How One Agorist Cares

I openly believe that in order to truly bring about a voluntaryist, stateless, anarchist society, the state will have to grow more tyrannical first. Because of this, many people accuse me of caring about an idea more than individuals. Yet this is the exact reverse of my sympathies. Its because of the individuals that I care about the idea; indeed, to lose focus on the plight of the individuals in pursuit of an idea would be a great folly, but one I do not believe I'm committing.

Its an unfortunate thing that people, not all, but what tends to be the majority in my observations, accept evil up until the point their survival is endangered. Look at the history of people complying, not necessarily endorsing evil actions. Examine how people consider the evil actions of the American Empire. Contemplate that utilitarian economic arguments persuade people to anarchism more than natural rights ethical arguments. Even I was guilty. In time, I became radicalized and stand by ethical arguments more, but when attempting to provide information to another for them to change their mind, I do my best to remember the economic arguments.

This is why I believe the counter-economy, with an agorist vanguard, is the most likely way the state will be ended. People being forced into the counter-economy due to an increasingly tyrannical, interventionist state will be breaking the statist law to survive. It has happened historically and can, and I believe will, happen again. The problem has always been preventing the next state, hence the agorist vanguard educating people about anarchism.

However, as I mentioned at the beginning, the state has to get very tyrannical before it collapses. This is horrible for the individual suffering at the hands of the state. Yet it must not be forgotten why this is. The state has lost its veneer of legitimacy and is losing support. It must rely upon entirely brute force to survive. Without the loss of legitimacy, the state continues its tyranny, subtle, but violent to the core. More individuals are harmed in the long-run by a minarchist state, with their posterity inheriting the violent tyranny. More wealth is lost as time continues, building upon past loss wealth. Prosperity and ethics are subtly reduced. Just think of how much different the last 100 years could look like without statist actions. Or two hundred. The violence the state exerts in its last days of brute strength seems horrid, and it certainly is, but its also obvious. The violence the state exerts in its long reign over individuals and posterity is equally horrid, but its subtle and not seen for what it is. The tyranny of a dying state is immediate, but its soon to end (with the door then being open to statelessness or a new state which begins increasing tyranny).

However, not only is the tyranny immediate, but a caring agorist has numerous incentives to provide protection for people as the tyranny increases. As the agora grows, businesses will develop to hide people and actions from the state, publicize aggression by the state, and eventually, physically protect them from statist actions.

To put it in an analogy, society, composed of individuals, is diseased by a parasite, the state. It distorts one's limbs and makes one less efficient and, therefore, less prosperous. However, there is a cure. Unfortunately, its a painful cure. Doctors have learned that amputating your limbs in certain areas will allow the parasite to be stopped. You still have time before it consumes your entire body. It will be painful. But there's an anesthesia called agorism to lessen the pain of removing this life-threatening parasite.