Anarchism, Libertarianism, and Ron Paul

I’ve always been somewhat sympathetic to anarchism.  It is a very old political philosophy that says we can live well without a central government.  Our government would be localized, community-wide, small scale.  Anarchism often is popular in mining towns, lumber camps, and fishing villages--places where people who are interdependent realize they can live without a far-away government telling them what to do.

I stayed one night in Austin, Nevada, 90 miles from the nearest hospital.  Ten percent of the population of Austin, 90 out of 900 people, were certified EMTs.  Austin was the kind of place where anarchism might work.

For anarchism to succeed you need three prerequisites.  The first is a small population.  A large population requires a power grid, turnpikes, sewage plants, what we call infrastructure.  Secondly, you’ll need a simple economy--preferably pre-industrial.  You won’t be trading with China, and you won’t have a Wal-Mart.  Finally, you must have  people who share the same values. People must really like each other for anarchism to work.

The Amish could do it.  They meet all three criteria, and they would hardly notice if the federal or state government disappeared.  The problem is, of course, most of us don’t want to live like the Amish.  We like our electricity, our cars, our imported wines, and our cities.

Libertarianism has no relationship to anarchism.  Libertarianism emphasizes the individual over the community.  It preaches that any person can do what he or she wants just as long as that doesn’t interfere with someone else.  If you make more than a million a year, Libertarianism may be the political philosophy for you, since you don’t need public schools, public housing, health care, social security, national parks, police protection, or any of the many other services government provides.  You can pay for them yourself.

Why ordinary middle class people would support a Libertarian candidate is beyond me.  Ron Paul is not an anarchist who advocates community government.  He is a Libertarian who supports a society where the rich live the high life and live in comfort, while the rest of us fight for the scraps.  The fact that he has raised millions of dollars, and his son, a U.S. Senator, preaches the same doctrine, are both illustrations that the U.S. is hurtling over the precipice.