NOTE: I don't consider myself an anarchist anymore--in fact, I think I was unbelievably cheesy when I *was*, but this page has some damn good quotes, so I decided to leave it up.

The Unity of Anarchy

"That government is best which governs not at all and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have." -Henry David Thoreau

Pierre-Joseph Proudhon (1809-1865) was known as the "Father of Anarchy." He advocated a social organization based on common ownership, free agreements, and "mutualism". His ideas were influenced by French political philosophers, especially one (whose name I forgot). That philosopher spent some time with the Huron Indians of Canada, who claimed no leaders, but cherished the individual as a much higher entity. In fact, most American Indians had no formal government. 'Chief' is a term assigned by Europeans determined to bring some sort of "social order" on the "savages." In actuality, the chiefs were basically for ceremonial purposes only. Some did have a council who lightly regulated the tribe, but most existed in a type of organized anarchy.

Anarchy literally means 'no ruler.' Anarchists hold the opinion that government(and other forms of authority) are unnecessary evils. At its worst, anarchy stands for terrorism in resistance to government and social order.

A peaceful state of anarchy can not occur until the human race matures and evolves from our current greedy, selfish, violent state.

Civil disobedience can be used as wonderful tool of protest. Henry David Thoreau used it, as did Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mahatma Gandhi, to name a few. Anyway, if the government is not acting up to standards, we have the right, the duty, to overthrow it. Of course this could always lead to more authority...

Anarchy is taken by many people to be solely a state of disorder and chaos. As I said before, that is its worst possible definition. If people work together (peacefully!) for the common goal of anarchy, then it can eventually be achieved. Unity is the key to anarchy.

"Government is to protect property from the poor majority" - N. Chomsky

"Government is the shadow cast by business over society" - J. Dewey

"To be governed is to be watched over, inspected, spied on, directed, legislated, regimented, closed in, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, assessed, evaluated, censored, commanded; all by creatures that have neither the right, nor wisdom, nor virtue . . . to be governed means at every move, operation, or transaction one is noted, registered, entered in a census, taxed, stamped, priced, assessed, patented, licensed, authorized, recommended, admonished, prevented, reformed, set right, corrected. Government means to be subjected to tribute, trained, ransomed, exploited, monopolized, extorted, pressured, mystified, robbed; all in the name of public utility and the general good. Then, at the first sign of resistance or word of complaint, one is repressed, fined, despised, vexed, pursued, hustled, beaten up, garroted, imprisoned, shot, maching-gunned, judged, sentenced, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed, and to cap it all, ridiculed, mocked, outraged, and dishonoured. That is government, that is its justice and its morality."
-- Pierre-Joseph Proudhon