So, you want to secede? Your differences with some government or other are irreconcilable, and you want a divorce, but you don’t know how? The usual methods are messy, and involve lawyers. You’ll spend a lot of money and time, years of draining effort, endure painful negotiations, and hope that at the end of it all, you’ve convinced enough of the right people to sign off on your wishes. You’ll have no idea if, when, and at what cost the final victory will come. You may even have to fight a war before it is all over.
Would you like an easier way? A way that puts you in control, that allows you to secede entirely on your own initiative? Do you want to start right now, from where you currently live, without the hassle of figuring out how to divide the house? Do you want to spend your time and money building a new life and a prosperous future instead of buying your ex’s lawyer’s next BMW? Do you want to separate in a way that deprives your ex, the state, of the resources it needs to keep hounding you?
Agorism may just be the answer you are looking for. Think of it as a DIY divorce, free from political and legal wrangling and compromises among competing factions, and without the risk of a power vacuum into which the next up and coming wannabe tyrantcan step. The resources you use remain yours, and build over time. They are not spent on flyers and events and donations, they are invested. They are invested in you.
What is a state, really? It’s a bunch of people, operating under a certain set of rules, perhaps with a shared culture and set of norms. It is a set of mechanisms for enforcing laws, regulating economic activity and money, maintaining geographical integrity, and collecting resources to do all of this via taxation. Some of these things are necessary to any kind of society, others are nothing more than means arbitrarily chosen by a state to try to create the first set of things. They are the wrong means.
The great insights of market anarchism are that rules can be enforced by individuals without centralized law, that markets can self-regulate economic activity and money, that taxes are just theft that allow the non-productive to live off the work of the productive, and that geographical integrity is only necessary to the flawed means chosen by states.
Agorism has a simple answer to freeing one’s self from those flawed means: Just stop. Don’t participate in top down legal enforcement, start enforcing the rules you need for your life from the bottom up, with your own resources. Don’t allow economic regulators to rule your life and your trade and your money, regulate them yourself via markets, relationships, and real money such as silver. Start paying for the things you need yourself, while refusing to pay for those things that others want. Free yourself from the bonds of geographical monopolies and declare that wherever you are, right here and right now, is your own country of one. Let a billion nations bloom.
OK, you didn’t really expect a free lunch, did you? It’s never that simple, except in principle. It takes work, sweat and toil, risk, and planning ahead to achieve the things you want, even those things you have a right to. It’s a process, not a single event. There are basically two processes, done in tandem, and that build upon each other. One is reducing those areas of your life that fall under the control of the state, and removing the remainder from state control. The other is moving those things into another realm, one in which you are in control, you make the decisions, and you reap the rewards. The first reduces the power the state has over you, and over others, by draining resources away from the state that would use them against you. The second builds a new life, the kind we were told as kids was possible in a “free” country where you could be anything you wanted to be. And it creates a society, and a culture, that will already be in place and moving forward on that happy day when states begin collapsing all around us.
Reducing your “lifestyle footprint” in the state controlled sphere frees up your time to act in the free domain. It makes you more agile, more flexible, better able to respond to both opportunities and threats. Are you in debt? Eliminate it, as soon as humanly possible. Debt is the greatest enslaver of mankind. Do you maintain a rich lifestyle dependent on a high income? Cut back as far as you can stand. You won’t have to give those things up for long, you are only reducing them on one side so you can build them up on the other. Is your job tying you down to a fixed schedule, W-4 or 1099 forms, bosses or clients who will never go along with your agorist goals? Re-orient your career to a freelance, or purely entrepreneurial form, or even a different field entirely.
At the same time, begin building yourself up on the free side of life. Learn to handle silver. Just buy a little every so often at first. Learn the pricing structure of bullion and “junk” US Silver coins. Learn how silver feels in your hand, and that satisfying llittle “tink” sound it makes when struck. This is the beginning of your agorist nest egg. Start learning new tradable skills, different than the ones you currently make your living with, to allow a greater range of options. Seek out like-minded people and opportunities to trade. Learn to explicitly assess your trust in them, and to communicate that trust to others in an objective way free of malice or gossip. The most basic infrastructure of agorism is relationships and trust. It is never too early to begin laying those foundations.
