2004–10–23

Anarchism and Liberalism

Okay, well, I think this is the text supplement to the podcasts on Anarchism. The Sister Novena writes

“I have heard and understood the many arguments in favor of anarchism / greenism / libertarianism / general third-party-ism / conscientious non-voterism. I respect your opinions; I wish you success. But this is just not the time for liberal infighting – this year these arguments are inappropriate and destructive.”

I think this illustrates that you do not really understand… at least the anarchist perspective and probably that of the greens as well. Anarchists are not liberals so we are not engaged in liberal infighting at all. Let me say that again, anarchists are not liberals. For me it’s not a question of the lesser evil in terms of candidates, it’s a question of the system.

Liberals make this same argument every four years though I can see that the level of desperation is higher with Bush. What liberals seem incapable of understanding is that by playing the game nothing ever changes. If Kerry gets elected he’ll make the adjustments, apply the band-aids and otherwise steer the ship of state in such a direction that it becomes temporarily more tolerable. The liberals will sit on there asses and accept that their guy is now in power and they’ll go back to their lives of working/consuming/procreating.

I’ve known many anarchists that attempt to live lives of action based upon their principles. They do not just sit around the dinner table masterbating. The work hard in their communities to create alternative institutions such as media co-ops, housing co-ops, garden networks, micro-radio stations, etc…. the point is that they work hard on a day-to-day basis in an effort to create a very different kind of world. They are citizens every day… they vote every day with their actions in their community. There is a fundamental difference here. Anarchists believe that we need to directly create the world we want rather than vote in the hope that professional legislators will legislate the world we want.

To put it simply, we refuse to wait for others to create something that we can do ourselves. Furthermore, we believe that if a significant number of people did this we could have a very different world. The fact that the majority of people choose not to engage their community as active citizens as the problem. Liberals fall down flat on their faces here. Liberals that we can do noting but vote. Some do work within the proper channels of the Democratic party between the elections and some may even volunteer. But the foundation of the liberals is a fundamental acceptance of the structures that exist. Liberals have no vision of how a radically restructured society might be more democratic and more reflective of the needs of the majority… they sit happily in the boat of the two party system.

This is not, as the Sister Novena suggests, “making an academic point”. Anarchists do not just talk about how the world should be different. She states:

The point is, your academic theories do nothing to help real people who face real consquences. I would truly love for a third party to eventually become a genuine alternative for Americans; I think it’s going to prove a very hard row to hoe, but it’s a laudable goal and I have immense admiration for those people who are pursuing it meaningfully and in a genuine spirit of social betterment.

My response is that your thinking in the above statement proves my point. There is another way! As a society we need to turn off the television and step into our community. We need to create community institutions that deal with those real people you speak of directly. We need to do this as in you and me and Mat and Morgan and Jessica and my brother and my sister and my mom and my dad and your mom and your cousin. We need to stop thinking in terms of parties. It’s not about the parties at all, it’s about people in their communities creating an entirely different culture, a culture of cooperative action. Liberals will likely scoff at such notions as impossible. What, you want us to actually do something?

Yes. Step outside of your mental prison. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again many, many times: there is more to citizenship than voting. Being a citizen should be a part of our everyday life. It should be in our thoughts and our actions. Creating better cities and neighborhoods and towns should be a priority over watching the latest reality garbage spoonfed by Fox.