The Phases of Anarchist History

"One cannot remain an anarchist and take part in...government." ~ Carl Watner

"Governments are imaginary organizations populated by voluntary participants."

"Government is an organization that consists not only of those who are "given the mandate" to assume authority, but also of all the "citizens" who support the imaginary enterprise. The citizen is just as integral a part of the definition of government as is the King, President, Parliament, or whatever other fancy label some of the participating humans choose to affix to themselves. All governments must have citizens in order to exist."

"Since an idea must occupy the bottommost level of the natural hierarchical structure, all imaginary hierarchies—which necessarily need human participation in order to function—must be strictly voluntary. We can choose to participate in these imaginary structures if we like, but we can also choose to ignore or abandon them." ~ Excerpted from A Theory of Natural Hierarchy and Government by tzo