Consider your earliest interactions as practice, as opportunities to share in the learning of skills that will be needed as you move to a more and more agorist lifestyle. Make free, unhindered trades for the fun of it, and to learn the details and techniques that make such trade move more smoothly. Use this to build up a network of trusted associates, and maybe some not so trusted. Look for fellow travelers in your community, who may not care about agorism per se, but are willing to work outside the system. Learn to keep your data, communications, and plans secure through encryption, and to selectively reveal them to others based on trust. Learn to think of the pricing of goods and services in terms of silver or gold, rather than dollars.
Most agorists are currently operating in this stage zero of agorism. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, and there is a constant itching to get out there and do something. However, If you have debt, if you maintain a rich lifestyle, the demands these place on you will thwart your efforts to free yourself at every turn. If you don’t have a network of friends and trading partners, you’ll find your opportunities for agorist expansion limited. This is the stage for preparing the ground, laying foundations for future building. It’s a time of learning skills and techniques, of meeting new people who share the agorist vision. It is a time for learning to think and act in a new way, for getting used to ignoring the state and becoming comfortable with the risks and the opportunities that entails. It is a time for learning to think of creative, bottom-up market solutions instead of top-down coercive solutions.
As your abilities and options grow, you will begin to use these networks and skills to get real work done, to build income and capital. You will begin to need some kind of physical and/or formal abstract infrastructure to facilitate your activities. The main categories of infrastructure are in the areas of security, currency, trade, transportation, communication, dispute resolution, and land. Build what you need, as you need it, but don’t build any one area out fully in anticipation of future needs. Let them grow organically, holistically, and in sync with each other, to serve the needs you have at any given stage of your own agorist development. Co-opt existing infrastructure when you can, or when you need to until you can build your own. Also, remember that others will need this infrastructure as well, so there is entrepreneurial opportunity there.
Success will breed more success. Those on the political fence will begin to see greener pastures on our side, misery, fear, and want on the other. The slow trickle of resources being withdrawn from state control will become a stream, then a torrent, then an exodus. Government will become weak, then crippled, then entirely impotent. One day you’ll wake up and realize that the state has withered on the vine, that you have built a new society and a new culture free from its incessant interference in your economic and social life.
We are now approaching six centuries after the printing press freed information and inquiry from the control of the elites in state and church. The world has built societies that those elites could never have imagined. What could we build within a mere six decades of the dawn of the internet and its freeing of information and relationships from the bonds of mass and distance? Would we recognize it if we could see it today?
It won’t take six decades to start to see real results in an agorist life, if we start today. We can begin to see them almost immediately. We can do it, but we can’t do it for you. Each of us has to build that world for ourselves. We can cooperate in the effort, we can mutually benefit from voluntary trade, we can build on each other’s successes and innovations. But we have to build it, we cannot wait for others to build it for us. Those who do wait will find themselves excluded from it, until such a day as it is all around them and they are dragged kicking and screaming into it. It is inevitable, and necessary if the human race is to survive and to continue advancing, to continue prospering. But inevitable does not mean imminent. It won’t happen until somebody picks up the tools and starts the work. It can happen in our lifetimes if we make it happen, but it won’t happen until we do.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Pronunciation of Agorism
Due to the nature of the internet being crucial in education of liberty-oriented ideas, many individuals have had to teach themselves the pronunciation of various names and words. When FSP activists started speaking to each other, many had to teach others the proper pronunciations of such names and words, such as Mises and Keynesian. One word, however, has had a split on proper pronunciation: agorism.
On one side, with Jack Shimek and the Shire Activists leading the way, is the pronunciation as similar to the word agora itself: uh-GOR-ism. On the more popular side, with Keeniacs leading the way, is the pronunciation as A-gor-ism.
I've attempted to research the pronunciation of the word online, but to no avail; I've tried to inquire as to which pronunciation SEKIII used from various contemporaries of his, but from what I learned even he used both pronunciations.
What is interesting are the divisions that have occurred, coincidentally for sure, along line of pronunciation preference. For example, the former advocate more secretive businesses while the latter advocated more public businesses, mixing agorism and civil disobedience. The former advocate their secrecy on reasonable grounds of protection from the state. The latter are influenced by Keeniac tendency to commit civil disobedience, but I'm also of the belief that openness is a protection in itself as well as a form of education to inspire others to join the agorist economy. If one is public enough, people will notice when the state acts against them and knowledge can spread, allowing a response to be better planned.
This pronunciation-divide, as a result, could easily turn into a way of differentiating forms of agorism amongst secretive vs open, a shibboleth amongst our own. So, are you an uh-GOR-ist or an A-gor-ist?
