Why I’m No Longer an Anarchist
Let’s talk complication. There’s a whole universe full of it. The material realm in all of its mathematical potentiality and infinite scope is daunting enough. Then, of course, we have the infinite universe within, the stuff of psyche, an undeniable mystery even in the era of neurological imaging advances that are fast surmounting the human imagination. Throw in the realm of relationship and exchange whether personal, social, philosophical, or religious, and we have ourselves an ever shifting puzzle, one I would argue is based on objective truths, but which must be experienced one small bite at a time. I think whatever political or spiritual affiliation one might have, we can at least agree that it’s complicated. Light shouldered purveyors and consumers of oversimplification may naysay, but such objections are flimsy. By the end, not one is spared from complication.
However, that is not the approach most people have with children who are developing on all fronts and thus are vulnerable and sensitive. Rather than frighten the little ones or intimidate them, even if accidentally, humans tend to nurture and instruct them with smaller, easier pieces of information to digest. This approach allows children to gain mastery step by step and feel more sure of themselves in a world that could easily be overwhelming.
There comes an age, however, when the explanations suitable for children sound hollow, shallow, like an insult. Thus enters the tween and teen phases. These young people are too smart to fall for much of the oversimplification they needed at earlier stages and start demanding more complex answers. At the same time, they are developing their sense of individual personality and identity. It’s a recipe for rebellion, and I would argue that all families experience this rebellion to greater or lesser extents, even if it is a soft, well-adjusted sprinkle of rebellion sparkling with smiles and laughs. The rebellion is part of the normal course of human development. This reality is obvious even for people who never raised children themselves. It’s documented in textbooks, complained about by friends, experienced by innocent onlookers, and accepted by the honest as part of their own experience.
It is this trajectory in fact that drew me to anarchism. I outgrew the oversimplification and couldn’t find logical, complex answers fast enough, which led to a long era of almost knee-jerk rebellion. Now, don’t get me wrong here. My point isn’t to disparage rebellion. I think rebellion can be a good thing when it’s logical, based on facts, and is unbiased. Rebellion is part of the human spirit, and it has motivated humans to transcend despair, mediocrity, and oppression throughout the ages. On the other hand, unbalanced rebellion can lead to well-intentioned thinking based on faulty grounds.
That’s one of the reasons why I am no longer an anarchist. Anarchists tend to embrace the young awkward, searching, smart types who aren’t finding acceptance or answers around them. It’s easy for the youth to find friends and a sense of identity among anarchists; it works for the anarchists because they get new converts. Just to be clear, I’m not talking about punk rock or underground music. Rather, it’s the extremist political anarchist scene that presents the problem.
In the anarchist scene, it’s easy to start thinking of oneself as being superior in virtue and intelligence to other people. There are workshops and pamphlets, flyers and records, and books to read after all. Anarchists claim to have real solutions to life’s suffering, and don’t worry, you can wear what you want, scream what you want, and live in whatever crazy way you want (though veganism and black thrift store scraps are highly recommended). This dynamic is really unfortunate because it is taking advantage of the youth’s vulnerability and ignorance. They think they are no longer ignorant because finally they are being treated as adults and are getting more in-depth information, but they have no idea about what they don’t know, such as the very real and extreme dangers and oppression anarchism invites. They may have revolutionary fantasies of pseudo glorious battles where they bravely face down their projected image of the force of unreasonable control, but all too often, when faced with the consequences of real life push back, they are quick to paint themselves as the ultimate victims. It’s a simple dynamic of being too caught up in a scene, which can lead to blindness, an echo chamber if you will. Yes, anarchists read up on their political beliefs, but they are notorious for falling for biased, poorly researched arguments that feature illogical reasoning.
For those who don’t much care about the discourse, Anarchism attracts with its sense of adventure. Shows and workshops are in odd corners of town, and the music can be good. With complaint, comes the vision, and the average anarchist loves to imagine what could be. Depending on the crowd, the adventure Anarchism can offer varies: it could be squatting, train hopping, protesting, direct action, or simply pissing everyone off who ever sought to control one’s creative spirit or outspoken tendencies. For some, the experience makes life more interesting, and they learn more practical things along the way. For others, the story can be bad, with friends dying, drug addiction, and jail time in the mix. Either way, there are so many more deeply satisfying, competence building adventures to be had that don’t involve an anarchist narrative. To be clear, I am not dismissing the importance of live music. I don’t think it’s harmful at all. Rather, I think that it brings a lot of enjoyment to people’s lives. Instead, I want to debunk the narrative that rejecting society is a worthy adventure. I’ve found so much more freedom in simply hiking and camping the local countryside, places where you learn the true kindness and goodwill of your fellow man. I’ve discovered so much more freedom of thought exploring the major libraries and museums. I’ve gained so much more competence trying new challenging activities. I’ve learned so much more about compassion by giving of my time and aid, and hearing about other people’s journeys to help ease the suffering of others.
