How would the society be like without government, laws, police, or other authority? It is unrealistic to vision such society without forms of government; who will maintain order, provide protection, and enforce social contract? Anarchist advocates for the society with no government, laws, police, or forms of authority, but a society compose of a free association of all its members. This essay will criticize the theory or doctrine that all forms of government are unnecessary, oppressive, and undesirable and should be abolished. I will examine some aspect associated with anarchism theory such as freedom and crimes.
To begin with, anarchism claims to be a new social order based on liberty unrestricted by man-made law; the theory that all forms of government rest on violence, harmful, as well as unnecessary. Basically, “Anarchism stands for a social order based on the free grouping of individuals for the purpose of producing real social wealth; an order that will guarantee to every human being free access to the earth and full enjoyment of the necessities of life, according to individual desires, taste, and inclinations”. It promotes the idea of a society where man can shape his own life without being subject to force by authority. In addition, equality and freedom are an important part of anarchism, since humans are naturally a free being. And all are equally free; hence, limited to their own ability and subject to the laws of nature.
However, anarchist fails to recognize the essential of government in the society. How will society fully exist with no form of authority to provide protection and maintain orders? As a matter of fact, it is impractical to have a society without forms of government or authority due to fair of chaos, death, and destruction. Government is necessary for the protection from outside enemies (outsider) and our fellow citizens; to preserve law and order, to enforce private contracts, to foster competitive markets, and provide public services. Government is collectively formed in the interest of society to maintain and stabilize the society.
We have witness what happened in Chile and Haiti due to the absent of government caused by earthquake destruction. In the short period of earthquake destruction in Chile and Haiti, there were chaos of killing, robbery, and associated crime caused by lack of authority to maintain laws and orders. These example illustrate that society can’t fully exist without forms of authority. Anarchism theory claims to rescue the self-respect and independence of the individual from all restraint and invasion by authority. “Only in freedom can man grow to his full stature; learn to think, realize the true force of the social bonds which knit men together, and which are the true foundation of a normal social life”. Anarchism claims that government invasion restraint our freedom, and without freedom, men can’t grow to his full stature and realize the true force of the social bonds that tie men together.
Anarchism favors the State of Nature; the state of perfect and complete liberty to conduct one’s life as one best sees fit, free from the interference of others. However, being in the state of nature doesn’t mean one is free to do anything that one please, or free to do anything that one judges to be in one’s interest. The state of Nature, which is on Locke’s view the basis of all morality, and given to us by God, commands that we not harm others with regards to their life, health, liberty, or possessions. Of course we all value the state of nature without interference; however, we need to understand that government is established for numerous reasons. Even in the state of nature, there must be forms of authority to interfere the law of nature. Freedom and equality alone can not bond men together in society. There must be forms of authority to protect freedom and equality. Freedom and equality can’t exist without authority. In the human history, the have been a practice of slavery due to the failure of recognizing other the right to life, health, and liberty. How would anarchism address the issues of slavery? A human who have been deny the right to life, health, and liberty due his/her race, language, or social class. Slavery occurs because there were not forms of government to recognize the right of other. As matter of fact, anarchism’s doctrine is a fairy tales; it will never succeed in establishing a society without forms of government. Forms of government are the back bone of society; without forms of authority, the society will collapse.
In the United States for instance, government plays a critical role in term of protection, preserving freedom, regulated markets, and provide public services such as welfares. I can imagine how the crisis would be like if there were no protection and government’s public services. Millions of American families received foods assistance (food stamps) and medical coupon from government. Being free and equal doesn’t mean all human have the same intellectual? Some people are intelligent, strong, weak, incompetence, or crazy (mental problem) how anarchism address of incompetence and mental disoriented; and therefore, can’t provide or contribute to the society. A society without forms of authority is character with chaos, death, and destruction with in the community; therefore, forms of government are critical to prosperity of society.
According to Goldman, “the individual and society have waged a relentless and bloody battle for ages, each striving for supremacy, because each was blind to the value and importance of the other, . . . the one a most potent fact for individual endeavor, for growth, aspiration, self-realization; the other an equally potent factor for mutual helpfulness and social well-being”. Anarchist claims that government’s oppressive has caused great destruct and limited our freedom to realize the true force of the social bonds which knit men together in society. In addition, anarchist claims that government is responsible for the killing of 100 millions people since world war either in war or in the hand of authority. I do understand why anarchist may feel that way, but abolishing the government will invite chaos, crimes, and ultimately destruction of society. In fact, anarchists are right; an individual strive for supremacy, because each was blind to the value and importance of the other. This is the reason why there should be forms of government to control individuals who strive for supremacy. The government is formed by the members of society with intention of providing protection and maintains orders in communities.
In overall, Anarchism is doctrine that all forms of government are unnecessary, oppressive, and undesirable and should be abolished. Anarchist advocates for a social order that is based on the free grouping of individuals for the purpose of producing real social wealth; an order that will guarantee to every human being free access to the earth and fulfillment of individual desires, taste, and inclinations. On the other hand, anarchism is associated with negative aspects of destruction such as crimes. Society can not fully exist without forms of authority to provided protection, to preserve law and order, to enforce private contracts, to foster competitive markets, and to provide public services.
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