On one side, with Jack Shimek and the Shire Activists leading the way, is the pronunciation as similar to the word agora itself: uh-GOR-ism. On the more popular side, with Keeniacs leading the way, is the pronunciation as A-gor-ism.
I've attempted to research the pronunciation of the word online, but to no avail; I've tried to inquire as to which pronunciation SEKIII used from various contemporaries of his, but from what I learned even he used both pronunciations.
What is interesting are the divisions that have occurred, coincidentally for sure, along line of pronunciation preference. For example, the former advocate more secretive businesses while the latter advocated more public businesses, mixing agorism and civil disobedience. The former advocate their secrecy on reasonable grounds of protection from the state. The latter are influenced by Keeniac tendency to commit civil disobedience, but I'm also of the belief that openness is a protection in itself as well as a form of education to inspire others to join the agorist economy. If one is public enough, people will notice when the state acts against them and knowledge can spread, allowing a response to be better planned.
This pronunciation-divide, as a result, could easily turn into a way of differentiating forms of agorism amongst secretive vs open, a shibboleth amongst our own. So, are you an uh-GOR-ist or an A-gor-ist?
Difference Between Counter-Economy and Agorist Economy
A growing tendency among counter-economists or anarchists introduced to agorism is to confuse the terms of counter-economy and agorism. A simple reading of Konkin would resolve this matter, but many are too busy to read through the theory of the ideas. Simply put, the counter-economy refers to either uneducated underground economic actions, whether intentional or not, and those who study the counter-economy (a lesser used definition). Agorism refers to underground economic actions done intentionally to weaken the state. I will be using the former definition of counter-economist within this article. Therefore, the counter-economist economy is the underground economy while the agorist economy is the section of the underground economy of people acting to end the state.
It is important to not confuse the two because a counter-economist does not necessarily have the ethics of an agorist and can create bad PR for agorists, rat out an agorist to protect themselves, and/or may lead to the creation of a new state. At the same time, it is crucial to work with and amongst the counter-economists to grow the counter-economy and agorist economy.
Because a counter-economist does not act to end the state, it is also likewise that they are more willing to act in a way that results in bad PR. This can mean using violence or unsavory business practices such as racial discrimination or not paying an employee in order to make a profit.
A counter-economist is in the counter-economy for one reason: survival. It is an entirely economic decision to provide for themselves, and possibly their family, so that they can live to the next day. This occurs when the statist economy has become so regulated that it is economically inefficient to work within it. If the state were to offer a pardon and/or financial reward to rat out the greater threat of an agorist, educating against the state, it would be in their economic benefit to accept the deal instead of being punished for their activity.
Either will end the state they are living under when the counter-economy has grown to such a level that the state can no longer profit from organized theft. So why worry about a counter-economist creating a new state? Because while they were forced underground to survive due to statist actions, the schelling point of statism has not been eradicated. Many are still under the belief that a state can be better if different people are in charge, not the belief that the state itself is the problem. This is why formerly Soviet Union territory is still oppressed by statism.
And its because of these very reasons that agorists must recognize the difference between counter-economists and agorists for not only their own safety, but for the purposes of ending the state. Educating individuals equally at risk for illegal activities results in more people not wanting a new state when the current one collapses and an increase in protection as they gain anarchist ethics of solidarity and more ethical business practices. As the agorist economy grows within the shell of the counter-economy, the likelihood of a new state rising from the ashes of the old one decreases as there are more influential businessmen disavowing the use of coercive violence and more peaceful methods of providing services typically, and supposedly, provided by the state.
It is important to not confuse the two because a counter-economist does not necessarily have the ethics of an agorist and can create bad PR for agorists, rat out an agorist to protect themselves, and/or may lead to the creation of a new state. At the same time, it is crucial to work with and amongst the counter-economists to grow the counter-economy and agorist economy.
Because a counter-economist does not act to end the state, it is also likewise that they are more willing to act in a way that results in bad PR. This can mean using violence or unsavory business practices such as racial discrimination or not paying an employee in order to make a profit.
A counter-economist is in the counter-economy for one reason: survival. It is an entirely economic decision to provide for themselves, and possibly their family, so that they can live to the next day. This occurs when the statist economy has become so regulated that it is economically inefficient to work within it. If the state were to offer a pardon and/or financial reward to rat out the greater threat of an agorist, educating against the state, it would be in their economic benefit to accept the deal instead of being punished for their activity.
