Since I could remember, I have always liked the idea of capitalism, freeing people to achieve their dreams. Even before I opened an economics book I had the idea that people should be free to trade.
In 1978, I had a microeconomics class in college. In those days, I was leery because most college professors, particularly economics professors, are leftists. This one I had assigned us a side-reading book, a paperback on controversial economic issues, mostly involving the black market.
Then I watched Milton Friedman's "Free to Choose" television series. I watched him school leftist Phil Donohue on capitalism and freedom. Yes, this was great intellectual ammunition!
Around the same time, I started reading libertarian books, including David Friedman's "Machinery of Freedom." David is Milton and Rose's son. I found more anarchist books and eventually came across The Voluntaryist, a publication that began in 1983. Some Samaritan bought my college a subscription to that periodical. The Voluntaryist is now in the form of a website www.voluntaryist.com
But I had to work for a living. I was not a good student in high school. I went to a state university and was not good at math. Until college. The inspiration of the maturity of the fellow students made me free to excel. Still I did not get the best paying job. I was a Libertarian - minarchist, knowing the definition of voluntarism, unchanged from so long ago what voluntarists are about:
"Statement of Purpose: Voluntarists are advocates of non-political, non-violent strategies to achieve a free society. We reject electoral politics, in theory and in practice, as incompatible with libertarian principles. Governments must cloak their actions in an aura of moral legitimacy to sustain their power, and political methods invariably strengthen that legitimacy. Voluntarists seek instead to delegitimize the State through education, and we advocate withdrawal of the cooperation and tacit consent on which State power ultimately depends."
I was not convinced that a monopoly of defense was really a big deal. I figured if we could roll back the state to just provide defense and be funded voluntarily through donations and lotteries, we would be a far better country and not nose in everyone's business. But I accepted Gulf War 1 as legitimate. I accepted the official narrative of 9/11.
Then two things happened: 1) The rigged Republican politics that shut down the Ron Paul campaign in 2012 and 2) "No Place to Hide" by Glenn Greenwald https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=no+place+to+hide+greenwald&tag=geminimobiles-20&index=aps&hvadid=22374322&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=e&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_2ye0mom78o_e
Without going into too much detail I was very familiar with cryptography work for national security when I read Greenwald's book. I understood exactly the anger Edward Snowden must have gone through. I regard Edward Snowden as a hero. He did the right thing by telling the American public and the world that the U.S. government committed crimes that we the public cannot get away with. I felt betrayed.
My whole narrative about the integrity of the U.S. defense policy was blown away. I am sure my closest friends and my family do not understand this. They were not in my shoes. Many of them still fly the flag and accept what the government says.
So, my last justification of government itself has been blown away. I then studied more of the 9/11 event, I questioned the reports of a plane hitting the pentagon, and the cause of WTC-7 falling. And the temperature at which steel beams melt. And the weird angles of the beams. I questioned the WMD worries the GWB administration came up with. All lies. The missing $2.3 trillion in the Pentagon announced the day before 9/11. I looked at other areas - the growing militarization of the police, the thousands of murders by police of American people - much more than what terrorists killed, the NDAA, the TSA, the fact that the wars have continued with no progress. The endless killing of people having nothing to do with terrorism.
So here I am now, an anarchist. I live with it. Why can't you live with my being an anarchist? Why don't you understand?
Resources:
Ron Paul Institute: "Green Light for the American Empire"
http://www.ronpaulinstitute.org/archives/featured-articles/2015/march/14/a-green-light-for-the-american-empire/
"The Most Dangerous Superstition," by Larken Rose
https://www.amazon.com/Most-Dangerous-Superstition-Larken-Rose/dp/145075063X
Bad Quaker podcast series "Beyond Civil Disobedience
http://www.badquaker.com/archives/3310