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Creating a Free America Exclusive to STR November 3, 2006 I
will live as a free man among free Americans.
We will pay no taxes. We
will submit to no rulers. We
will exercise our rights openly and without fear. I've
reached a point in my life where I can no longer bear to live on my knees,
meekly submitting to whatever outrages and humiliations I
will live as a free man, in a free I'm
not talking about reforming the Government; I mean to bypass it entirely,
breaking free of any dependence on it and eliminating its ability to
coerce us. The free market and civil society can supply all legitimate
services we have heretofore obtained from Government. By
That
is the goal. It doesn't
require overthrowing the United States Federal Government, nor liberating all
Americans from that organization's grip.
It only requires breaking the On
the weekend of So
what does that leave? Quite a
bit, it turns out. In recent
years there have been exciting developments in both the theory and
practice of Nonviolent Struggle. Successful
applications of Nonviolent Struggle range from the first ten years of the
American Revolution (1765-1775), to Nonviolent
Struggle is based on the key insight that governments are not abstract,
monolithic entities; rather, they are groups of flesh-and-blood,
individual human beings, each making their own decisions, seeking their
own goals, and following their own agendas.
Furthermore, the power of any government depends intimately on cooperation
from many other groups outside of the government itself, as well as
cooperation and obedience from the populace at large, as Etienne
de la Boetie, Thoreau,
and others have noted. So
we need not take over the State's decision-making process (elections); we
need not physically destroy the State's coercive resources (violent
rebellion); instead we can win our freedom by striking at the heart of the
State's power, disrupting the patterns of cooperation and obedience on
which it depends. Researcher
Gene Sharp counts 198 distinct methods
of nonviolent action. Of
especial importance are the methods of political noncooperation, which
include civil disobedience, rejection of authority, and boycott of
government institutions. These
are aimed at weakening the State's power, but equally or more important is
their effect on the resisters themselves.
Noncooperation breaks the habits of obedience and submission; it
reduces fear; it breeds independence, confidence, and awareness of one's
personal power. It is the
point where the former subject begins to rise off his knees and proclaim,
"I am a free man!" There's
much more to Nonviolent Struggle than just noncooperation, of course.
For example, for our struggle the creation of alternative social,
economic, and legal institutions is also important.
It is not enough to be against
the State; we have to present a viable alternative.
We will do that by actually creating and using the free-market
courts, free-market money, crime insurance services, and so on that market
anarchists have long proposed. We'll
find out what works, what doesn't — and come up with new ideas along the
way. The
really good news is that there is a wealth of resources now available to
help us organize and wage a nonviolent struggle (see below).
These come from three major sources: The Albert
Einstein Institution, the International
Center on Nonviolent Conflict, and the Center
for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies.
These resources include comprehensive surveys of past nonviolent
struggles, theoretical analyses, practical guidance on tactics and
strategic planning, and a training
manual written by the people who ousted Milosevic.
There's even training
software that uses artificial intelligence combined with a
historical database to let you run simulated nonviolent action campaigns. What
will you do? Frodo
(lamenting Sauron's rise to power): I wish none of this had happened. Gandalf:
So do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide.
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. —
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring These
are unquestionably dark days for What
are you going to do about it? Would
you rather read about freedom . . . talk about freedom . . . write about
freedom . . . theorize about freedom . . . or experience
freedom? Do you want to live
with back bowed and head lowered in submission, living in constant fear
that the wrath of your masters will descend upon you — or do you want to
walk with your head held high, ruler of your own life? If
the latter, then I invite you to participate in Beyond
Ballots or Bullets: Creating a Free America, in Will
you join us in creating a free Resources: 0.
Albert
Einstein Institution 0.
The
Politics of Nonviolent Action. Three volumes: Power
and Struggle; The
Methods of Nonviolent Action;
and The
Dynamics of Nonviolent Action. 0.
Waging
Nonviolent Struggle: 20th-Century Practice and 21st-Century Potential. 0.
On
Strategic Nonviolent Action: Thinking About the Fundamentals.
Free download available. 0.
International
Center on Nonviolent Conflict 0.
A
Force More Powerful
Game. Simulation
software for training in the use of nonviolent methods. 0.
Center
for Applied Nonviolent Action and Strategies 0.
Nonviolent
Struggle — 50 Crucial Points.
A training manual. Kevin S. Van Horn, Ph.D., is a computer scientist living in Orem, Utah. At age 11 he became a proto-libertarian when he first began studying and thinking seriously about issues of government. He has been a market anarchist for about two decades now.
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