Either will end the state they are living under when the counter-economy has grown to such a level that the state can no longer profit from organized theft. So why worry about a counter-economist creating a new state? Because while they were forced underground to survive due to statist actions, the schelling point of statism has not been eradicated. Many are still under the belief that a state can be better if different people are in charge, not the belief that the state itself is the problem. This is why formerly Soviet Union territory is still oppressed by statism.
And its because of these very reasons that agorists must recognize the difference between counter-economists and agorists for not only their own safety, but for the purposes of ending the state. Educating individuals equally at risk for illegal activities results in more people not wanting a new state when the current one collapses and an increase in protection as they gain anarchist ethics of solidarity and more ethical business practices. As the agorist economy grows within the shell of the counter-economy, the likelihood of a new state rising from the ashes of the old one decreases as there are more influential businessmen disavowing the use of coercive violence and more peaceful methods of providing services typically, and supposedly, provided by the state.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Statist Intervention Earns Resentment of Truckers
One member of the alliance, Ethan Lee Vita, happens to be traveling across North America, meeting individuals and promoting the concepts of liberty, mostly through agorist or counter-economic activities. Often, he rides with truckers, who have long complained about bureaucratic regulations from the state with regard to governors and hours of service. However, on this latest trip, he's noticed an increase in complaints.
Hours of Service (HOS): A federal agency, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), regulation requiring breaks, intended for safety and prevention of driver fatigue, and limiting hours of driving time.
Governors: Device that limits the speed of a vehicle, intended to allow drivers to slow down sooner in an emergency and for fuel efficiency. There are calls to require this on every vehicle and every truck manufactured since 1992 has had them installed, even if they're not enabled.
Logbooks: Most truckers use paper versions to record their HOS, though some companies use Electronic On-Board Recorders (EOBRs). FMCSA desires to require EOBRs.
For those who don't understand the trucking industry, allow me to explain. Truckers are paid on a per mile basis, and often poorly per mile, so they are highly incentivized to drive as many miles as they can. However, they must also please those they are transporting goods to, so they can't take an unnecessarily long route, but must be quick. The combination of these two aspects incentivizes them to drive long hours to get as many miles in as they can in as short a period as possible.
Obviously, there are safety concerns with doing such for reasons of fatigue, often resulting in accidents damaging life and property. Instead of allowing the market to resolve this issue via its decentralized solutions, such as a company instituting its own regulations that make sense for efficient business, or contracting such out to an insurance company, the state got involved with such regulations that cause more problems than they resolve.
At first glance, which rarely reveals the whole story, a regulation dealing with fatigue sounds great. However, as with most regulations from outside an industry, it fails to take several aspects into effect. For instance, HOS regulates that the hours spent driving may not be interrupted for any breaks, but the timer must continue. Formerly, a driver could take a break during their drive, stopping their clock. Because they are no longer allowed to stop the clock, and they are paid per mile, drivers, especially those with EOBR which automatically record hours, drivers often continue driving despite being tired. As a result, this regulation causes dangerous driving conditions it purports to stop. Furthermore, they used to allow drivers to split hours if they needed to take a break, but disallowed it with changes within the last five years.
Sometimes, the regulation contradicts a different statist regulation. For example, often times a driver will reach the end of their hours without being near a proper location to stop for the night, resulting in them stopping on the side of the road, or on the side of an on-ramp, illegally. And because thats illegal, state patrolmen often wake them and have them move along, driving further illegally and dangerously.
So with this information, how does this relate to the counter-economy or agorist economy beyond the inefficiencies of the statist economy? As a result of these regulations, many truckers break the law in order to earn more money. Those with paper logs often keep two copies, one to the company for compensation and one for police to inspect that is legal. While not strictly agorist, or even counter-economic, it is proof that the more the state regulates a business, the more the industry is harmed, the more the regulation is counter-productive, the more the industry steps into the underground market, until finally, the industry is prohibited or so cost-prohibitive as to force it entirely into the counter-economy.
Hours of Service (HOS): A federal agency, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), regulation requiring breaks, intended for safety and prevention of driver fatigue, and limiting hours of driving time.
Governors: Device that limits the speed of a vehicle, intended to allow drivers to slow down sooner in an emergency and for fuel efficiency. There are calls to require this on every vehicle and every truck manufactured since 1992 has had them installed, even if they're not enabled.
