If you are a voice of denial, you have a unique opportunity. You live in a time that gives you the advantage of changing the world for the better. It is true that the world is constantly changing; Change is the only constant. But I believe you have a strong say in how this is going to change. This is a time when the despotic thugs of the world act like cornered rats and become more vicious in their despair. The choice is yours to let yourself be bitten or to lower your heel. What will you do?
** The following essay was written by James Sweet and published on July 26, 2002. “Voices of Dissent” was originally published on antistate.com and is reprinted here on Bitcoin.com for historical record. The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own. Bitcoin.com is not responsible or liable for any opinions, content, accuracy or quality within the historical editorial. **
It seems easy enough to find a constant and steady set of ethical and utilitarian arguments against the state, but few dealing with how to dismantle that state, or at least live more freely in its midst. I have given some of my own advice on the practice of anarchy (see “A Plan for Direct Action” and the continuation and email me with your own input or in action if you wish) and while the relationship of “how” to ” Why “is still quite low on the internet and elsewhere, there is more and more practical advice. Any good search engine will give some clues to self-sufficient untaxed trades, even monkey keys if you have time to kill … for the next few decades.
Financial non-participation is the second largest contributor to the downfall of the state. Tax resistance and the deliberate withdrawal of funds from the government through the welfare system have already gone a long way in causing the system to collapse under its own weight.
The biggest factor, however, is active non-participation. No Government Employees = No Government. No jurors, no conscripts, no pencil sliders … No dice. The US government is already dangerously understaffed, but I feel sorry for the people who are hungry for power and hold on to the last. It is up to you to decide how you want the epilogue to take shape in your neighborhood. Power is the most authoritative addiction I know, and I think it is very likely that everyone from former senators to former infantrymen will become freelancers and bring their loot directly into America’s homes and businesses. And whether you fight back or offer them coffee is also your choice.
But I digress. Separating verbal disagreements from practical overthrow is creating a false dichotomy. Dissent is overthrown by centimeters. Protests make a difference. Imagine traveling back in time to World War I and telling a pacifist that protests and civil disobedience would one day effectively end the draft. Do you think he would dare to believe you? Go further back to the first half of the nineteenth century and imagine you are telling an abolitionist about an America free of slavery in the traditional sense and a younger generation who have a hard time understanding racial prejudice. And not because of the war, not because of Congress, not because of the President, not because of new constitutional changes or countless new laws; but because of a massive change in the way people view personal freedom and natural rights. Do you think this could be taken just a little bit optimistically? Me too.
People in the entertainment industry tend to defend freedom of speech on the grounds that language does not affect people directly. I defend freedom of speech because I know it affects people. Language doesn’t force anyone to do anything, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t affect people. Never underestimate the power of the pen.
So get down to work and write and speak what you know in your heart to be true. You don’t have to be a flawless writer. You don’t need a college degree. If you speak with conviction, people will listen to you. To the extent that people know they do not need a government, they will undermine that government’s very existence.
Not only can the state be abolished, it cannot exist if the masses disagree. Once the shroud is lifted and the majority sees that the emperor has no clothes, it is all over. And the future is not written out. There is no need to replace a club with another. Never before have more people had a clearer idea of what a free society could look like. You can do it, and you can do it in your own life.
So go out, speak out!
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Anarchism, Anti-State, Anti-War, Bitcoin, Dissent, Financial Freedom, Free Markets, Historical Essay, James Sweet, Market Anarchy, Natural Rights, Non-Participation, Opinion, Personal Freedom, Voices of Dissent
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