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.
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...
FYI John Galt: Most classical political economists such as Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Jean-Baptiste Say, Thomas Robert Malthus, John Stuart Mill, Joseph Schumpeter and Richard Cantillon all warned of "crony-capitalism".
Richard Cantillon (1680 – May 1734) was an Irish-French economist and author of Essay on the Nature of Trade in General, a book considered by William Stanley Jevons to be the "cradle of political economy". "The influence of Cantillon's manuscript was largely unknown and the book had fallen so far into neglect that William Stanley Jevons was said to have "rediscovered" it in the late 19th century." Cantillon, is credited for observing the phenomenon of the “Crown and moneyed elites” disproportionately benefiting from inflation — known as the “Cantillon Effect”. According to the “Cantillon Effect”, the uneven expansion in the money supply benefits those closest to the money—the ruling political class, politically connected corporations, and big banks. These institutions buy financial assets on the cheap and relax as their prices invariably rise. Without doubt Richard Cantillon is considered a de facto “founding member” of the Austrian School of economic reasoning. Carl Menger had a copy of Cantillion’s Essay in his library prior to the publication of The Principles of Economics. William Stanley Jevons dubbed Cantillon’s work the "Cradle of Political Economy." Joseph Schumpeter, described Essay as "the first systematic penetration of the field of economics." Shortly after writing the Essay, Cantillon was murdered under mysterious conditions, and after his murder the Essay remained unpublished for more than 20 years.
The A-word is, as you say, unfairly maligned, but my guess is that it can't be rehabilitated among anyone but those who read columns like yours. But, if it should be replaced, what with? Perhaps something like voluntarist/voluntarism. Or some new word that someone better versed in Greek and Latin than I am, can come up with.
I think that is a horrible term that is ripe for having this particular meaning twisted. People voluntarily vote and file tax returns. We need to cease playing their New Speak games. Anarchy means one thing, always has, always will. As anarchists, it is our duty to clarify and correct, not further cede the language to these control freaks.
Control the language, control the thoughts. Control the thoughts, control the mind. The end goal of New Speak in 1984 was take make dissident thought impossible. Every word we cede is one step closer to that goal.
Do you feel the same about the word "liberal"? Its original meaning is nearly identical to today's "libertarian", but it has been corrupted to mean Big Government. There is at least one self-proclaimed purist out there who insists on correcting any use of the word "liberal" that doesn't conform to the original definition. Do you agree?
I also hate the corruption of words, but believe that ultimately the goal is to communicate, not fight battles over definitions.
I think you will be amused to know that "We had simply traded monarchs for majorities, aristocrats for administrators, and one privileged elite for another" was verbiage from a very early version of the preamble of my entry in the constitution contest. Never let a good piece of prose go to waste, right?
Competitive courts is the harder for me to wrap my head around. One could think that the person how is guilty could take the case to jury that's on his favor so he can't get a free pass. But overall, Anarchy is what we need. Gonzales Prada was right
Sounds good in principle, but what you're probably going to end up with, sooner than later, is warring Daimyo, who ultimately get together to choose a Shogun because too much blood is being spilled.
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.
Please feel free to share that here!
Gladly! I edited my Comment above.
Very nice. I'm an atheist but greatly respect Jesus' teachings, and agree that they are consistent with (or perhaps inexorably woven with) anarchism.
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...
FYI John Galt: Most classical political economists such as Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Jean-Baptiste Say, Thomas Robert Malthus, John Stuart Mill, Joseph Schumpeter and Richard Cantillon all warned of "crony-capitalism".
Richard Cantillon (1680 – May 1734) was an Irish-French economist and author of Essay on the Nature of Trade in General, a book considered by William Stanley Jevons to be the "cradle of political economy". "The influence of Cantillon's manuscript was largely unknown and the book had fallen so far into neglect that William Stanley Jevons was said to have "rediscovered" it in the late 19th century." Cantillon, is credited for observing the phenomenon of the “Crown and moneyed elites” disproportionately benefiting from inflation — known as the “Cantillon Effect”. According to the “Cantillon Effect”, the uneven expansion in the money supply benefits those closest to the money—the ruling political class, politically connected corporations, and big banks. These institutions buy financial assets on the cheap and relax as their prices invariably rise. Without doubt Richard Cantillon is considered a de facto “founding member” of the Austrian School of economic reasoning. Carl Menger had a copy of Cantillion’s Essay in his library prior to the publication of The Principles of Economics. William Stanley Jevons dubbed Cantillon’s work the "Cradle of Political Economy." Joseph Schumpeter, described Essay as "the first systematic penetration of the field of economics." Shortly after writing the Essay, Cantillon was murdered under mysterious conditions, and after his murder the Essay remained unpublished for more than 20 years.
The A-word is, as you say, unfairly maligned, but my guess is that it can't be rehabilitated among anyone but those who read columns like yours. But, if it should be replaced, what with? Perhaps something like voluntarist/voluntarism. Or some new word that someone better versed in Greek and Latin than I am, can come up with.
Agree. Been on this search for a while and the labels are all terrible.
I just read "Enemy of the State," so right now I'm thinking KYFHO might work…! 🤣
I think that is a horrible term that is ripe for having this particular meaning twisted. People voluntarily vote and file tax returns. We need to cease playing their New Speak games. Anarchy means one thing, always has, always will. As anarchists, it is our duty to clarify and correct, not further cede the language to these control freaks.
Control the language, control the thoughts. Control the thoughts, control the mind. The end goal of New Speak in 1984 was take make dissident thought impossible. Every word we cede is one step closer to that goal.
"We need to cease playing their New Speak games."
Do you feel the same about the word "liberal"? Its original meaning is nearly identical to today's "libertarian", but it has been corrupted to mean Big Government. There is at least one self-proclaimed purist out there who insists on correcting any use of the word "liberal" that doesn't conform to the original definition. Do you agree?
I also hate the corruption of words, but believe that ultimately the goal is to communicate, not fight battles over definitions.
Self-control maybe? Or, simply, republic.
I think you will be amused to know that "We had simply traded monarchs for majorities, aristocrats for administrators, and one privileged elite for another" was verbiage from a very early version of the preamble of my entry in the constitution contest. Never let a good piece of prose go to waste, right?
Not the only definition of anarchism. If I remember my Murray Rothbard, this is what he called anarcho-capitalism.
Competitive courts is the harder for me to wrap my head around. One could think that the person how is guilty could take the case to jury that's on his favor so he can't get a free pass. But overall, Anarchy is what we need. Gonzales Prada was right
Sounds good in principle, but what you're probably going to end up with, sooner than later, is warring Daimyo, who ultimately get together to choose a Shogun because too much blood is being spilled.
Thus the cycle starts all over again. Government is basically a domestication of gangs and warlords.
Excellent!