--- In LibertarianEnterprise@yahoogroups.com, "Zack Bass" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > --- In LibertarianEnterprise@yahoogroups.com, "Mellony Burlison" > meljb1973@ wrote: > > > > Anarchy doesn't mean no rules, it means no rulers. > > > > Uh-huh so I've heard. Then what's the word I'm thinking of, that > means the absence of enforced Rules? > That would be "Self Government", Zack. It is the activity that comprises 99.9% of your daily activity, i.e. that period of time when the police are not watching you.
Chaos is disorder; such as we see in governmental interference in the market economy, pogrom, genocide and wars between states. Anarchy is the absence of a king or political state. A free market, guided by the invisible hand of price feedback is the classic example of anarchy. Most, by far, human interaction is an-archic. Examples are families, friends and shopping—as none of these require governmental intervention. That is why anarchy is peaceful and orderly, with a rather smooth progression of increasing prosperity." Even driving on the streets and highways can be considered anarchic. Traffic violations sometimes make sensational news, but the vast, overwhelming majority of driving activity is governed by (mostly) reasonable rules and completely unsupervised by rulers of any kind. Indeed, attempts to enforce unreasonable driving rules are often viewed with distain and disobedience. Shaffer's article (below) contains well-considered detail and examples regarding driving behaviors as does this entire article by Brad Edmonds titled Traffic Cops Are Traffic Hazards. ( http://www.lewrockwell.com/edmonds/edmonds144.html <http://www.lewrockwell.com/edmonds/edmonds144.html> ). As Butler Shaffer points out in his excellent article What is Anarchy? (http://www.lewrockwell.com/shaffer/shaffer60.html <http://www.lewrockwell.com/shaffer/shaffer60.html> ): "If we dealt with our colleagues at work in the same coercive and threatening manner by which the state insists on dealing with us, our employment would be immediately terminated. We would soon be without friends were we to demand that they adhere to specific behavioral standards that we had mandated for their lives. Should you come over to our home for a visit, you will not be taxed, searched, required to show a passport or driver's license, fined, jailed, threatened, handcuffed, or prohibited from leaving. I suspect that your relationships with your friends are conducted on the same basis of mutual respect. In short, virtually all of our dealings with friends and strangers alike are grounded in practices that are peaceful, voluntary, and devoid of coercion." He also writes "A very interesting study of the orderly nature of anarchy is found in John Phillip Reid's book, Law for the Elephant: Property and Social Behavior on the Overland Trail. Reid studied numerous diaries and letters written by persons crossing the overland trail in wagon trains going from St. Joseph, Missouri to Oregon and California. The institutions we have been conditioned to equate with "law and order" (e.g., police, prisons, judges, etc.) were absent along the frontier, and Reid was interested in discovering how people behaved toward one another in such circumstances. He discovered that most people respected property and contract rights, and settled whatever differences they had in a peaceful manner, all of this in spite of the fact that there were no "authorities" to call in to enforce a decision. Such traits went so far as to include respect for the property claims of Indians. The values and integrities that individuals brought with them were sufficient to keep the wagon trains as peaceful communities." Those who still fear anarchy should ask themselves the following four questions—and answer them: 1: If the government magically disappeared overnight, would you immediately rush out to rob, rape, pillage, murder? 2: Would you expect your family and friends to immediately rush out to rob, rape, pillage, murder? 3: Would you want to be able to protect yourself and your family from those who would act that way? 4: Don't you have to be able to protect yourself and your family even now while waiting for the 911 calls to be answered? As someone half mockingly asked, "Oh. So you mean anarchy is pretty much like what we have now, except we wouldn't have to pay half of our income in taxes for it?" ***** Dennis
