: ::: "Personally, I am and always have been an anarchist; biased towards Schumacher-like "small is beautiful" communities based around voluntary co-operation; I believe the nation state to be an artificial and unwieldy construction.": Gideon, I have a reasonable question. Under anarchy, what happens when a person steps out of line? When he steals or murders?
Under anarchism; participation in a society is voluntary; that is to say, there are agreed codes of behaviour, but no-one is coerced into them; if you don't like the rules of society X, you leave it. Simple as that.
Now, murder isn't a valued social event. People who murder their fellows tend to be pretty unpopular. As such, very few people in a community would disagree with exiling a murderer. Since most murders are not impersonal (i.e. random), this doesn't automatically mean that someone who commits murder is always a murderer.
However, I'm digressing. The defining point is that you have the freedom to decide whether or not to be part of a community; unlike the present situation, where you are assumed to have given implicit consent to the social contract by being born.
To put it more simply; where did you agree to abide by the laws of your native country? I know for a fact I've never agreed to follow the laws of the U.K.; nor have I been asked; it has been assumed from my birth that I do. In fact, since I have to abide by the laws of the country to leave the place, I cannot even just decide to opt out.
The Government do actually enforce this; there was a case a couple of years back when a man declared his own personal secession from the UK; he and his house would no longer be part of the British Isles. He was arrested by armed police; and is now in prison.
At present, the individual has not got the freedom to leave this country; it is assumed that you are covered by the laws of the country whether you have agreed to it or not.
As such, you cannot vote with your feet; not in the UK, at any rate.
As such, the social contract is enforced where I believe it should be a genuine choice; if you don't like the ethics of a small community Y, you can leave it and migrate to Z (which better suits your outlook). Look up the theory of demarchy; the city-state as the administrative unit; a flawed theory, but one that could be built on.
Secondly, examine the root cause of many murders; socio-economic inequality and xenophobia; it is my opinion that the centralized nature of hierarchical organisation leads to the concentration of money and power in the hands of the few at the expense of the many; I believe that a more decentralized structure would benefit a greater number of people; even if the rich were less "rich" relative to the poor than they are now.
Gideon.
