welfare support, being provided to members who had
participated for as long as they were capable of working. Should the worst happen, some injury or disease, then regular stipends would afford dignity
to those unable to participate actively in society through no fault of their own, preventing poverty, ensuring that basic needs & simple comforts were
provided, with support to retrain if possible for a less active role in society, yet still finding some way of helping out even though not capable of
working in a full time, active role.
I'm aware that many true anarchists (such as
James Corbett of the Corbett Report believe that a minarchist
government is a copout - but I just don't see how order & public works could be actively maintained on a continuing basis without some minimal formal
state architecture, at a very low (the lowest possible) scale of operations. I know that technically everything can be arranged by truly voluntary
participation, true anarchic principles - but my feeling (which is also a Biblical perspective) is that there are simply too many 'bad people' in
society to permit for the good folks to live out their simple, quiet lives without being harrassed - robbed, beaten, murdered, raped - by the bad
seeds. Order must be maintained, and the public good must have permanent advocates sitting on a council of concerned - VOLUNTARY - leaders. There
should be a rule which prevents active trading when in a council seat - a stipend would be paid, but trade would not be allowed until one has served
their four year term. They then have the benefit of great experience to go on as private citizens & earn their wealth by drawing on that experience
& the insight they gained when volunteering.
What are your thoughts?
Thanks,
FITO.