One of the things forgotten in America today is that war is the normal state of being for man. Throughout the history of the human race we find one war after another, and very few, if any, real periods of peace. In fact, the only time we find real peace is when nations are prepared for war, and will not go to war, because their prospective opponents are too well armed, and the risk and cost are far too high. [More]I agree.
Via Paul W. Davis, who tells me:
There are many possibilities to explore here, but the first order of business is to be mentally prepared for what may come. After all, many folks in this country cease to function after a natural disaster, and virtually give up and give in, never taking responsibility, and never being proactive about recovering from the disaster. This does not bode well for our ability to withstand invasion and war on our own soil.Again, I agree.
7 comments:
As one of those nutty anarcho-capitalists, I disagree.
War is a function of and habit of the State.
Of course it's hard to say whether there would be warmongering confederacies in an anarchistic society, I think it's incorrect to say that war is a part of man.
as another anarcho-capitalist, i also slightly disagree.
man has no inherent natural state, but instead a timeless capacity for "getting stuck" in all kinds of states. war is indeed one of these. liberty is the lack of internal conflict -- another potential state. a much better one to spend your time in. "the" natural state of man is misleading, none of these need occupy anyone's time for more than they'd like, even when scarcity is their reality (and it is).
this is the whole point of anarcho-capitalism. not only is it perfectly correct to say that war is a part of man, it's also perfectly correct to point out that there are so many other better parts of man that maybe we should focus on and use those most of the time: when hungry, eat. when tired, sleep.
this, opposed to continually falling for free-lunch, military-keynesian socialism, which people have been doing under capital-s States for thousands of years.
yet, war will remain one of the natural states of man, whether or not capital-s States remain. sure, such Stateless combat won't have all the same trimmings as it does today, but combat itself won't simply dissapear a puff of utopian smoke, and it could always get big and ugly, and deserve the post facto description of "a war."
what it comes down to is that some of us enjoy battle and preparation. we dare the criminal to threaten our communities. such a people's place in the anarchist society is that of defense and education on defense.
the more pressing realization for the anarcho-capitalist is that there is no state. like a river, life flows continually. stateful society, full of names and institutions and totems, can be built at the bottom, but the current will erode it. it can be built on the riverbank, but life will pass it by, until the river wides and it falls in. a truly free people will one day forego building it at all, and stop trying to swim upstream.
As myself, I say when you give egomaniacal bullies the "authority" to conduct war, they will do so, especially when backed by the false legitimacy of a government.
The part you left our Kent, is only when they can send someone else to do the sacrificing.
Yes, I accidentally left that part out. Thanks for catching the error.
War is "the spearpoint of diplomacy." After a certain point point, talk, dicsussion, negotiation, is wasted. Action is required.
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