A Little Note on Anarchism

In a sane society, most of what goes on can’t be distinguished from anarchy. We buy and sell, we love, we read and write – most of the time, the laws are (or ought to be) irrelevant to these activities.

What does it mean to live as an anarchist in a state-ridden world? First of all, it means not to cooperate willingly with the state’s arbitrary demands. We don’t help the cops against tax-dodgers, draft-dodgers, pot-smokers, wetbacks. We don’t volunteer private information to every noseyparker who feels entitled to it. We don’t mention “sales tax” at the flea market. We don’t vote to subsidize a new stadium for the Giants or the 49ers. We don’t apply for permits to exercise our natural right of self-defense. We obey the prohibition of murder, theft, fraud– but we’d do that anyway. Among consenting adults, we make our own rules.

It’s impossible – some say by design – to obey all the laws. So we try to behave ethically, and not get caught. In that, we anarchists aren’t much different from most of our neighbors, we’re just more philosophical (read:wordy) about it.