Okay, so you wanna know what the real problem with the Government is? It’s that it exists. No, seriously, let’s think about this. Who wages wars? The Government. Who oppresses billions throughout the world? The Government. Who serves as the most effective tool for power-hungry elite to maintain control over everyone else? The Government. Who is responsible for the murder and incarceration of our greatest heroes from Socrates to Jesus to Eugene Debbs to Nelson Mandela? The Government. Who has sheltered people they know are evil (like high-ranking Nazis or brutal dictators) in order to further their own agenda? The Government. But I digress.
I’m pretty sure we’re all aware that our rulers don’t always have our best interests or the good of the world in mind when they make our laws. This is half of what’s so frustrating about trying to explain being an anarchist to someone. I mean, we know that the government is evil, but for some reason, if I declare that we shouldn’t have one, people assume I wanna blow shit up.
Well… The more reasonable people start talking about how government is a “necessary evil” to prevent psychopaths from killing us in our sleep. But then again, isn’t it the government that made it possible for one psychopath to kill millions of Jews? And really, do we seriously think our next-door neighbors are sitting there thinking “Gee, I sure would like to go kill that guy, but that’s against the law. Oh, well, guess I can’t do that.” Because I’m not thinking that, and to the extent that I’m aware of what they’re thinking, I can say that none of the people I know personally are thinking that. On the other hand, I get the distinct feeling that there are people in our government thinking, “Gee, I’d like to kill my next door neighbor. But people might frown on that. On the other hand, if I kill all these people halfway around the world, I could probably convince most people that that was cool. After all, I did convince them that they need me to tell them what to do.”
So as I see it, I’d much rather that small portion of our population that wants to murder, rape, and pillage be forced to go for it on a person to person basis instead of giving them a perfect tool to seriously murder, rape, and pillage. But hey, that’s just me.
“But how would things work without a government?” you might ask. Well, first off, I’d like to reiterate that things aren’t really “working” with a government. Well, unless your idea of “working” is that your own comfort be maintained and who gives two shits about who might have to suffer for it, it’s not working. But as to exactly how anarchy would work, I have to admit I don’t really know. The whole point of anarchism is that we can’t just create this big system of how everything “works” and forcibly apply it to large populations of people. The idea is that different communities and different people work in different ways. That people are perfectly capable of solving their own problems, or getting help from their fellow people when they can’t do it on their own.
Basically what I’m saying is that we humans are pretty f@#$ing smart and capable creatures. We have the capacity and the motivation to just work together for a better world. But as long as we allow a small group of rulers to decide how we should live, it ain’t gonna happen. Because that small group of rulers, no matter how well-intentioned or good-hearted (which most of them aren’t, because most well-intentioned and good-hearted people don’t want to have power), can’t create a system of law that accounts for, and meets, the vastly different wants and needs of each individual person and community.
Well, there ya go. That’s my two cents. Now I’m sure some of you might find my arguments to be simplistic. To that I’ll say, one: I’m sure you’re smart enough that if you really think about it you could follow the relatively natural progression from my simple arguments to the complex rhetoric you would apparently prefer. Secondly, here’s a much more simplistic argument. If I have two pears and someone gives me three pears, I’ll have five pears. Therefore two plus three equals five. Now was that argument false?
“I fought the law and… I WON!”- Me
“Radical Andy is the author of the book ‘Anarchist Propaganda’ which can be ordered from most bookstores or at www.publishamerica.com and you can find out more about him at
The Problem with Government
A preview of the book Anarchist Propaganda
By Radical Andy
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN DAIZZEEz DIRRT AROUND 2005
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