A Liberal Lens on "Libertarian Anarchy"
I have been a libertarian for the past 5 years. My intellectual growth is detailed here. During my college years I thought myself to be in firm opposition to Statism, but I still supported the most basic tenet of Statism. A lie so subtly promulgated, and firmly rooted that I did not comprehend its implications. I held the belief that the State is moral.
Over the past year I was introduced to voluntaryism by youtube animation, Stephan Molyneux, and mises.org writers. Voluntaryism is the belief that government should be voluntary. It opposes coercively monopolized governments, States, in favor of competing governments that would occur in the non-invaded free market. Four positions, wrapped in the myth of the State, held me back from voluntaryism during college; intellectual property, the roads, security and law. Stephan Kinsella's "Against Intellectual Property" evaporates all arguments that promote initiating violence against the emulation of ideas. Walter "the moderate" Block's "The Privatization of Roads & Highways" elucidates the sheer number of human lives lost as a result of the road socialism in the U.S.A. (eerily reminiscent of Mao's experiment with 30 million lives) The most contentious of issues, imo, were that of security production, and of law production. Gerard Casey's "Libertarian Anarchy: against the State" leaves no room for confusion.
Casey illustrates libertarianism, properly understood, to be anarchism. This is not the fantastical anarchism where no one needs to work, and everyone is automatically fed. His view is better understood as kritarchy, a term he introduces and would have been better off in titling his book with. Kritarchy is beautiful in that it does not come along with the violent molotov cocktail launching imagery that anarchism does. Kritarchy is rule by judges. Not State employees, but law producers that seek both parties' consent with every dispute resolution service offered. These law producers would work in concert with security producers, and compete with rivals for the vote of the people in the ultimate democracy. Dollar Democracy: the non-invaded free market's mechanism of support for producers of goods and services. Every dollar you give to a producer is a vote.
Casey distinguishes between libertarianism and libertinism. He shows that you can advocate for the right to act in a way that you do not approve of. One can consistently protect the free speech of a Nazi, the economic freedom of a pusher, and the self-ownership of an escort while rebuking all of these human actions. Casey defies the "Stateless societies are restricted to abstract theory" crowd with concrete examples of societies that approached his ideal of formal kritarchy. Eskimo society, pre-invasion Irish society, Somali society and "the anarchy of international relations between states". These are his highlights, but history is replete with instantiations of Stateless governing. Casey plunges a dagger in the heart of Statist dogma, by balking democracy. He illustrates the contradiction of terms one takes part in by referring to a State as a representative democracy, when consent is outlawed. Casey shreds the doctrine of constitutional legitimacy by tossing the implicit contract, explicit contract and binding components of constitutions out of the window. What remains of the States legitimacy? Nothing.
Why should firm believers in the State read this book? This is a succinct presentation of ideas contrary to the State, packed into 149 pages. If it does not completely uproot your Statism, it will cause an intellectual earthquake with aftershocks that will affect you for years to come.
Why should the libertarian non-anarchist read this book? You probably did not think of yourself as a security production socialist and a law production socialist. After reading this book your views will enjoy the splendor of axiomatic consistency. If you can prove that the free market can provide law and security production, other arguments become superflous.
Why should the voluntaryist read this book? Reading Casey's work will strengthen your philosophical foundation.