| | Jason writes: " The key error in most of the posts I see written by anarchists is that they act as if all governments are equally evil. They fail to see any significant differences in the evil of say, the USA and The People's Republic of China (Michael Marotta tried to make this argument recently on another thread). The fact is we would not be back at square one. We would have at best a totalitarian government controlled by some dictator or monarch. It took thousands of years for the constitutional republic and semi free trade (and all of the benefits that go along with it) to develop in the West and under these circumstances it might well take thousands of years for them to redevelop."
I do not believe that all governments are equally evil, any more than someone who believes in limited constitutional government believes that all governments not so limited are equally evil.
Furthermore, constitutional republicanism and semi-free trade took thousands of years to develop not because of institutional requirements, but because of changes in culture. It is culture, which exists largely outside the State, that either forces the State to retract or allows it to expand.
Western civilization has undergone dramatic changes in its cultural makeup, and so it would not take thousands of years to recreate the relative political freedom we enjoy.
It took humans thousands of years to realize that government was something that wasn't categorically righteous and godlike, to see that government existed outside of society to a degree and did not embody the best of humanity simply by its governmental nature. And, perhaps it will take that long for people to realize that States, by their very nature, are not only imperfect, but criminal. When this happens States will cease to be. I do not expect it any time soon, for I am not unrealistic. A thousands years ago, those who sought liberty and limited government would have similarly been unrealistic if they had expected something like the Bill of Rights to emerge overnight. Three hundred years ago, it was unrealistic to believe slavery could end overnight. However, those who believed in liberty were right, regardless of the culture around them. And those of us who today oppose all institutionalized coercive violence are right, regardless of what most people might think.
Moreover, one doesn't even have to believe anarchy is possible, except in the most theoretical sense, to be an anarchist. Most people would characterize themselves as anti-murder, even as they would concede that murder will likely be with us for all forseeable time to come. To be opposed to States, all States, is not to have one's head in the clouds, but simply to have a strong ethical principle by which to measure the ethical qualities of the States that do exist, and to analyze political questions. Limited government, too, is somewhat a fantasy in today's world. But to believe strongly in it is not the same as thinking it will happen any time soon.
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