Marcel Votlucka's Columns
The Undergraduate Degree--A Bourgeois Cult Symbol
"[an
undergraduate degree] is a way to weed out the cultured workers from the low-brow; the
affluent from the less-affluent; the pacified from the
rough-around-the-edges; the best and brightest from the dumb sheep; the
ones who 'get their hands dirty' with practical skills from those
fully indoctrinated in squeaky-clean trivia (which is what most
white-collar work is, anyway); the upper and middle classes from the
lower classes. In short, its
function is to help lock out the undesirable proles from the Inner
Circle (be it higher education, government employ, or involvement with
the cut-throat, white-collar world).
Resisting Power and the Curse of Greyface
"No longer need the Anarchist dream of a utopian millennium as he struggles to outwit the State – for he can find freedom in the contest, by simply knowing that freedom is everywhere for those who dance through life, rather than crawl, walk, or run." Column by Marcel Votlucka.
"Instead
of merely 'privatizing' the management of existing monopoly government infrastructure, let’s focus on
augmenting and replacing it outside
the statist complex, through 'marketization'." Column by Marcel
Votlucka.
Law and Ethics--A Great Divorce?
"Isn't
libertarianism born out of a primarily moral and ethical concern for people’s
liberty (their natural condition) as well as a concern for a more mutually
beneficial and peaceful social network in the absence of parasitic, divisive,
zero-sum politics? More critically:
Do ethics come from the law, or does law come from our common ethics?
Fear Not the Gallows, Ye Radicals
"To paraphrase Stephan Molyneux, empires grant a certain amount of liberty to their citizens in order to make us more happy, efficient, and productive, and thus encourage more economic growth--which they then exploit through taxation to expand their own profit and power. Likewise, it is more efficient to maintain a façade of liberal democracy over other methods. If the people find it favorable, it makes it so much easier for the ruling class to claim and defend a sense of legitimacy--and thus maintain power and privilege." Column by Marcel Votlucka.
Beware the Man on the White Horse
"I often say I don't have any heroes. I don't need any. And neither should you. If somebody can pose themselves as a hero and sell you a sense of salvation (half-baked though it be), then they own your mind and they own you, for you are in debt to them, and you are beholden to them. More than any aspect of the political, economic, or social system, it is this kind of psychological domination that the lover of liberty recognizes and opposes with every fiber of his being. The man on the white horse brings no real 'change'; he serves to distract your passions and lure you back into the fold so that you don’t demand real, radical change." Column by Marcel Votlucka.
"Witness
the specimen of the well-fed, well-behaved lunch-break protester texting his
bunk buddy on his new iPhone, sporting the cute $45 American Apparel blazer and
a copy of the New York Times (all the news that’s fit to print, eh?), his bike parked nearby so
that he can save the Earth from abnormally warm weather, hoping a little piece
of paper called a 'ballot' will change the world.
Here we have the exact reason why the ruling classes have nothing to fear
and can act with impunity!
Let the House of Cards Tumble!
"That’s
right; let the housing bubble burst, let the big banks fail, let the big
mortgage holders go bankrupt, let the corporate bankers flail around in mud, let
the dollar and euro crash, let the stocks fall, let the house of cards tumble!
"Indeed, you could say that the radical is like a child in their endless questioning and desire to learn and explore their world, combined of course with the hope of building something new and better. Here we see an obstinate mindset that demands integrity, as opposed to the cognitive dissonance that the masses endure for the oppressors' benefit." Column by Marcel Votlucka.
The Forgotten Meaning of Independence Day
"Every Fourth of July, as we the people fly our flags made in Chinese sweatshops, sing patriotic songs adapted from British pub shanties, and blather about Great Men in American History about whom we know nothing save their names, we fail to recognize the visceral historical and political truth behind the hallowed occasion. No, we’re far too busy equating 'America' with the soulless, amoral agency called the Federal Government, beating our chests about freedom when we are clearly not free, expressing pride in an identity and political ethic of liberty that we no longer hold claim to." Column by Marcel Votlucka.
"Yet one look at "Yankees versus Red Sox" will show you that division and rivalries are part of our human nature, not simply a bastard spawn of politics and Statism. We cannot fully escape from this, even if we can and should work to minimize the kind of destructive, artificial divisions we get through Statism. Indeed, it will be a long time before we are fully able to "live free or die" as long as our lives and society are shaped by such political conflict and power-mongering." Column by Marcel Votlucka.