To be fair, I had a lot of fun during my anarchist days, but I was supporting something that I now see is fundamentally unsustainable, illogical, and dysfunctional. I became an anarchist when I was younger because I was sick of seeing suffering, war, and poverty. I felt like I was surrounded by soulless corporatism that was making people physically and emotionally ill whether they recognized it or not. I didn’t care to notice the important services and goods provided by the corporations and made possible with government funded infrastructure, education, and protection. My mind was elsewhere: I was drawn to artistic souls, free thinkers, and delinquents, who were lots of fun and understood my anger toward rules that didn’t make sense. Then I started coming across anarchist zines and flyers at the record store and shows. The anarchist zines and flyers claimed to have the answer: it was the government’s fault. The solution was living without it, rejecting the system. There were facts presented, but being young, I didn’t have the skills to fact check yet. Because heart and compassion were the motivation, I believed the information without much skepticism. I assumed brave and perceptive people who cared so much would never lie. I began reading political philosophy like Emma Goldman, Bakunin, Chomsky, and even Trotsky and saw myself as better informed than most people who only read what they were told to read, mainstream narratives.
I am no longer an anarchist, but I am not what most people assume: the polar opposite. I am not a fawning government zombie who doesn’t ask questions and blindly loves the status quo. Now, I do believe in government, our government, one designed to protect people’s liberty and equal access to opportunity, but I also think that humans are better able to innovate, care for each other, and prosper with less government intervention and more voluntary contribution. That’s not to say I don’t believe in the government helping people at all. Rather, I see demonstrable proof throughout time that humans do best when given the tools to strive for themselves rather than becoming dependent. In essence, it is like over watering a plant. Too much will stunt the plant’s growth. This belief is based on years of research of multiple perspectives on government, political philosophy, as well as observation of what happens to the most heavily governed nations and cities versus places that have more localized control over the decisions that impact their lives. Places that pedal the victim mentality promise government help. They overspend, over borrow, and over give. It is true that the giving helps people, but it’s always a short term solution so long as people don’t have the means to pull themselves up. When industry is hurting, no one is hiring, people fear gaining competence, or assume that everyone should be working in an ivory tower rather than putting in the elbow grease and getting by with less, then we find people trapped, thinking government money is the solution. In reality, promoting industry, reducing government spending, reducing taxation, and offering merit based promotions can help so much more as these moves work to improve the economy as a whole.
I know that people may interpret this in a twisted way, assuming that I don’t understand the hardship and suffering people go through. That assumption is false. Everyone in this life suffers to greater or lesser extent, and what I have not experienced first hand I have heard about it, read about it, or have had loved ones or acquaintances suffer through it. The suffering breaks my heart, and I know how terribly hard it can be to get anywhere when there are both real and perceived obstacles along the path. It’s just that I don’t see government in and of itself as the ideal solution. Rather, it is over regulation that often makes things harder for people and government overspending that has made the cost of life so expensive that for many the American Dream seems like some cruel joke.
The problem specifically with Anarchism as a political philosophy is that it is irresponsible and dysfunctional at its root despite what people argue. It isn’t simply chaos as some people think. Rather, it is a different beast, one envisioned in different ways, but which is most often explained as being parallel to direct democracy where every single person has a say, and everything is discussed until consensus is reached. With billions on planet earth, this approach is actually recklessly irresponsible. As day after day passes in debate, the people become sitting ducks for attack or simply become victims of fate as they are unable to act quickly, decisively, and safely since they have to wait for everyone to agree. An informed representative government frees communities from this type of disaster.
