Thursday, August 23, 2007

August 23, 2007 – I Quit My Day Job in the Movement


I resigned my gig as Tuesday guest editor at STR yesterday. Partly for political reasons and partly for health considerations.

My liver disease and kidney problems are putting a great strain on my body and I require frequent medical treatment, which takes up a lot of my time and energy. And so something had to give, and the STR gig was one of things I had to let go of. It takes a least four hours to put together a good daily edition and that fours hours is a bitch when I am groggy and weak from treatment and when I just want to lay down and take a nap. But if you have an edition to get ready you can’t rest when you feel like it without compromising the quality of your edition, which was something I was loathe to do.

The political considerations were an issue too. I believe that oppression is what it is, and I see no distinction as to whether you are being squashed down directly by a state entity (i.e., courts, cops, bureaucrats, and politicians) or by some “private” entity (monopolists, rent-seekers, special interest groups and such ilk) who influence the state with money-bought political clout.

Microsoft, the RIAA, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and similar groups and wealthy individuals should have no means to do what they do to assert their views on us. Foisting an unpopular agenda without a state provided system of law courts and judges (who are all ultimately backed up by armed police) to make us conform to their will is what the state-privileged sorts do. They use force without actual violence, (at first anyhow) to repress and dominate us, but my friends the anarcho-capitalists and the big and small “L” libertarians just don’t see it that way.

But as I said yesterday, some see “private” coercion, (that is, special interests using the state as a catspaw for their own ends) as somehow different and somehow acceptable because see, it’s supposedly “private” and “voluntary.” Which of course any rational analysis shows to be false. There is nothing “private” about a cop arresting you, or “voluntary” about being sued. I really don’t question the anarcho-capitalists and libertarians sincerity of belief, but I do reject their dismissal of my critique of their idea of what constitutes liberty.

And so there you have it.

4 comments:

Daniel said...

Sorry to hear about your health, hopefully dropping the stress of that duty will be a benefit.

I discussed your last post about oppression here, btw.

Mike said...

There are some of us in the market anarchist - left libertarian movement that agree with you, so you know...besides myself, there is Brad Spangler, William Gillis and Kevin Carson to name a few.

Take care of yourself and know you have a lot of fans that read you regularly at STR...you will be missed.

zrated said...

very sorry to hear about your exit from STR. i have enjoyed your contributions and will miss them.

i truly hope for the best for you while you deal with your issues.

The Anarchist Flamethrower said...

Oh I'm not leaving STR, altogether; I will write articles or occasionally GE, but only after/if my health improves. Thanks for the kind words though.