011: Is Anarchy the Answer? (w/ Cory Massimino)

Cory Massimino (@corymassimino) is back on (Re)Imagining Liberty to talk about the politics of radical freedom at their most radical. Namely, anarchism.

I get asked every so often whether I'm an anarchist. My honest answer is I'm not sure. I believe anarchism as a moral claim is clearly correct. State power is illegitimate. No one has a right to rule, and no one has an obligation to be ruled just because some people call themselves the government. Arguments for why the state is morally permitted to use violence against us and extract resources from us don't hold up to scrutiny.

At the same time, I have worries that a society without any state at all won't be a paradise, but instead unbearable—potentially so bad that avoiding it outweighs the harms of enforcing illegitimate authority. But I'm not certain of that, and I believe thinking through those issues is central to the liberty project.

We shouldn't assume we need the state, but should instead tackle the question of its necessity head on. Today's conversation is about that.

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Produced by ⁠Landry Ayres⁠. Podcast art by ⁠Sergio R. M. Duarte⁠. Music by ⁠Kevin MacLeod⁠.