February 24, 2012
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“Ask the Anarchist” S1E1
First question: From @Justfinethanku
Would you be interested in answering questions from an Anarchistic perspective?
Answer:
[Jon] I think you’re more excited about the idea than most people are. People seem mostly apathetic, and rightfully so. They can be as knowledgeable as possible about politics and economics and still only have a single, almost meaningless, vote. There is no incentive to engage, be rational, etc. In a democracy (as opposed to anarchy) people have incentives to make informed life choices. In a democracy they can vote for the most vile dictator and not have the incentive, financial or otherwise, to understand this.
Posts like these won’t be that popular because the purview of “ideas that change the world” are left to politicians most people know little to nothing about. They are not allowed to change the world. It’s not their lot in life. Why challenge it? And with what? A vote? No matter how much MTV suggests them to “rock the vote,” it’s not going to happen. And even if they do “rock the vote,” what then? A less informed moron could “rock the vote” and cancel them out. It’s sad.
So don’t expect much from this. Your faith in the wildfire that good ideas can be may be misplaced. I don’t think anyone wants to take up the challenge. Why should they? They can’t do anything about it but be angry, to themselves, silently.
Could we violently overthrow the government if we convinced enough people that the plan was actionable? No… because though undermining the government has it’s financial benefits (see the Mafia, drug dealers, pimps, etc) these very factions of people have to let the government in on their action. Without crooked cops the Mafia wouldn’t exist. Baptists and bootleggers have similar goals, cops and criminals form a protection racket that increases profit margins and makes their efforts worthwhile.
Is this a moral exhortations for cops not to be crooked? That would be pointless. No, it’s a statement of hopelessness that an idea can bind people to the extent necessary to REALLY CHANGE things. What DOES bind people? Money and power. In revolutionary days we displaced the government of Britain for one of our own. We exchanged one tyranny for another. We are not allowed to go without tyranny altogether.
The opportunity cost of liberty for an individual is their very life. Doesn’t sound like a promising endeavor when we are perfectly capable of getting on with our lives as partial slaves. Yeah, they may accidentally raid our houses, kill our pets, while resisting would be unlawful, but why rock the boat?
What if people WANT to be subjugated?? Ever think of that?? Well, have you???
I am conducting a new blog series called: “Ask the Anarchist” featuring none other than our very own Libertarian Scholar George Edwards.
STUDIED AT:
INDIANA UNIVERSITY
PURDUE UNIVERSITY
LUDWIG VON MISES INSTITUTE OF AUSTRIAN ECONOMICSDEGREES/STUDIES:
BS IN BUSINESS (EMPHASIS IN FINANCE AND ECONOMICS)
AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS
ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
KOTCH SUMMER FELLOW, ONE OF 83 SELECTED OUT OF NEARLY 1,500 APPLICANTS
GRADUATED IN THE 99TH PERCENTILE OF HIS FIELD OF STUDY
HAS READ MORE BOOKS THAN ALL OF US… COMBINED.
CURRENTLY PURSUING A DOCTORATE IN SOME ECONOMIC RELATED FIELD THAT MOST OF US WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND
WORKING ON HIS FIRST BOOK WHICH I AM NOT ALLOWED TO TALK ABOUT.HERE’S HOW IT WORKS:
- Once a week I am going to post an answer to a [one] question one of you have asked about anything related to: Politics or Economics. These questions can cover ANY range of sub-related topics.
- In the comment section of the post you may feel free to ask further questions, ask him to clarify a point, argue with him, yell at him and call him whatever names you can think of **best insult may actually get a prize! You can use the comment section as a literal free for all! (Please be aware that George has been known to put people in a verbal headlock and choke them out, be careful with what you say, in other words, know what you’re talking about before calling him an idiot, he will bite back!)
- Maybe we can all learn a thing or two about Economics, Libertarian-ism and Politics!
Let the free for all begin!
Post your questions or comments below and recommend this post if you want others to join in on the conversation!
Comments (15)
Lol, I’m game.
Oh, BTW, George is just hearing about this right now… haha
Are we also going to talk about boobies and hentai?
@ClashoftheTaiten - If you can relate it to politics or economics….
I think you’re more excited about the idea than most people are. People seem mostly apathetic, and rightfully so. They can be as knowledgeable as possible about politics and economics and still only have a single, almost meaningless, vote. There is no incentive to engage, be rational, etc. In a democracy (as opposed to anarchy) people have incentives to make informed life choices. In a democracy they can vote for the most vile dictator and not have the incentive, financial or otherwise, to understand this.
