Government Will Die

Column by Alex R. Knight III
 
Exclusive to STR
 
But not by way of “Second Amendment remedies” or any such hyperbole. True, there may well (and probably will) be episodes of anti-government violence before we get to the zero-government endgame, but as my last piece here at STR pointed out, violence begets violence. And we know that government, by its very nature is inherently violent. It can exist in no other way.
 
So what makes me so certain that government’s days are numbered? I’m not going to try and replace the Nolan Chart here (Liberal-Centrist-Conservative-Statist-Libertarian), but maybe try updating it a little – this is after all the 21st Century, and the times, they are a-changin’.
 
As I see it, there are essentially four main things going on in two different camps. Those two camps we might call the Statists and the Anti-Statists. In the Statist camp, things have never really advanced beyond the old Left-Right paradigm. There really isn’t, in practical reality – a Ron Paul or a Rand Paul notwithstanding – room for much else within the context of statism. You’re either for a socialist welfare nanny State, or a crony-capitalist militaristic fascist State. Take your pick. I’ll take neither, thanks.
 
With the Anti-Statists, the argument is really only about two things: Small, limited, “constitutional” (in some quarters) government – in other words, minarchy; or no government at all – where all services are provided on a voluntary, free-market basis. In other words, yeah, you guessed it – big, bad ANARCHY! 
 
Thing is, Anarchy is not looking so big or bad any more among the Anti-Statists. It was Anthony Gregory who wrote some while ago that while he was not at all certain whether he would live to see a society not dominated by a government, he was indeed most certain that he would never see a society dominated by a small government. The rest of the Anti-Statist crowd is beginning to catch up with this. In the Anti-Statist camp, anarchism is winning. And the ramifications of this are extremely encouraging.
 
Consider that Alex Jones (Infowars.com) has now featured Stefan Molyneaux (freedomainradio.com) on his program twice now and has even given Stefan’s YouTube videos prime coverage in the days following such an appearance. Stefan is, to my mind, one of the most cogent proponents of Voluntaryism spreading anarchist philosophy today. It is a transmogrification of no small order that Alex Jones and members of his staff are listening seriously to Stefan’s message. Indeed, I’m seeing more and more pro-anarchy posts on Infowars’ message boards. And Stefan told me that each appearance on the Alex Jones show has doubled his Internet traffic. Jones, mind you, has at least a couple of million listeners, and that number is growing all the time. When he appears on a show like Coast to Coast AM, his listenership explodes to at least double that number, likely more.
 
Ten years ago, there might have been one pro-anarchy radio show, and that was only on an obscure shortwave radio frequency. Today, there are Stefan’s podcasts, the No-State Project with Marc Stevens, the Peter Mac Show, and a number of others on the Internet, satellite, AM/FM, and shortwave. The numbers of pro-anarchy websites have increased. The receptiveness anarchism gets on more “traditional” talk radio and in print is gradually increasing. In short, everything is moving in the direction of Anarchy – in some arenas faster than others, but the progress is consistent and unrelenting...as it should be.
 
It’s not long now in my estimation before anarchists close the Anti-Statist gap; before the small-government minarchists either convert, or become wholly irrelevant. Then it’s down to hardcore zero-government libertarianism versus the ever-bickering Left-Right Statists. And guess who I think is going to win?
 
The old guard have had their day; a long, tragic, blood-soaked day of several thousand years and of which no advocate of government can be legitimately proud. Unless, of course, they’re completely insane, and I’m sure not going to rule that out. Certainly, the propagation, for this long, of the violent and illogical disease known as government is not exactly an indication of psychological stability. It is, in fact, monstrous. Barbaric. And at the same time, immensely petty.
 
A new dawn is rising: One in which the life, liberty, and property of each individual will be held sacrosanct; and in which the violent, coercive collectivism of government is as bizarre and antiquated of a concept as is now the idea that the earth is flat, or that tomatoes are deadly poison, or that aviation is impossible. That day is arriving, the day on which government will finally, inevitably die a well-deserved death.
 
And I, for one, can hardly wait.
 

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Alex R. Knight III's picture
Columns on STR: 153

Alex R. Knight III is the author of numerous horror, science-fiction, and fantasy tales.  He has also written and published poetry, non-fiction articles, reviews, and essays for a variety of venues.  He currently lives and writes in rural southern Vermont where he holds a B.A. in Literature & Writing from Union Institute & University.  Alex's Amazon page can be found here, and his work may also be found at both Smashwords and Barnes & Noble.  His MeWe group can be found here.

Comments

KenK's picture

Things must look different from rural Vermont; People in Michigan want lots more government than they have already.

COUNTERTHESPIANAGE.COM's picture

Thank you for this perspective. It truly is a failing proposition to attempt to overpower them. The only way to win is to embarrass the hell out of them.

Paul's picture

I think we have a long haul before what Alex is envisioning comes about. Better to focus on short term survival of anarchism. We have to live side by side with statists for a long time, but we don't have to be dominated by them:
http://www.strike-the-root.com/what-is-to-be-done-with-statists

Anarchism is not going to "win" (that sounds too dominating to me). People will just tire of statism when they realize it is not needed.

BTW I think of minarchists as anarchists-in-training.