Psychological Barriers to Anarchy
It seems to me that there is a large psychological barrier for many people in regards to anarchy. I have been thinking about this lately as I move closer and closer to being an Anarchists. Besides the obvious and unfortunate connotation of anarchy with chaos that most people have, I think a main problem is that people have lived with government for so long that that they can’t comprehend living without government. It isn’t even that people have lived with government their whole life, but most people’s ancestors have lived with government in one form or another for thousands of years, with possibl quasi-anarchistic periods thrown in now and again. Even many in the libertarian movement (especially in the Libertarian Party) are quick to distance themselves from Anarcho-Capitalists for fear of being thought crazy by other people (and fear of how different a world without government would be like).
I also think that people have this mystical view of government. They think that if there is no government, then they will not be Americans any longer. They like to be identified as part of the group. It is true, that if there was no government, then there might not be any United States of America, and hence people would not be Americans anymore. But why is it so necessary to be be identified as part of a group. Being identified as part of a group and not as an individual is generally the basis of every genocide in history. Maybe if there where no countries, then there would also be no more wars. Not a bad trade off for getting ride of your citizenship. Not a bad trade off at all.
In order to accept Anarchy as a viable system of civilization, one must defenestrate a lot of preconceived notions. I am finding that I am throwing out more preconceived notions lately than I have since I learned about libertarianism all those years ago. It is very hard when the idea that government is needed at least some basic areas has been drilled into your head by your government-approved schooling for so many years.
