Showing posts with label Anarchism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anarchism. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
The New Revolution: Anarcho-Creatarianism
The New Revolution: Anarcho-Creatarianism
by Alex Merced
Many people call themselves many things yet come to the same conclusions, but many of us come to those conclusions for many reasons, for example...
Conservatives find themselves wanting to preserve traditional values of the United State which happen to be Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
Libertarians value Liberty as an End in itself so policy that leads Liberty is the goal
an Individualist values the individual above all collectives
Anarchist find freedom from coercion and oppression as the utmost value while they may disagree how to manage resources once this is done (Anarcho-Capitalist versus Anarcho-Socialist)
Although while I agree with many of the views and conclusions of Anarchist, Libertarians, and Conservatives I can't say I really fit any of these philosophies in it's purest sense. At the end of the day my arch virtue, my chief principal is Creativity. So if I spent a moment and try to figure what you would call someone who's life doctrine focuses around Creativity and the term I came up with is...
Creatarian (Someone who holds the doctrine of Creation)
Although this word alone only explains the ends which is creativity/creation which also explains my disdain for it's antithesis, Destruction/Violence. Although what institution embodies violence more than government, which at the end of day is a monopoly on violence over a given people, so to emphasize this realization I figured I'd add the Anarcho pre-fix to emphasize this. Although I guess if you valued creativity and believed in government you'd be a Creatocrat (Rule/Strength by Creation).
Why have a Doctrine of Creation?
Well, I've always been someone who's loved creativity, loved music, art and anything that gives me new experiences. Creativity is Creation, and there is nothing greater than to create and bring something new into this world whether it be a song, an idea, or even a child. New is a beautiful thing, and if you live you life pursuing the creation of relationships, ideas, hope and anything else it can only lead to an enriching life. Vice Versa, living a life of destruction can only lead to life of misery as you live your life destroying relationships and hope around you.
So what are the views of an Anarcho-Creatarian?
(I'm now writing the Anarcho-Creatarian Manifesto, it'll be released soon)
Liberty: If you are an An-Creat you do value Liberty but not as an ends but as a means because having and valuing Liberty not only allows you the autonomy to be creative but also the mental autonomy, if you think it terms of liberty not only are your actions free'd so is your mind to generate endless ideas on how to create in the world around you.
Life: To give life is creation, to take it is destruction. Also, While people due to their liberty have the autonomy to live a life of destruction they cannot destroy the creations of another (homesteading).
War: Violence, especially war are acts of destruction and the aim of an An-Creat is to reduce destruction in the world and induce creation without violating anyones Liberty (since Liberty is pivotal to a Creative Environment)
Economics: An-Creat desires a strong economy because it fosters incentives for creativity and provides for more leisure and resources for society to pursue creative endeavors. So An-Creat is a strong support of real free market economics (Austrian Economics) in pursuit to these ends.
When the Anarcho-Creatarian Manifesto is created further issues will be illustrated and discussed, and hopefully this will begin the development of Creatarian Philosophy and Ethics.
I have Created a Facebook Page Anarcho-Creatarian if you want to join this new movement as it develops please search and join the page.
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Big Government (or any Government) Will Never Lead to Prosperity
Big Government (or any Government) Will Never Lead to Prosperity
by Alex Merced
What we constantly get told in some form or other, is that you need government for things to work... but in all reality things work in spite of government. It's like when your a kid and you want something, all the rules in the world won't stop you from trying.
For Example, two countries that are catching up very quickly if not surpassing the US and Europe in economic power are China and India, arguably their governments are bigger and more coercive in scope of control. You can take the economist approach and see that spending as a share of GDP is vastly less than the US, but what I want to take a look as is the rules they govern with, not so much the spending.
China: By having it's non-democratic central government, the current leadership in China has LIBERALIZED a lot of it's economic policy and up until recently has focused on having a savings economy. While it's intervention in the supply of savings has and will cause problems, it couldn't of done it without somewhere to invest those savings in which the US more than glad to play the role which arguably leads to more problems for the US as the Spending economy. Another aspect to take a look at is Hong Kong, once the best bastians of Free Marketeering on the globe which played it's role in sparking the economic growth in the region if not being the Seed that grew into it.
India: This country is known for some of the largest amount of red tape and barriers to entry of any country, with buildings filled with stacks of pending applications for all sorts of things. Yet no one can honestly make the argument that the excessive beuracracy has led to it's quickening growth. So while the same type of Liberalization we see in China isn't in india, a system of corruption and bribery has developed to supercede the beuracracy and foster a freer market... essentially a black market for merely "permission" to enter and participate in commerce.
People will never be diverted from purposeful action no matter what the rules, every rule in the US either eventually is found to have loophole or has some built into it initially. What keeps people honest is their respect for boundries which comes from their own self developed ethical framework. So if we care about what people do in their social and business lives we may affect more change by discussing principles to live life by than about which rules we should establish that people will ignore if their principles allow.
by Alex Merced
What we constantly get told in some form or other, is that you need government for things to work... but in all reality things work in spite of government. It's like when your a kid and you want something, all the rules in the world won't stop you from trying.
