tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8353225052029668680.post4270580857525799084..comments2023-10-17T02:14:34.998-07:00Comments on Alliance for the Advancement of the Agora: A Defense of Agorism as a Consistent Strategy of Counter-Economics and Libertarianismalliancehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00798592039246307932noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8353225052029668680.post-77673121853953585452011-02-19T10:34:40.170-08:002011-02-19T10:34:40.170-08:00OSE is a gray market project already. It's als...OSE is a gray market project already. It's also a principled activity, if not specifically possessed of "libertarian consciousness" then of something very near to it. Avoidance of taxation and regulation is an explicit part of their strategy. They are a very good example of an "unknowing agorist" - one with both counter-economic means and ethical consciousness.Nphyxxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12813167090805535782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8353225052029668680.post-37685277244420110272011-02-16T18:36:06.254-08:002011-02-16T18:36:06.254-08:00A new development is the actual emergence of what ...A new development is the actual emergence of what Alvin Toffler called "prosumption" (production for one's own consumption) in his 1979 book, The Third Wave.<br /><br />The Open Source Ecology guys at openfarmtech.org were voted top Green Project by the DIYers at Make Magazine for their Global Village Construction Set. <br /><br />Their ambitious plan is to live a comfortable high tech lifestyle using free open source software and hardware designs, local resources for everything, with the lowest overhead possible. <br /><br />Widespread adoption of their methods, if proven successful, will remove the need for taxable income and it should work on cheap land with very little property tax.<br /><br />The final result may be the utter smashing of the State without much in the way of smuggling or immoral shenanigans.<br /><br />That would be a real treat.permakenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07281465826940745571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8353225052029668680.post-65227023783696292382011-02-16T17:46:29.257-08:002011-02-16T17:46:29.257-08:00An oppressive -- even a totalitarian state -- can ...An oppressive -- even a totalitarian state -- can tolerate a thriving black market; in fact, there is an argument to be made that since command economies violate fundamental economic laws and create massive misallocations of resources and consequent underproduction of anything people want and need that a thriving black market is actually an enabler of the above-ground oppression. The way Mafioso and drug lords buy off law-enforcement officers and judges regularly is a testament to the symbiosis between an oppressive state and a criminally-run black market.<br /><br />What takes counter-economics out of this paradigm as a strategy for freedom, and Agorism out of this paradigm as a social movement, is that bringing morally self-conscious actors into the black market brings arbitral dispute settlement and stable predictability into the equation, and enables the expansion of markets by drawing new capital into the underground economy that would normally avoid such high-risk investments.<br /><br />Bringing law and order to the black market is what makes CounterEconomics distingishable and possible from the normal criminal-run "black market" -- or, to use Samuel Edward Konkin III's distinction, the "red" market.<br /><br />The market is only truly "black" -- run under the black flag rather than the jolly roger -- when underground markets are more lawful than the capricious and tyrannical rules of the aboveground economy.J. Neil Schulmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13967846232457955275noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8353225052029668680.post-84782461384191985462011-02-16T11:56:03.839-08:002011-02-16T11:56:03.839-08:00Excellent elucidation, Ethan! I've encountered...Excellent elucidation, Ethan! I've encountered far too many individuals (champions and critics alike) who are deeply confused about the perversity represented by "agorism" divorced of libertarian principles. Thank you for pointing out that agorism is NOT just any counter-economic activity, devoid of morality or goal; but rather the consistent practice of radical libertarianism with the formation of a free-market stateless society as its ultimate goal.Robbie Revenanthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08270506000064741000noreply@blogger.com