How I Became An Anarchist

Jeff Berwick always asks his guests on Anarchast podcast: "How did you become an anarchist?"

Well, personally, I was born of two career military personnel, one who had been previously maternally discharged. It seemed, when I met a few Army brats that were not like me, in other words very happy with the brat lifestyle , that I was more like Jim Morrison, yet less self destructive. So in more words, I was developing into a non-bomb-throwing anarchist.

How did I discover that I was an anarchist? More on that later.

Channeling Obama For Purposes Of Commenting On Our Surveillance State

I have been forced by circumstance and a few small people to address the issue of domestic spying.

I made a campaign promise to not spy on innocent Americans, and to , of course, supply law enforcement with the tools they needed to fight crime and terrorism. That was a promise not an oath, I did not swear to it, I did not place my hand on TWO bibles - one from my intellectual hero and one from a person I was politically bound to honor, and I'll let you figure out who was who - I did not place my hand on two bibles, I did not swear to tell the truth. So once I entered the Oval Office, I had to deal with reality. I made a measured response to what I had to deal with. I weighed your freedoms against my quest for power. I came down on the side of crony statism. If you don't get what I'M getting to, then look it up, there are resources out there, even in public libraries, for a while yet.

And for all you out there who speak of tyranny and that flexible, adaptable, breakable document called the Constitution: You ... Haven't ... Seen ... Nothing ... Yet.

Market Failure Theory

From Organized Crime: The Unvarnished Truth About Government by Thomas DiLorenzo:

Market failure theorists, whose epicenter was for many years the Harvard and M.I.T. economics departments, had three main characteristics: 

First, they concocted mathematical models that were usually far removed if not totally detached from economic reality. ...

The second characteristic of the market failure theorists is a con- sistent application of what UCLA economist Harold Demsetz labeled “the nirvana fallacy.” The game is played as follows: First, construct a totally un- realistic theory of “perfect” competition that assumes away all real-world competition with assumptions of perfect information, homogenous prod- ucts and prices, free or costless entry and exit from industry, and “many” firms. Second, compare real-world markets to this utopian Nirvana state and condemn the markets as “imperfect” or “failed.”

The third characteristic of market failure theories is to recommend intervention by presumably perfect government that is assumed to suffer from no failures and which will correct the failures of the market. (p. ix-x)

"Crony Capitalism" Is An Affront To Capitalism

What is the best term for our current system that has merged corporate and federal state power (not to mention, devolved to the local level of business and town power)?

I had settled on "crony capitalism," but I am uncomfortable with including capitalism in the term, because the behavior or activity is more about privilege than capitalism.

An element of our current system is "socialism," but that only describes a portion of the system. Socialism seems to only served as a panacea for the masses - and a weapon to wip free-market actors.

"Fascism" seems to be what I constantly return to. Mussolini was purported to have called it "corporatism," but "corporatism" can refer to an entirely state-run or civic entity, and Mussolini probably didn't say the quote anyway. Also, "fascism" is such a loaded term with connotations with rabid nationalism (though our system is nationalistic, e.g. "community of nations" crap, etc.) and racism (the current use of race bating and urban-favoring rhetoric illustrates the fault in that vein of the current federal administration).

"Corporatism" excuses the local businesses that crony up to city councils and mayors.

So what can I finally settled on? The state is the final nexus of control over individual's lives, no matter how complicit mega banks and mega corporations are in that control. The state is the nexus of evil, worshipped unconsciously by subjects and overtly by the "supercitizens."

For now, I'm settling on "crony statism," because the state coops the power of corporations, civic organizations, individuals, and other businesses in exchange for favor and protection.

UPDATE: And I can't claim to have invented the term, so I might be onto something:

Submitted by Ed Thompson, Jan 20, 2012 18:11

To quote Mr. Kudlow, “Strong stuff. Good stuff.” But it’s crony *statism*, not crony capitalism. Crony capitalism reverses cause and effect. It is government that is selling favors it has no right to sell. It should stop. There should be laissez-faire, complete separation of economics and state. See www.PrinciplesOfaFreeSociety.com.

http://www.nysun.com/comments/81013

But neither can Ed Thompson:

Apparently  T.M. Callagny can claim inventing the term around 1990. See page 4 at the link below, "Child Soldiers In the Civil War in Sierra Leone:"

http://repository.forcedmigration.org/pdf/?pid=fmo:3365

NEXT: Searching for a blanket term to label the privileged class of individuals in a crony-statist system. "

Individualism vs. Collectivism

There is a vast casm between the philosophies of individualism and collectivism. The vast majority of Americans occupy the space in between - until collective action affects an individual.