Logbooks: Most truckers use paper versions to record their HOS, though some companies use Electronic On-Board Recorders (EOBRs). FMCSA desires to require EOBRs.
For those who don't understand the trucking industry, allow me to explain. Truckers are paid on a per mile basis, and often poorly per mile, so they are highly incentivized to drive as many miles as they can. However, they must also please those they are transporting goods to, so they can't take an unnecessarily long route, but must be quick. The combination of these two aspects incentivizes them to drive long hours to get as many miles in as they can in as short a period as possible.
Obviously, there are safety concerns with doing such for reasons of fatigue, often resulting in accidents damaging life and property. Instead of allowing the market to resolve this issue via its decentralized solutions, such as a company instituting its own regulations that make sense for efficient business, or contracting such out to an insurance company, the state got involved with such regulations that cause more problems than they resolve.
At first glance, which rarely reveals the whole story, a regulation dealing with fatigue sounds great. However, as with most regulations from outside an industry, it fails to take several aspects into effect. For instance, HOS regulates that the hours spent driving may not be interrupted for any breaks, but the timer must continue. Formerly, a driver could take a break during their drive, stopping their clock. Because they are no longer allowed to stop the clock, and they are paid per mile, drivers, especially those with EOBR which automatically record hours, drivers often continue driving despite being tired. As a result, this regulation causes dangerous driving conditions it purports to stop. Furthermore, they used to allow drivers to split hours if they needed to take a break, but disallowed it with changes within the last five years.
Sometimes, the regulation contradicts a different statist regulation. For example, often times a driver will reach the end of their hours without being near a proper location to stop for the night, resulting in them stopping on the side of the road, or on the side of an on-ramp, illegally. And because thats illegal, state patrolmen often wake them and have them move along, driving further illegally and dangerously.
So with this information, how does this relate to the counter-economy or agorist economy beyond the inefficiencies of the statist economy? As a result of these regulations, many truckers break the law in order to earn more money. Those with paper logs often keep two copies, one to the company for compensation and one for police to inspect that is legal. While not strictly agorist, or even counter-economic, it is proof that the more the state regulates a business, the more the industry is harmed, the more the regulation is counter-productive, the more the industry steps into the underground market, until finally, the industry is prohibited or so cost-prohibitive as to force it entirely into the counter-economy.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Opennet, Darknet, or Internet
The question has posed to me and my associates at the Alliance as to, should The Alliance go "underground." As to say an Alliance for the advocation of the Black Market would not be allowed to flourish on an Internet which could be used to prosecute it's contributors or it's participants. This is a very real stance and one that can not be decided upon by the Alliance alone. Before the Alliance gets an official site it is imperative for it's readers and members to make the choice it is not mine. The question I ask is:
Will a darknet, opennet or Internet based site make The Alliance more app to get stories based on agorism before it gets busted? Let me know comment on this story on facebook or send me an e-mail at seasaw84@gmail.com. Thanks for the input I will keep you updated.
Will a darknet, opennet or Internet based site make The Alliance more app to get stories based on agorism before it gets busted? Let me know comment on this story on facebook or send me an e-mail at seasaw84@gmail.com. Thanks for the input I will keep you updated.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Outlaw Hotdogs
Steven Pruner was arrested on October 27 for selling hot dogs without a permission slip from the state, after the competition David Leeds his competition snitched him out. Steven Pruner owner of Outlaw Hot Dogs, says the requirements to get the proper certification are too burdensome and violate the state constitution. Early this week Pruner was at it again according a Free Talk Live caller and was asked to stop operating by the police, he closed up shop for the day. According to the caller he loved the hot dogs and would have bought a 3rd if the jackboot terrorist wouldn't have stepped in. The state's coconspirators hate competition, when they don't have the right papers.
Mexico's Agile Black Market
The Mexican Informal Economy is 1/3 of it's economy. To take a look at Mexican's Economies is to look at an economy going underground because of tyrannical government. The more a government grows the more it's economy will go underground. A productivity is not measured by the taxes the is levied from it but from it's persistence to grow under oppression. Low capital entrepreneur's thrive in a market which focuses on the lowest prices, which also's allows them to hide from the government. Government wants cut off the of biggest fish in the sea so it doesn't rise up and overtake it. A government will not attack what it does not see as a threat.One million threats stacks the deck against the government, the agora will over take by it's ability to be seen not heard. Rise and rise again till all serfs become sovereign!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)