ANARCHY! Is it Chaos?
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ANARCHY! The very word that strikes fear into the hearts and of many people. But does it really mean "chaos" as many believe? "Anarchy" comes from the Greek word "anarkhos." The "An" meaning "without" and "arkhos" meaning "ruler" or "chief." So "anarchy" just means "without rulers" and not "chaos." "But Kody," I hear you thinking, "Wouldn't a society without rulers collapse?! That IS chaos, right?!?" Well that would depend on your answer to this next question: if there were no politicians to write the laws or cops to enforce the laws, would you commit violent acts of aggression on your fellow man? If you answered "yes," then your problems run deeper than politics. If you're part of the majority that likely answered "no," then why do we need a government? Its entire existence is based off of the premise that YOU require someone telling you how to do right and wrong. It gets all of its funding through the extortion of YOUR money. If you fail to "pay" these "taxes" then you are likely to be fined or caged. If you refuse to be caged or not letting them steal your money, your brave endeavor has a pretty high probability of ending in your death. Having laws is unnecessary. Good people are going to do good and bad people are going to do bad regardless of what the ink says on the magical pieces of paper. You are born with a natural set of rights to your life, liberty, and property. The government isn't necessary for you to enforce those rights against attackers. If the free market can provide better, cheaper alternatives for everything else, why not security?
That's the problem. There are people who would answer yes. More than you'd like to think.
Not true. Governments existence is based on the premise that there is a need for organization among groups of people, a need for common defense (from all the people who chose "yes" to that previous question) and a need for mediation of disputes.
but that doesn't require the presence of a govt. Common defense can be provided by security companies for local security, and national security agencies can bind together for defense from threats outside the country. There are private mediation services already in widespread use for resolving disputes. The courts are largely enforcers of govt-generated laws, some entirely immoral and unjust. Protection from bad products can come in the form of watchdog agencies like Consumer Reports and Underwriters Laboratories who test products and establish guidelines for safe products. Most of these services have been pushed to the sidelines by an intrusive govt, but before the 1950s, these services were in widespread use and our govt was much, much, smaller.
laws are written to stop people who don't follow laws from doing things they are going to do anyway. the people who will follow the laws don't need the laws because it is already in them to do the right thing anyway. in fact the laws are often what keeps "the law abiding" from defending themselves from the people who don't care what the laws are. increasing the dependence of everyone on the state. which is exactly what the statist religionists want because it gives them more control and justifies their budget increases.
good thoughts. Anarchy isn't chaos like that statists constantly harp at us. Neither is it solely a society living peacefully without rulers telling them how to live. It is a continuum of choices ranging from the worst that anarchy has to offer to the best anarchy has to offer. I prefer living in a world where anarchy offers me the freedom to live peacefully with others without some govt holding sway over my permission to live my life. And if the statists say that anarchy is lawless chaos, isn't that sort of what we have now, except with a govt? Govt officials and their agents are now getting away with violating the very laws we are compelled to live under. Isn't that lawlessness chaos?