I am not an anarchist

[mellowtigger]

There are labels that I gladly accept and others that I reject.

For instance:

• I am not a Democrat. Not since Bernie got sidelined the first time.
• I am a progressive. Meaning I want continuing improvements in response to new empirical knowledge.
• I am #antifa. And you should be too.
• I am not an anarchist.

I should explain that last label, given my longstanding criticism of so many things here in the USA. I want great changes in government and economic structures, yes, but I still want structures. Anarchism has the debatably-laudable goal of making individuals each responsible for all outcomes. It plans to accomplish that goal, thanks to elimination of all hierarchy as a form of coercion. Afterwards, individuals and their choices would be all that matters.

I've recommended the book "The Nature of Economies" by Jane Jacobs many times over the years. It uses easy ecological metaphors to teach ideas that are more complex. I propose a biological metaphor for understanding proposed anarchy. Show me the creature that was formerly a multicellular organism of specialized cells (requiring hierarchy of its own sort) that later backtracked to eliminate that specialization, where each cell becomes master of itself and must negotiate with other cells as equals. Show me how evolution has proved that simplification strategy as more adaptable than advanced specializations, then I'll believe that anarchism is viable at our level too. It seems at first glance, at least, that Mother Nature prefers constant change and reorganization, not mere simplification.

"You've got that eternal idiotic idea that if anarchy came it would come from the poor. Why should it? The poor have been rebels, but they have never been anarchists; they have more interest than anyone else in there being some decent government. The poor man really has a stake in the country. The rich man hasn't; he can go away to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all. Aristocrats were always anarchists."
- G.K. Chesterton

I still believe in the beauty of complex systems, and I still believe in the possibility of their actually serving the long-term needs of constituent components.