71 lines
4.2 KiB
Plaintext
71 lines
4.2 KiB
Plaintext
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-= The True Nature of Government =-
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by ???
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What is the state? The state is a concept. There is no physical person or
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object to which we can assign the label "government". Government is an idea.
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The physical manifestation of this idea is the network of people and
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institutions which enforce this idea upon the people.
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The state is a myth. The myth goes something like, "because people are
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incapable of making rational decisions, a small group of people must be given
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control over the decisions of everyone else." It is self-contradictory, and
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yet billions of people the world over have bought into this myth. It is
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frighteningly reminiscent of the _doublethink_ of Orwell's 1984. Doublethink
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means the holding of two contradictory external opinions with no internal
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conflict between the two. A perfect example is, "If left alone, people will
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not make rational decisions" [but] "A government can make rational decisions
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for everyone". The reason these two thoughts never clash in the minds of
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millions is because many people don't make the essential connection: that the
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government is made up of people -- people who, if the myth is correct, will
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only act in their own self-interest and cannot be trusted. The state,
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unfortunately, has achieved godlike status in today's society. Patriotism and
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nationalism have become a kind of sick religion -- an idolatry of power. The
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idea of the state is a self-propagating idea.
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The word radical comes from the latin "radix", meaning "root". Anarchists
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and other radicals are concerned with getting to the root of the problem rather
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than just patching up holes in a collapsing system. Simply trying to improve
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conditions under government, while necessary, is like trying to treat the
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symptoms rather than curing the disease. Rather than attacking the physical
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manifestations of the state, then, we must attack the very concept of state --
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the idea that people are naturally at each others' throats and would sooner
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kill each other than help each other. If we can rid ourselves of this
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destructive concept, we can rid ourselves of the curse of government.
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If the state is a concept, then we must fight it with out hearts, with our
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minds, and with our voices as our first priority. First get the state out of
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your head. Then get the state out of other's heads. The state utilizes media
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control tactics and the public education system for social programming and
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behavioral conditioning. They use these methods to strip citizens of their
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identities and replace them with an unhealthy respect for government and
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authority, to make them better subjects to their oppressors.
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Some anarchists speak of "waiting for the revolution", or waiting for the
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working class to spontaneously rise up and break their chains. Those who wait
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around for it to happen may never see it. The revolution is happening now.
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The state is collapsing, not all around us, but within us and within others.
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Just as no one could have predicted the opening of the Berlin wall or the
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fall of the Soviet Union until they happened, no one can possibly predict
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whether the actual, physical transition to anarchy will happen tomorrow, ten
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years from now, or a hundred years from now. As the concept of state continues
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to crumble, the physical state is forced to rely more and more on police and
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military force. As people become increasingly dissatisfied with the
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restrictions placed on their lives, the government will have two choices.
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The state could merely give up and give people what they want,
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self-government, or the government could strengthen itself. The government
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could begin to enforce government by military strength alone, having lost the
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confidence of the people. If the state persues this course, silencing all
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dissent, eventually everyone will be in prison.
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If it does come down to a war against our oppressors, we will be ready. We
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far outnumber them, and their only power lies in our complicity.
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If the state is a concept, then the most subversive, revolutionary thing we
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can do right now is to encourage people to think for themselves. The state
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uses violence, hatred, and fear to spread their message. Our message is peace,
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love, and liberty. We must succeed.
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