Everything-Voluntary.com | Thanks to the media’s portrayal of masked malcontents kicking over trashcans as “anarchists,” I believe some clarification is in order.
I am an anarchist because I recognize that the institution of the state is fundamentally based on violence and coercion, not because I punch people in the face for exercising their freedom of speech.
I am an anarchist because I recognize that the self-ownership of individuals is violated when the state illegitimately claims to possess authority over them, not because I throw rocks through the windows of random businesses along the street.
I am an anarchist because I advocate freedom and liberty for all people in all places at all times, not because I steal or destroy other people’s property.
Anarchy is not chaos and violence, it is spontaneous order and peace created by replacing the state with voluntary human interaction. Anarchy rejects the violence inherent in statism and offers mankind an alternative based on individual self-ownership.
By Parrish Miller
