Carsonian Mutualism-Strategic Thinking
“Perhaps the whole thing can be summed up by a sign carried by some of the kids at an anti-war march in New York City on April 5. The sign read simply: “Death to the State. Power to the People.” How can you fault a movement having that as a slogan?”
-Murray Rothbard
I’ve spoken of Kevin Carson’s influence upon me before and recently obtained a bound copy of his book Studies in Mutualist Political Economy. After having revisited the third part of the text that deals with action, thoughts for a post sprang to mind. Similar ideas had been brewing since taking a look at some essays from Problems of Market Liberalism that dealt in how to effectively spread libertarian ideas. Basically, the strategic outlook should be a populist one. As Kevin puts it:
“Not all reductions in state power are equally important, and it could be disastrous to dismantle state functions in the wrong order.”
Exactly! As an example, a priority should be placed on ending corporate welfare — and translating the savings into tax cuts for those at the bottom of the bracket — over ending welfare statism. There should also be a promotion of cooperative grassroots schemes like Ithaca Health Insurance and the revigoration of mutual aid societies.
Not only are they just — not resting on taxation– but promote a sense of community and control that is lacking in bureaucracy. Radical libertarianism should be a people’s movement seeking to widen the sphere that individuals have for control over their lives. That and an ethical opposition to state aggression combined with a fear of the destruction that centralized coercive state power can wreak — and has! — is what made me an individualist anarchist after a hiatus from the creed. In closing, I’d like to throw out one of my favorite quotes that really speaks to the idea of a populist movement.
“After a long life, and thirty years in the public school trenches, I’ve concluded that genius is as common as dirt.”
-John Taylor Gatto
Amen! Encouraging that spirit of self-confidence in one’s intelligence is key to crafting a genuine people’s movement against the state.
