The A Word (Gasp)
Most people think of mustachioed men with Molotov cocktails or, worse, a civilization that has fallen into chaos. We're talking about markets in governance.
Anarchy has a bad reputation. Most people think of mustachioed men with Molotov cocktails or, worse, a civilization that has fallen into chaos.
But that’s not what we have in mind.
Anarchism is rules without rulers—a condition marked by five basic features:
Non-Monopoly. There is no monopoly on enforcement powers; instead agencies compete for your custom within customary law.
Right of Exit. The right to leave a system that isn’t working, perhaps to join another system.
Association by Agreement. Contracts, not compulsion, establish legal relationships. Communities, not compulsion, establish cultural ties.
Private Property. The primacy of private property with provisions for creating commons and club goods where necessary.
Competitive Courts. Competing entrepreneurial legal services and courts resolve disputes and enforce agreements.
But what about democracy?
argues that “the era of democracy must end” because,[We] had simply traded monarchs for majorities, aristocrats for administrators, and one privileged elite for another. We are still abused and oppressed. Our fate is still in the hands of people who claim a “right” to rule over us.
Cook is correct.
The next stage of social evolution needs to be post-democratic—rules without rulers.
No system is perfect, of course.
As I have written elsewhere, anarchy is more like a North Star than a destination, and we will have to continue to tinker, face setbacks, and move in the right direction. If we ever find ourselves in such a state (no pun), we would still have to improve continuously.
Like markets in TVs and toasters help these items improve with time, such will be the nature of markets in governance.
Tackling the confusion about the terms, "anarchy/anarchism," was the first thing I did in my first Substack post. Yes, it's that important. (link shared at Max's request; thanks :-) https://goodneighborbadcitizen.substack.com/p/the-good-neighbor-bad-citizen-journey )
I like your treatment of it, Max.
In the US school children are taught about Sacco & Vanzetti who were leftist anarchists; they were also Italian in a time of extreme prejudice. That's likely why that is the perception that people have.
Like a clock that is right once-a-day, S & V saw the cronyism of American capitalism and rejected the whole notion of it. All roads lead to crooked government circle-jerking with crooked business people enabling fast scaling with little competition. A better system of rules needs to bake that it in...