[lbo-talk] Anarchism, was Cuba

[B.]

Chuck wrote:

"I'm just astounded that a bright guy like B. would
argue that through voting, we can "stave off the worst
of the lot of ruling bastards."



Chuck,

Well, remember in France when a lot of the pop. got
apathetic (or, by maybe your definition, "smart"?) and
didn't vote at all, only to see a surprise one morning
when the vicious bastard Jean Marie Le Pen threatened
to actually become pres.? That mobilized a lot of
folks to get out there to at least keep THAT douche
nozzle out, even if no one favored the other folks.

Overall, yes, in the US, the Dems and GOP are two
factions of the business party. Even Moore goes into
this w/ Hillary getting a ton 'o money from private
health corporations. I have no illusions that anyone
in our current God-awful rogue's gallery of Pres.
candidates before us for 2008 are saints, for example.

But I'm not talking about just voting strategically in
elections for people at that high of a level -- there
are also votes locally on taxing land owned by
churches, etc., not just on putting people into
office. There was a local issue put to public vote on
whether massive estates and far-flung ranches, big
tracts of land, technically owned by churches, ought
to be exempt from property tax, since the land was
religiously-affiliated on paper. I thought, "Fuck no,
they shouldn't be exempt!" And I voted against it. Of
course, this is Texas, so those in favor of exempting
land held by churches from taxation won the day by
something depressing like 75% to 25%. 

There are some minor differences at the higher levels,
too, though, ones that, when filtered down to the
public, do have an effect. Had Gore won in 2000, would
the US be in Afghanistan? Probably yes. In Iraq?
Probably no. Admittedly, it's hypothetical, but the
GOP is so chock full of incredibly assholian
ideologues that I just can't sit there and pretend
like it really ain't gonna matter if some anti-gay,
anti-prochoice guy gets in, while the other doesn't.
Those little things do have effects on average people,
it's not just hopelessly abstracted  stuff.

And none of it replaces the need for grassroots level
community organizing or consciousness-raising, which
should be done anyway.

I've grown way more pessimistic over the past few
years so I honestly really don't care if thinking
things like this means I'm not a purebred anok (by
whoever's definition, be it Bakunin's, Bob Black's, or
whoever else). I try to go by what I think are good
anti-authoritarian principles in any event, regardless
of others' opinions. Like I said, if the above makes
me not an anarchist, fine, so be it. Call it what you
will; the actions and principles mean more to me than
trying to earn a coveted label in others' eyes.

-B.