Nothing about anarchy guarantees a free and prosperous world. It simply says that each individual should be able to choose what kind of life they want to live, as long as this is done peacefully.
What I didn’t understand before, and now do because of Nicholas Woode-Smith, is that all libertarians are anarchists. Minarchists are the people working to change the system into one where anarchy is possible. It’s a dirty job, but someone has to do it. Anarcho-capitalists are the ones making the case for why living outside of government control is good for you as an individual.
The arguments we end up making are often similar, but a minarchist will introduce a policy of lowering taxes while the anarchist focuses almost exclusively on making the case why living without taxes is a good thing. There are some minarchists who believe that some government is a good thing, but even the most ardent of these do not advocate going after peaceful individuals who have decided to remove themselves from government control. In fact, the minarchist will probably advocate that their state should do nothing to coerce you — the anarchist — from living a peaceful life.
Current political events are where we end up fighting each other the most. We are the tiny ants having an argument among ourselves, while the giant state consumes all before it. These fights are childish.
It’s amazing that living in a statist world we would spend so much time fighting each other. Madness!
That’s why I vote and that’s why I believe in helping each other achieve our common aims. A lot of libertarians live in the rich West, their problems are not as existential as ours — they also have serious problems; I would say the most urgent are the welfare state and central banking — so they can afford to do stupid stuff like vote for Donald Trump over Gary Johnson. Sigh.
They can also afford the luxury to choose not to vote. They’ll get another chance to tell you why you shouldn’t vote in the next few years. It is a luxury we do not have. In a mere five years we might find ourselves facing life or death based on who we vote for. The state certainly thinks voting is important enough to stop you doing it. I wonder why they would waste their time. Must be the failure of central planning to determine value, right?
The truth is, government cares about your vote even if you don’t. They know it’s a weapon you can use against them. So vote, but also practice agorism and respect the sovereignty of others while working on replacing government “services” like welfare through voluntary means.
Here, I will make reference to my friend Trevor Ruddock Black, a true voluntaryist. He has an idea for a community wealth fund that we should start listening to. We need something like that in SA to demonstrate to people what can be done without government, by making their lives better.