Another problematic aspect of most anarchist theory is that it is thinly veiled communism. The narrative is that rather than government orchestrating infrastructure and regulating industry (if applicable in that version of anarchism), the people do it collectively and voluntarily based on the concept of mutual aid. Anarcho-syndicalism gets into industry the most and really is akin to anarcho-communism. Both theories want to empower workers so that the workers split all income and responsibility equally, but that approach disincentivizes innovation, is demotivating, and necessitates draconian levels of monitoring and enforcement. It also rewards people equally on the assumption that everyone is honestly doing equal work and deserves the same compensation when in reality, human nature doesn’t work that way. Someone more talented, more educated, or more perceptive who does work that is more vital deserves more compensation than someone who does the bare minimum to not get fired. On the other hand, someone who is putting in more time and more effort should receive more pay than someone who is working less. In a strictly monitored enforced environment of artificial equality, resentment, despair, and corruption are sure to grow.
Green anarchism and primito anarchism are two other catastrophic political theories romanticized by the underground. These theories advocate complete dismantling of industry and a return to preagricultural life with small communities hunting, gathering, and engaging in subsistence farming. Without any regulation whatsoever, just think of the exposed sewage and the tainted produce. When the mass death that would result when the power goes off at the hospitals or the mass starvation some places would experience is mentioned, it is brushed aside as a necessary evil. When mention of attack from hostile powers who don’t buy into the anarchist game is mentioned, they are shrugged off: the people will scramble to the hills. Life becomes a production of survival of the fittest. That uglier side of green anarchism was nothing I wanted to see when I was younger. It was easy to be a utopian idealist when these political philosophies seemed to offer so much.
Another dangerous aspect of the anarchist ideology is its rejection of natural law, aka objective truth. The anarchist believes everyone should be free; therefore, gender is like clothing to wear or to discard. They believe that children who want to change their reproductive organs and pose as a member of the opposite sex should be allowed to without parental consent. It’s a belief system that has opened up dangerous medical procedures to under informed and ill youth. While they are extremely happy at being able to be in control of their own bodies for a while, it all comes crumbling apart later on as countless trans people have expressed in the face of gruesome health problems. Saying this is controversial since it is mainstream, especially in most affluent, urban areas, to be in favor and even to exalt transgender-ism while censoring opposing views. However, I have to wonder why people aren’t recognizing that this world view, so harmful to children, is rooted in anarchist thought and has been popularized by anarchists. It’s another example of the anarchist’s rejection of what is rational and healthy in favor of what is supposed to be a compassionate ideal.
Anarchism promises liberty, yet most self-espoused anarchists are in favor of more government. They say everyone should be free, but there’s a laundry list of things you can’t say, can’t believe, and can’t do. They say they want everyone to be equal, but they mean forced equality, and most haven’t begun to grapple with the implications of that. True forced equality plays itself out with less qualified or talented people getting jobs over people who are more qualified or talented. It means throwing people down who are doing better simply because they are doing better. Enforced equality means that if some people are doing better, then it’s not fair to those who are behind. Natural and fluid hierarchies are ostensibly dismantled, but no mention is ever made of the other hierarchies that naturally take or would take their place, ones in which the PC police and the anarchist holier than thou mentality become their own types of elitism.
When I was an anarchist, it was a common saying that the enemy of my enemy is my friend. For this reason, most serious anarchists will support the enemies of the United States. If these anarchists are less informed, they may support these dangerous groups because their favorite zine or band featured the group(s) as either victims or role models. Back in the day, there were tons of workshops, flyers, book exchanges, bands touring, and soup serving that made anarchism easy to understand, approachable, and fun. The idea that allying with factors who hate the United States government didn’t really factor in as a reality even if everyone seemed to agree that by whatever means, the goal was no government. However, it is a conscious reality for the organizers and rhetoricians who are working to slowly dismantle the United States government. When I became better informed, I discovered gaps of information, twisted facts, illogical thinking, irresponsibility, bias, hypocrisy, and self-centeredness. I couldn’t agree more that things are fucked up in the world, but anarchism isn’t the solution. That which empowers and makes us free comes with hard work, tears, and courage. It also takes clarity. Anarchism seems like a solution to many, but it actually makes people less free.
At the same time, it is important to recognize why we have a government and how important it is to protect the liberties and quality of life that we do have. Things can improve quite a lot, but not if anarchists get the upper hand by dominating the nation’s discourse patterns and ethical policies. They can also get the upper hand by making people hostile to our government seem like the victims or like saints. Anarchism isn’t underground anymore; it’s mainstream.