For Example, two countries that are catching up very quickly if not surpassing the US and Europe in economic power are China and India, arguably their governments are bigger and more coercive in scope of control. You can take the economist approach and see that spending as a share of GDP is vastly less than the US, but what I want to take a look as is the rules they govern with, not so much the spending.
China: By having it's non-democratic central government, the current leadership in China has LIBERALIZED a lot of it's economic policy and up until recently has focused on having a savings economy. While it's intervention in the supply of savings has and will cause problems, it couldn't of done it without somewhere to invest those savings in which the US more than glad to play the role which arguably leads to more problems for the US as the Spending economy. Another aspect to take a look at is Hong Kong, once the best bastians of Free Marketeering on the globe which played it's role in sparking the economic growth in the region if not being the Seed that grew into it.
India: This country is known for some of the largest amount of red tape and barriers to entry of any country, with buildings filled with stacks of pending applications for all sorts of things. Yet no one can honestly make the argument that the excessive beuracracy has led to it's quickening growth. So while the same type of Liberalization we see in China isn't in india, a system of corruption and bribery has developed to supercede the beuracracy and foster a freer market... essentially a black market for merely "permission" to enter and participate in commerce.
People will never be diverted from purposeful action no matter what the rules, every rule in the US either eventually is found to have loophole or has some built into it initially. What keeps people honest is their respect for boundries which comes from their own self developed ethical framework. So if we care about what people do in their social and business lives we may affect more change by discussing principles to live life by than about which rules we should establish that people will ignore if their principles allow.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Capitalism, Socialism, and Voluntarism
Capitalism, Socialism, and Voluntarism
by Alex Merced
People blame all the worlds problems on it's systems of resource management, for in the end that is all that Capitalism and Socialism are, systems to managing scarce resources. Quality of life, happiness, joy; these are all things that are not quantifiable, and independent of how resources are managed. Someone in the most tyrannical despotic land can still find joy and happiness cause it's internal and has to do with ones perception of the world around them. So even if we agreed which system of resource management is better, does this mean people will be happy? Probably Not.
If you operate in a system that is objectively seen as "better" by others yet you subjectively see as "corrupt", "tyrannical", "immoral", and many other adjectives; you'll be unhappy since you feel forced to comply with something to which you not consent. This is the overriding issue than that of economics; that of consent. As long as their is a government imposing any system of any type on a entire population there will be despair and unhappiness from those who do not consent to participate. The road to happiness is that of your choosing.
This is the true Anarchist position, whether you call yourself a Anarcho-Capitalist or an Anarcho-Socialist or one of the many of other breeds of anarchist, your still advocating a system. The root of what makes anarchist different is the belief that participation in any of these systems should be voluntary, if everyone consents to play by the rules then any system is arguably workable like any board game is playable with those who are willing to follow the rules. No system can work when imposed on unwilling participants.
Arguably there is a case to be made that multiple communities running different systems that people volunteer in would actually have a positive synergy. If you had one voluntarist community of capitalist they would foster it's citizens competitive and innovative spirits and prices. If there was a neighboring voluntarist socialist community it would offer a place for those who don't want to or can't compete in the competitive capitalist system, yet can still benefit from the innovations of the capitalist society and not mis-manage resources as much cause of the prices set by the capitalist society.
Instead of focusing on which is better and who is right, how about we focus on individual liberty and how voluntarism and liberty leads to beautiful synergy.
by Alex Merced
People blame all the worlds problems on it's systems of resource management, for in the end that is all that Capitalism and Socialism are, systems to managing scarce resources. Quality of life, happiness, joy; these are all things that are not quantifiable, and independent of how resources are managed. Someone in the most tyrannical despotic land can still find joy and happiness cause it's internal and has to do with ones perception of the world around them. So even if we agreed which system of resource management is better, does this mean people will be happy? Probably Not.
If you operate in a system that is objectively seen as "better" by others yet you subjectively see as "corrupt", "tyrannical", "immoral", and many other adjectives; you'll be unhappy since you feel forced to comply with something to which you not consent. This is the overriding issue than that of economics; that of consent. As long as their is a government imposing any system of any type on a entire population there will be despair and unhappiness from those who do not consent to participate. The road to happiness is that of your choosing.
This is the true Anarchist position, whether you call yourself a Anarcho-Capitalist or an Anarcho-Socialist or one of the many of other breeds of anarchist, your still advocating a system. The root of what makes anarchist different is the belief that participation in any of these systems should be voluntary, if everyone consents to play by the rules then any system is arguably workable like any board game is playable with those who are willing to follow the rules. No system can work when imposed on unwilling participants.
Arguably there is a case to be made that multiple communities running different systems that people volunteer in would actually have a positive synergy. If you had one voluntarist community of capitalist they would foster it's citizens competitive and innovative spirits and prices. If there was a neighboring voluntarist socialist community it would offer a place for those who don't want to or can't compete in the competitive capitalist system, yet can still benefit from the innovations of the capitalist society and not mis-manage resources as much cause of the prices set by the capitalist society.
Instead of focusing on which is better and who is right, how about we focus on individual liberty and how voluntarism and liberty leads to beautiful synergy.
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