The human mind works much like a telescope. One can focus the lense on a specific area to gain more clarity but inevitably the wider perspective gets fuzzier. This is the case when it comes to the contrarian logic of most political movements. The anti-government folks are especially vulnerable to this special kind of myopia since the target, the government, does not exist in the conventional perspective most people believe it exists.
There are some harsh truths in the anti-government front that very few are ready to accept. Perhaps most have fallen way deep into their own political rabbit hole. Having reinvented or even rebranded themselves constitutes the task of re-evaluation even harder.
It’s not the Government. It was never “The Government”.
Whenever I hear people blaming entities such as “Governments”, “Corporations”, “Science” and other abstract concepts, I soon come to realise that they don’t know what they are talking about. You see, we live in a pretty chaotic world and arguments about anything need to be pretty darn specific if we want to make a factual point and not an over-generalised sensationalist speech. Most, if not all anti-government propaganda, is just generic accusations towards an abstract concept nobody really can fully agree upon.
Your butcher next door is the government. Your father that votes is the government. Your issued car license that you use to drive to your anti-government rally is the government. Everything around us revolves around some kind of governance. Whether we are on Steemit, Facebook, the park or the jungle itself w are bound from some kind of governance. Natural elements and biological entities alike define ethical and operative rules. Within that boundary we get to function based on some given parameters. Call it “government”, “status-quo” or anything else in between. This is how the real world operates.
Governments don’t kill people. People kill people
But I bet you already know that since if you are an anti-government advocate you are most likely to defend the right to bear arms. And you are absolutely right. The individual operating a weapon is solely responsible for any actions taken. If your friend tells you to kill someone, he is not responsible. If a politician tells you to kill someone he is not responsible. Even if a video game suggests killing someone, the game developer is not responsible.From the moment that you, the anti-government advocate defends the idea of personal liberty and responsibility then you have no right to blame “The Government” or “Politician X” or anyone else for dictating the killing of other people. How can you possibly defend the individualist right of personal freedom and responsibility when you admittedly transfer the power of the individual to the whims of an external influencer? Do you want to hold people responsible? Grow balls and go find the soldiers who murdered other people and ask them why they are mass murderers. Those are the responsible ones. Complaining against “The Government” “influencing” is like complaining to a Mcdonald's billboard for making people obese.
Any person who values liberty should cherish free speech in all it's glory. Undoubtedly, the human mind is quite palpable and can be influenced one way or another to perform certain actions. Don’t forget though; Hitler, Hillary, Trump, Merkel, Obama or any other politician arose from the will of millions of people. Those people felt, one way or another, that they were getting represented. The free market, allocated them the political power.
These people, the caring mothers, the hard working fathers, the innocent sisters, also wanted to defend those who threatened their liberties. Through elections they elevated figures that set the coercive parameters to kill those who even threatened their liberties. Leaders across history are not responsible for millions of deaths. Millions of “normal” people are responsible for millions of murders. If you really want to go against the “government brainwashing” at least don’t follow the rhetoric of “bad leader—good leader” or the “hero” soldiers. That is the most erroneous and damaging narrative in human history.
Humans kill humans. Not politicians. The army is a welfare program for murderers sponsored by each and every one of us, directly or indirectly. Politicians just managed the free market of people's will. Don’t ever forget this. If you believe that a handful of people can influence millions then abandon all hope and stop trying with anything. Even if anarchy prevailed those people would still be brainless zombies following another paradigm.
Life has a lot to do with Randomness
We all like to hear the self made story of the guy who became successful. At the same time we equally despise the “commie” that leeches off from the welfare system because he is a lazy bum. Is he though? As a free market libertarian, and anarcho-capitalist you should know that anything of value around you is limited. This is why it has value after all. Limited things are hard to come buy. This applies equally to opportunities in life as it applies to the amount of gold in the earth’s guts.Let's take for example our genes. Nature will normally produce lots of average variations, enough to ensure gene propagation. This is what we observe around us in nature whether we examine animals or plants. At the same time, since those mutations are randomly generated, we will get a small percentage which are more favourable at a given environment. These can produce individuals who are more biologically fit than their peers. Couple this up with a random birthplace and random situations and you easily get the idea how most people end up being fucked.
