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Coast to Coast, We Could Use More Anarchy
August 28, 2006 To
anyone who is familiar with my other writings, it should come as no
surprise that Coast To Coast AM (and
its Saturday night preceding affiliate program, Coast
To Coast Live) is my favorite radio show.
The mainstay of the subject matter discussed involves topics which
have fascinated me throughout my life:
UFOs and extraterrestrials; ghosts and poltergeists; witchcraft and
the occult; Bigfoot (or Sasquatch) and the Loch Ness Monster; the Yet,
my interest is doubly held by less apolitical topics which Coast covers with equal enthusiasm.
While generally minarchistic rather than anarchist, the pantheon of
guests who have appeared on the show have included such luminaries in the
Freedom Movement as Irwin Schiff, Alex Jones, and Aaron Russo -- to all of
whom we owe a debt of gratitude. They
have pushed very hard and sacrificed much in the name of moving our
society back in the direction of liberty.
While not always in agreement with every aspect of their views,
weekday host George Noory is almost always respectful and supportive of
these guests and their efforts. Thus
it was with great expectation that last night (at the time of this
writing), I logged on to an Internet livestream audio broadcast of Coast To Coast Live, hosted by Ian Punnett.
His main featured guest was none other than fellow Root Striker
Marc Stevens, and the topic was, of course, how the voluntary free market
is both more effective and moral than the compulsory aggression of the
State. This was fare
considerably more heady than that of most Coast
guests, who, as aforementioned, tend to be constitutionalists or small
"l" libertarians. Nevertheless,
I expected, if not a conversion, at least reluctant partial agreement on
the part of Ian. I
was to be sorely disappointed. To
my growing aghast, Ian Punnett repeatedly attacked the idea of a
free-market justice system, in favor of the status quo -- even going to
the absurdist extent of stating: "As
far as freedom and liberty go . . . I've already got it."
In other words, I'm happy with my career and what the State allows
me to keep after taxes, so leave well enough alone. But
Marc, as many if not all Root Strikers know, is not afraid to live by the
unanswerable logic that if you are 100% in control of both your life and
property 100% of the time, you are free.
Enter any reduction in this equation, however minute, and you are
not. As he has stated on his
own show, The No-State Project, freedom truly is an all or nothing
proposition. Not
according to Ian. He admits
that things like taxation and government-engendered "laws" are a
"tradeoff," but holds that these impingements upon liberty are
necessary for the "protection" which government affords.
One crucial point, however, which Marc repeatedly raised, and which
went unrebutted by Ian, is that the government courts have consistently
ruled that the police (read government in general) are under no obligation
to "protect" anyone -- yet the compulsory apparatus of
supporting the State remains firmly in place.
We must serve the State . . . yet it need not serve us.
Somehow, Ian's okay with that. Fortunately,
at least the handful of callers who rang up Coast
seemed to generally agree with Marc.
And the broadcast itself undoubtedly reached millions of listeners. I am still a rabid Coast To Coast fan, and admire the splendid job which Art Bell, George Noory, and Ian Punnett have done in the past and continue to do. And Ian did have the grace to bring Marc Stevens on to his show. But for a program as outside of the mainstream as Coast positions itself, as radical as some of the subjects and ideas which are covered from time to time are, from a philosophical perspective as well as that of pure logic, it could use more Anarchy. Alex
R. Knight
III
is
the author of numerous horror, science-fiction, and fantasy tales.
He has also written and published poetry; non-fiction articles,
reviews, and essays for a variety of venues; and is former Communications
Director for the Libertarian Party of
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