"There is no magic spell that the wizards can concoct to make things work exactly as they would like. This mysterious 'market' that we so often invoke is little more than the sum total of human interactions and exchanges and transactions – goods, services, ideas, information – whether they have a direct economic basis or a purely social value. When we talk about 'managing' the economy or the market, what we really mean is controlling people's peaceful and productive interactions by force. You cannot stop all people in all places and times and situations from engaging in this activity, nor can you exert direct control over them all. Such would require godlike power that not even the 'Unitary Executive' Bush can claim." Column by Marcel Votlucka.
Reflections on the Newly Independent Kosovo
"How much blood has been spilt because one 'ethnic team' felt it was superior to another, because they felt entitled to a certain stretch of land or whatever? It's pretty silly to begin with, that anyone would take up arms over the fact that someone else in their backyard speaks with different-sounding words and believes in a different man in the sky and has different social habits and customs. It's even sillier when you dress these things up and make them into 'nationalities' and 'ethnicities,' and then stake their whole identity on it. It's collectivist and has about as much sense as Giants and Patriots fans waging war in the streets...." Column by Marcel Votlucka.
If Only the Super Bowl Could Replace Politics
"In a freer world – a stateless world – I'd hedge my bets that football would actually merit the (in my opinion) overblown importance it gets now. Something would have to substitute the divisive, coercive politics that currently affects our lives. Why not football?" Column by Marcel Votlucka.
I'm an Anarchist, and I Don't Hate the Troops
Recommended "But sometimes our prized objectivity blinds us to what everyone else has been taught to see. We don't understand that while we have overcome our indoctrination, others see it as a source of meaning and structure, and still others live to defend that – the cops and the soldiers that some hate for defending this system." Column by Marcel Votlucka.
"Fear, envy, passivity, irrational thinking, collectivism, moral relativism, unearned guilt, learned helplessness, and a sense of humanity as fundamentally bad . . . these are our true enemies." Column by Marcel Votlucka.
"Why
then would you accept some idiot’s supposed authority to tell you how to run
your own life? How could someone
accept thoughtlessly someone else’s unproven and unmerited ability to run
everything politicians and interest groups wish to run – the economy, national
industry, social mores, personal lifestyles, matters of war and peace?
The Psychology Behind the State
"Historically, governments have regularly done things that might put ordinary people in jail or the gallows if they attempted them. The statist system enshrines a double standard between actions permissible by individuals and actions permissible by the State." Column by Marcel Votlucka.
You Can't End the 'Politics of Division'
"Instead of asking for an end to 'politics of division,' Obama and his ilk had better realize that politics is division, and that the State is no friend to us." Column by Marcel Votlucka.
Endless 'Problems' Fuel Statist Hubris
"How can an organization that enforces one-size-fits-all, unyielding edicts, be properly equipped to tackle any nuanced issue with intelligence and efficiency?" Column by Marcel Votlucka.
"In short, anarchism boils down to the study of right and wrong. We may not have all the answers, but we ask the right questions. That is the mark of intellectual honesty." Column by Marcel Votlucka.
Building Bridges Between Anarchists and Non-Voters
"The difference between non-anarchists and anarchists is the difference between choosing over who runs other people's lives, and choosing that nobody has the right to run anybody's life." Column by Marcel Votlucka.
Social Welfare Programs: Are They Really 'Socially Just'?
"If your goals are noble, but your means are cruel and wrong, then
what does that say about the goal you want to achieve?
What does that say about your morals?
What does that say about the kind of 'justice' you aim to
bestow on us?
'Illegal' Immigration Is a Phantom Problem
Recommended "Attacks on immigration, legal or otherwise, are attacks on individual rights, not to mention attacks on the market and a free society. The only 'aliens' we should be concerned about are those unsavory, ignorant, and politically-connected folks to whom freedom is an alien concept." Column by Marcel Votlucka.
Why the State Cannot Offer a 'Moral Economy'
"How
is an institution built upon coercion, corruption, hypocrisy, extortion, fraud,
and war, going to create any sort of 'moral' economy or 'moral' society?"
Column by Marcel Votlucka.
"If you’re wondering how the logic of this admittedly brash remark works itself out, try the following. It’s simple; just publicly refuse to pay your taxes. The government will come for you and the police will try to throw you in jail. If you resist, you will be shot. Pay up, or get a bullet in your head." Column by Marcel Votlucka.
The Free Market Did Not Kill New Orleans
"...despite all the government’s best efforts in flood control, evacuation, first response, law enforcement, and coordinating relief efforts, most people were still left helpless, doomed to suffer and die in the flooded city." Column by new Root Striker Marcel Votlucka.