Do you think a person who works for the government, getting a fat check with a guaranteed job cares about war? Do you think he cares about “anarchy’ ‘cryptocurrencies” or anything else in between? Do you think you would care if random situations brought you in their position? A government employee’s philosophy will be to support his specific lifestyle as it was unfolded from his special circumstances in life. He would seek his own well being even if it meant screwing his fellow citizens over and over again. In much the same way an aspiring anarchist would pump-and-dump a shitcoin on some shady exchange and fuck over his fellow anti-government anarchists. We develop philosophies that suit our well-being. Not the other way around.
Jobs, parents, inheritance or even sheer fortunate encounters matter in how one’s life unfolds. The government has little to do with it. Ron Paul has the 1% supporting him because most of his followers really just want to avoid getting their money stolen from the government. At the same time the masses, the 99% tries to get a piece of the large pie by voting the guys who promise to do it. Most people are statists because simply they can’t afford to be something else. It’s an easy way out and it benefits their well being. Even if they are wrong this is how they do it. In the same way people in Steemit will slave away voting of popular posts even if they don’t agree with it in order to make some easy money while making the richer authors even reacher. Same things applies in the real world. Easy rewards are the main reason people chase the government freebie or the next shitcoin scam.
Its Probably You, Not the Government
I had plenty of conversations with people that go against “The Government”. At some point it becomes clear that themselves have the issues and rather try to shift the blame away from them. No matter how shady some corporations appear to be, no matter how vaccines might be causing autism or not, no matter if GMO’s are good for you or not, you always have a choice. Never forget this.
Why complain about something that the market has set over hundreds of years? Would you complain if you were in the jungle threatened by wild animals and diseases? Would you bitch and moan at mother nature for being “coercive”? The government will try to fuck you much like your boss or even your anarcho buddies in some crypto exchange market. Nobody really gives a shit about you. The food chain looks much the same whether you exchange gold coins or Fed’s monopoly money. I have been in anarchic and crypto forums since 2012. It is beyond me how can any anarchist or anti-government person complain about "The Government” when every other person you meet in crypto forums and anarchic blogs are either manipulative scammers, criminals trying to cover their asses or a hybrid of both.
People will always elect shitty forms of governance and form systems to fuck each other up. It is up to you to take responsibility and work around the system instead of complaining about it. Life is a struggle. A fight. Whether you try to make it in the traditional FIAT world or the crypto one it doesn’t make much of a difference. You will most likely come across the same challenges because both domains are governed by basic human needs. To be realistic, so far in the crypto world, you are way more likely to get fucked than in the real world. This is also another reason there is such a small adaptation from the general public that still votes for puppets to govern their life.
Intellectual honesty is the most important weapon one can have when it comes to matters or responsibility. We need to see the big picture here. Billions of people around the world are getting fucked one way or another. In their desperation they group together and form systems of governance in order to balance shit out without even realising how things are getting out control. Ideological mantra goes kaput when it comes down to our own personal benefit. Governments, ideologies, scammers, killers will always exist because life is based on competition and survival. Your duty is to work around the problem and develop systems that are superior for you and everyone else around you.
All in all you should stop complaining about everything around you because this would give you a greater sense of responsibility. It will allow you to evaluate your own faults and weaknesses objectively. It will motivate you into building a stronger character, one that does not afraid to admit mistakes. Most importantly, it will allow you to accept responsibility even for issues you are not even remotely responsible. This state of mind grants an offensive attitude towards the challenges of life rather a defensive one—blaming mistakes left and right. It will open doors to your perspective you haven’t even dreamed they where possible.
