Anarchists are not Leftists

[MineralMan]

They're more closely related to libertarianism than anything else. That causes confusion when we're talking about progressive politics. For example, Noam Chomsky, the darling of some, including Glenn Greenwald and probably Julian Assange, has termed himself an anarchist. Now, anarchists are quick to say that Chomsky isn't really an anarchist, since he has supported people running for political office.

It's pretty confusing when you start looking at at the fringes of political philosophies. Often it all seems like scene from a Monty Python movie more than anything else. The bottom line, though, is that all anti-government fringe philosophies tend toward anarchy. The libertarians want government to stay out of everything that limits their personal objectives. Real anarchists want government to go away altogether, leaving people to form groups freely for their own benefit. The similarities outweigh the difference in many cases, and there's no good guidebook to fringe politics.

In any case, there's not much of a relationship between any of those fringe movements and the Democratic Party, which leads to all sorts of conflict during an election year.

If that's a confusing thing to consider, you might find some clarity by watching this seminal video about fringe movements.

[MineralMan]

1. If the above has annoyed or upset anyone, please watch the

following video:

[Buckeye_Democrat]

2. "Be quiet!" (Monty Python scene)

[MineralMan]

5. Love Monty Python.

It's always relevant, it seems.

[Downtown Hound]

3. Anarchism, like Libertarianism, sounds great in theory

In reality, the practice of either one would be a nightmare.

[MineralMan]

7. Nobody knows, really. Neither political system

has ever been in place long enough to judge. In the end, leadership emerges, either by common agreement or force. And thus, we have civilization of one sort or another.

Even in small tribal cultures, groups of people end up with leaders and followers. It is a human trait, it seems.

Six people set out on a journey. Before long, one of them decides which direction to go, and the others follow. Government at its simplest.

[Downtown Hound]

9. There's a reason why neither has ever been in place for very long

They don't work. What happens in an anarchist society the minute there's a murder or a rape? You can't call the cops because there are no cops. So do go get justice for yourself? Let's hope you get the right guy. Say you don't get the right guy? What happens then? What do you do when somebody wants to build a house on that pristine beach you love so much? Do you kill them? Who settles disputes like these? So then you start creating committees, people who can delegate things like this. Guess what? You've just created a government.

The bottom line is, on a planet with more than six billion people with limited resources, there is going to have be some kind of authoritative body to prevent total chaos. Anybody who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves. What we can do as people, and as Democrats, is to make sure that people have a say in how that governing body acts, and see to it that it acts in the interest of the people as much a possible. Anarchism, like Libertarianism, is a pipe dream by people who haven't really thought things through. I should know. When I was younger and dumber and with a strong desire to be edgy and cool, I used to call myself one. I even participated in a black bloc march through San Francisco against the Iraq War.

Then I grew up, and realized that I was kidding myself.

[MineralMan]

10. Yes, of course.

[jack_krass]

8. "Anarchism, .... sounds great in theory"

Not really

[Wounded Bear]

4. "leaving people to form groups freely for their own benefit"

Funny, but I think that is how "governments" started.

[MineralMan]

6. Indeed.

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. Historically, anarchism has been closely related to the left

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchism#History

'Libertarianism' might be said to approach it, but the problem is, on an American political board, the word tends to make you think of the US Libertarian Party, which is all about laissez-faire capitalism, property rights, and as little personal regulation as possible. But when Proudhon (as Wikipedia puts it, the first self-proclaimed anarchist) says "property is theft", you can see that definition of libertarianism is way different from anarchism.

Yes, the video is instructive about fringe movements; but in the people it's based on, you'd have found people answering to 'anarchist' and 'leftist', but not 'libertarian'. Well, I say that, but there is the curious case of the Spiked/Living Marxism crowd, who seem to have decided to Follow the Money into libertarianism and climate change denial when the Soviet Union folded. See http://www.democraticunderground.com/10883647 .