Thomas Knapp's Columns
"There is no four-lane highway from here to the stateless society, with convenient exits for the minarchists, rest stops for the undecided and stacked interchanges where the socialists, communists, syndicalists, mutualists, capitalists and market anarchists can disentangle themselves without difficulty, proceeding to their chosen campgrounds, hotels and squats." Column by Thomas Knapp.
"To the (small) extent that the Constitution may still be adhered to, and to the (even smaller) extent that that adherence may be directed to the benefit of freedom, we might as well use it. But let's not kid ourselves. The political class will not surrender its stolen power because its opponents come up with a better argument, a more historically accurate understanding, or a more accurate textual analysis. The problem is not a failure of adherence to the Constitution. The problem is the Constitution – or any other structure of state power." Column by Thomas Knapp.
"While
some would hold (incorrectly, I maintain) that the stateless society is an
unachievable goal, how much more
unachievable is the elimination of every last vestige of human independence?
"Anarchists
and libertarians face a stark choice: to take up the banner of liberty
and carry it forward, or to ignore the call of history and stand idly by
as humanity plunges itself, and us with it, into a new Dark Age.
"The state, of course, exists; it just isn’t the one described in the Constitution for the United States of America. To the anarchist, this is a matter of little import. To those who have held on to the illusory security of 'Constitutional legitimacy,' however, it should elicit a great deal of concern. Your state doesn’t exist, and has not for some time. The collection of frauds and thugs sitting behind its desks and speaking from its bully pulpits are impostors to whom you owe no duty of loyalty by virtue of your subscription to the principle of 'constitutional government.' Their edicts are void -- they do not issue from a source to which you ascribe a rightful authority to issue edicts." Column by Thomas Knapp.
"The post-WWII state started off by developing weapons that can vaporize more people in 45 minutes than its less able and ambitious predecessors managed in 45 years. When it’s had an idle moment between killing off its victims and washing their blood from its paws, the monster has been putting that stolen 25%+ of GDP to good use figuring out new ways to create more mayhem...." Column by Thomas Knapp.
"What I will no longer do, however, is spend hours poring over stacks of paperwork so that I can account for every dime that my muggers might want to rifle my pockets for. Not no way, not no how. Naturally, the thieves are going busily about finding other ways to get my money. And they probably will. What they won’t get, however, is my cooperation in portraying their theft as anything other than what it is." Column by Thomas Knapp.
"They're
the ones who asked for a drug war. They're the ones who have fought that war,
decade in and decade out, at our expense. They're the ones wearing ski masks,
carrying submachineguns and terrorizing innocents, just like their spiritual
siblings in al Q'aeda.
On the Duty of Civil Disobedience
"The popular history reduces Thoreau to an eccentric character whose principal interests ran to eastern religion and experiments in hermitage. Small reference is made to the proximate cause of Thoreau’s discomfort with the America of his time: the State." Column by new Root Striker Tom Knapp.