Posts like these won’t be that popular because the purview of “ideas that change the world” are left to politicians most people know little to nothing about. They are not allowed to change the world. It’s not their lot in life. Why challenge it? And with what? A vote? No matter how much MTV suggests them to “rock the vote,” it’s not going to happen. And even if they do “rock the vote,” what then? A less informed moron could “rock the vote” and cancel them out. It’s sad.
So don’t expect much from this. Your faith in the wildfire that good ideas can be may be misplaced. I don’t think anyone wants to take up the challenge. Why should they? They can’t do anything about it but be angry, to themselves, silently.
Could we violently overthrow the government if we convinced enough people that the plan was actionable? No… because though undermining the government has it’s financial benefits (see the Mafia, drug dealers, pimps, etc) these very factions of people have to let the government in on their action. Without crooked cops the Mafia wouldn’t exist. Baptists and bootleggers have similar goals, cops and criminals form a protection racket that increases profit margins and makes their efforts worthwhile.
Is this a moral exhortations for cops not to be crooked? That would be pointless. No, it’s a statement of hopelessness that an idea can bind people to the extent necessary to REALLY CHANGE things. What DOES bind people? Money and power. In revolutionary days we displaced the government of Britain for one of our own. We exchanged one tyranny for another. We are not allowed to go without tyranny altogether.
The opportunity cost of liberty for an individual is their very life. Doesn’t sound like a promising endeavor when we are perfectly capable of getting on with our lives as partial slaves. Yeah, they may accidentally raid our houses, kill our pets, while resisting would be unlawful, but why rock the boat? What if people WANT to be subjugated?? Ever think of that?? Well, have you???
I want money and power. Why can’t I rule the world?
Well, George, I’m curious on your take….. So the price at the pump has gone up as we all know. Would you attribute this to Bernanke’s QE’s, the PIIGS bailouts, or the threat at the Strait of Hormuz? Gosh, maybe it’s a combination…..Hmmm…. could it be our own govt. getting a VAT at the tank?
Thanks.
Serious question for both of you. Why is this called “Ask the Anarchist” when anarchist and libertarians are a bit different?
@Paul_Partisan - I might make that the next question, there IS an answer for that.
Since the dawn of time man has lived in groups or tribes. It was a way for people to survive in numbers. The more the more powerful the tribe. The world has advanced and we still in a way live within these borders or tribes to exist and to find our true identity as a race or group of people.
Do you think that one day these lines that divide us as a group of people, in this crazy world of ours, will one day be erased and then, the true scope of the United Nations will be realized ?
Would you be interested in answering questions from an Anarchistic perspective?
Is the question to be taken as
Would you be interested in answering questions given from an anarchistic perspective?
or
Would you be interested in answering from an anarchistic perspective some questions?
The former is possible of course. I have my doubts about the latter if one is not actually an anarchist.
@catstemplar2 - I love your comment and question…smh…it’s comforting to read something like that. I may even shed some light on that on my blog lol.
I find this blog site interesting and I’m definitely down with vibing with you sir and your followers…minus the “name calling.” Hmmmm, my first question is…(and I may already know the answer, just would like to hear someone else’s voice besides my own)…The cat is out, and many of us (not all) have found out that our Ipads are being developed in sweatshops in China where starting pay is 25 cents an hour. This attention has not caught the American Media’s eye in till 14 Chinese workers committed suicide in relationship to this work environment. Apple being an american based company which operates internationally, we’ve heard the cry of the american people on needing more jobs they’ve managed to outsource this job to a communist country and pay these people chuck change (I guess hence communist huh lol). We’ve constantly heard the bad mouth bickering back and fourth on capital hill and the debates on communist countries such as China and our foreign relations but yet our government and american company’s still allow themselves to sleep in bed with these places. Not only that, for China’s government to ALLOW an American based company to operate in their own backyard and treat their own people inhumanely I wonder what that says to the people of China on their government and the image it paints OUR government in relation. When we reflect on the relationships American company’s had with Germany in the 1940′s and 50′s especially during WW2 this shouldn’t come as no surprise…what is your look on this?
this could be a different debate/conversation on a later-note but this is the reason why I question the Democratic and Republican party and our presidents, they’re just the face and voice of something more evil. In my strong opinion the PresiDENTS of this country and other countries are the governments who really pull the strings.
@georgeme89 - George you’ve made some strong valid points and raised some big questions…I like your way of thinking champ. From your second paragraph on down you have raised some SERIOUS points. Issues I’ve done countless upon countless research and studying on. Not only that, I’m right smack in the middle of many things you’ve spoke of and have scary personal experiences on. They’re issues that need to be answered/addressed properly and so far it has not been in any and or every media outlet and when it has it’s not broken down in its entirety and only explained in one light….anyway I digress.
@Crouchingbigtoe - I’d be interested in getting your views on the subject. Give me a heads up when you post.