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You're skeptical of the functional applications of free market anarchy. Not a day goes by that I don't hear questions such as these: Who will provide for the poor or the handicapped? Where will funding for national defense come from? And what will deter criminals and gangsters from running amok?
These are the same questions that I naturally asked and continue to ask myself. Through research, I have found rational, sound explanations for virtually all of these questions, satisfactory to my personal concerns. These explanations are rooted in concrete economic theory, such as the laws of supply and demand, the nature of competitive advantage and its tendency to lead to lower costs and higher quality products and services.
These explanations are far too complex to elaborate on in a mere opinion column, but even if I had the attention of an audience, sufficient time and a reasonable space, I wouldn't be called to defend or explain anything about free market anarchism to be legitimized in my stance of calling for such anarchy and denouncing current democracy.
I'm not attempting to enforce a political or governmental structure on anyone. If you have reservations or concerns about anarchy, then don't join or start an anarchist society. I don't have to explain who will provide, who will protect, or who will insure, for the sake of anyone but myself and those willing to strive toward freedom.
These explanations, which do exist, strengthen the logic for anarchism; the free market does not rest upon them. Attacking them does not attack the argument for such an applied system. Voluntary governmental structures are not contrary to anarchism. If you still feel comfort in democracy or socialism, then voluntarily start one, but leave me out of it.
So why don't I leave? Where should I go?
If a prisoner is given his pick of cells, wouldn't he pick the biggest, cleanest room, with the most windows? But he would still be a prisoner.
Secession has been deemed unconstitutional. Certain tax brackets have estate taxes issued upon denouncement of citizenship. Taxes cannot even be construed to appear optional or voluntary. Just as much as I didn't choose to be born, I didn't choose to be born an American. Governments make citizenship the virtual playground that never allows you to take your ball and go home. As a prisoner of democracy, I will remain in the United States, but I will not attack its citizens as the entire democratic political spectrum does through voting.
The voting incentives of democracy pit citizen against citizen in a battle of coercion. You must vote for a candidate with opinions similar to those you hold. In doing so, you attempt to press your views on others, so as to avoid others' views being pressed upon you. This is why I do not vote.
If you adapt a government, it is still a government. You can decorate your cell any way you want to pass the time and make it a prettier place to live, but the warden still locks the gate at night.
Hope is not all lost; ideas matter, but the ideas of freedom, individuality, personal accountability and autonomy are fighting a losing battle against the emotional, haphazard, socialist, liberal sentiment that runs rampant through the hearts and minds of millions of American citizens.
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