If a collective action benefits an individual, then the individual leans towards collectivism. If a collective action harms an individual, then the individual leans towards individualism.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of Americans, in that vast casm, are clustered on the statist bank of collectivism. Pragmatically, the individual garners exponentially more on the free bank of individualism by virtue of - freedom. Fortunately, there is a great awakening in our country. People are seeing the error of putting faith in the state and the truth that rights and sovereignty are inherently individualistic.

Obama, The Nation-Statist

What essentially sets a nation state apart is the monopoly of violence.
-Barack Obama

Then Obama must be saying that the USA is a failed nation state, because at most the USA is a member of an oligarchy of violence (in concert with local and state aggressors), and in reality the USA is part of a mixed economy of violence. Either way, Obama is earning his labels with gusto: socialist, communist, fascist, statist, very-bad man.

Judged By 12 Or Carried By 6

An often stated quote in the self-defense community is:

I'd rather be judged by twelve than carried by six.

It is ironic, or symbiotic, that the following encapsulates the sentiment of the self-righteous community:

That criminal deserves that he's being carried by six than judged by twelve. 

Beer Instead of Pure Water

My dad has a narrative for his theory about the necessity of beer in Middle Ages that goes something like this:

In the Middle Ages, everyone drank beer, because water was not safe to drink. The people then did not know that one  part of the brewing process was actually what made the drink safe: boiling. Therefore, with modern water purification processes, we don't need to drink beer.

That's all well and good, but it ignores a couple facts that counter those conclusions:

(1) Distilled water will leach minerals from your body. So water boiled to extreme is actually bad for you. But then again, even if they did know about boiling to kill germs in the Middle Ages, they would probably not be distilling it.

(2) Water storage. Water will turn, get infected by germs, in storage. That's why sailors made grog with bad water and rum on ocean voyages.

(3) Wine was never boiled and was also a safe substitute for water.

(4) Fermented products have additional benefits from amino acids acids, trace minerals, active live cultures (if not pasteurized), etc.

Reformulated Aphorism #9: "We" Crap Made Good

When the UK government decided to give more land to agricultural laborers in Ireland. It seemed like a not-too-unfair-move in a land that had misappropriate land. I'm debated the issue of land redistribution and "right to roam" based on past land theft, such as William-the-Conqueror stuff. I think I agree with this aphorism, because I don't think that past grievances can be legislated away and remedied through statute, but through the courts and common law (still debatable for evolved-past-minarchism libertarian), or the good will of private individuals who have inherited or purchased past-stolen property:

We are all socialists now.
- William Vernor Harcourt, responding to the Labourers (Ireland) Allotment Bill of 1887

Time magazine pretty much misused this following reformulation, but the sentiment has proven itself out in the hearts of most Americans, until the Tea Party movement. And it was later attributed to Nixon:

We are all Keynesians now.
- Milton Friedman, quoted in article favoring Keynes

Ron Paul chimed in while selling freedom on the campaign trail. He paraphrased Nixon as saying:

... we’re all Keynesians now, which meant that even the Republicans accepted liberal economics. He says I’m waiting for the day when we can say we’re all Austrians now.
-Ron Paul, before supporters 2012

And to reformulate past reformulations, and to reflect the temper of our times, especially with the past few years of Tea Party uproar and the recent pro-2nd-amendment furor:

We are all libertarians now.
- CR Cobb

Reformulated Aphorism #10: Friends and Enemies

I've criticized our federal government repeatedly, and with malice, for pursuing a foreign policy illuminated by:

My enemy's enemy is my friend.
- Chinese/Arab proverb

And I silently applauded - or really smiled ear to ear - when I heard that the macrobreweries were distributing malt and/or barley to the microbreweries, because there was a shortage. It was probably self serving, because maintaining a beer percentage in the alcoholic-beverage segment was their most-likely goal. But I was delighted, no less.

Within the firearms "community" (really segment), there are many contentious arguments, usually highlighted by caliber and safety parsing. But there is a general espirit de corps, though there are some insular accuracy and hunting fundamentalists. And there is a growing understanding that for the gun culture to survive, us gray hairs (I've got one or two) need to embrace "Gun Culture 2.0" with their oft (at least I'm told) gaming origin. Of course, more comfortably for some, we need to embrace the next generation - yes, the children. And there has also been much talk about taking a friend shooting, to let that person demonstrate to themselves that shooting is fun and not scary (with safety protocols in place, etc.).

All of this lovey-dovey crap is signaling a desire for us to be inclusive of all members of the gun culture. So in that spirit, I have discovered a reformulation of the aphorism and proverb above:

My friend is my enemy's enemy.
- CR Cobb