I get it. Back when I was in high school and college (20 years ago), I was an anarchist. We had the cool music. The British had the Sex Pistols song “Anarchy in the UK” In America, we had the Megadeth cover of it, and the women had the Motley Crue version. Anarchy was cool.
We were rebelling against an oppressive government trying to force laws and rules on us that we thought were unnecessary, or just plain wrong. We didn’t need a bunch of old dude telling us what to do. We didn’t need to be governed. We could have a society that worked well without all the laws because we knew how to be decent human beings.
Eventually, I grew to realize that eliminating the government was not going to happen, so I became a Libertarian. If we couldn’t get rid of the government, at least we could make it as small as possible. Get it out of our lives.
Anarchists today have everything backward. They say we don’t need laws, and then they march, protest and riot proving exactly why we do need laws. They say the system is corrupt and oppressive, and then support making that system bigger, and more oppressive as a way to solve it being to big and oppressive. They say they don’t need to be told what to do, and that advocate socialism.
I think the problem is that they don’t understand what socialism is. When you ask an anarchist, a protestor, a Bernie Sanders support what socialism is, they usually have some answer like “It is when the government helps people”. This is wrong. Socialism is when the needs of society overrule the needs of the individual. So, yes, you get free college. You wanted a liberal arts degree? To bad, society needs more accountants. You want to live in California? To bad, we need those accountants in Nebraska. Socialism is giving up your rights as an individual to do what the government decides is best for society as a whole. You want to start a business in New York? To bad, the government things you need to pick cotton in South Carolina.
Socialism is every person is equally a slave to the government.
You can not be an anarchist and a socialist. Anyone who says they are simply does not understand the meaning of those terms.
Socialism thrives for equality by equally oppressing everyone. The proponents of todays socialism like to point to Denmark as a model socialist country. They will tell you how everything is free in Denmark, but they won’t tell you that the income tax rate in Denmark is 55.8%. Added to that is another 8% social security tax. This means that the average person in Denmark pays 63.8% of their income in taxes each week. On top of that, Denmark has a 25% federal sales tax. In America, we don’t have a federal sales tax (many states have sales tax, and it varies from state to state).
Socialism has failed in the Scandinavian countries. The Prime Minister of Denmark recently asked that Bernie Sanders stop saying Denmark is Socialist. Sweden has turned away from it’s former socialist policies because they didn’t work.
Of course, anyone with any knowledge of history can tell you that socialism fails. Look at England after WW2 (when it was illegal to quit your job. it was decreed by the Control of Engagement Order that “no man between the ages of 18 and 50, or woman between the ages of 18 and 40, can change occupations at will. The Minister of Labor has the power to direct such workers to the employment he considers best for the national interest.”). Look at NAZI (National Socialism) Germany, or Mussolini’s socialist Italy. Look at the USSR, Cuba or North Korea. Look what socialism has done to Venezuela today.
Anarchy is the ultimate freedom. It is rejecting government, and relying upon yourself. Socialism is slavery. It is submitting to government and expecting government to take care of you. Socialism is a pipe dream sold to ignorant, lazy people.