One year ago, my sister introduced me to a gray, wispy-haired senator from Vermont -- Bernie Sanders, championing economic equality and upon whose podium the pigeon of peace alighted. Politics before then was a disappointing parade of one establishment candidate after another. But this candidate was refreshing, invigorating. So it was my bitter love affair with socialism began.
I registered as a Democrat. I read books by Chris Hedges and Noam Chomsky. I told my friends, family, even my landlord, that I was a democratic socialist. I tried going vegan. Thirteen months from election day, I was already geared up to vote. It was the first time I’d vote in my life. Boy, did I #FeeltheBern or what?
Like my fellow Millenials, I was aware of the unholy alliance between corporations and the government is responsible for the depressing condition of the human race. Having just graduated from a liberal arts academy, soaked in four years of a humanities education rife with Marxist rhetoric and social justice agenda, I naturally sided with the government. I didn’t know any better -- before my socialist days, I simply opted out of politics. I wanted to write novels and be left alone instead.
(Looks like I was an anarchist before then, and didn’t even know it!)
I liked Sanders plan to cut the military budget and bring the United States out from policing the planet. I liked his ideas of cutting wasteful spending from the military and subsidizing domestic infrastructure. I was nearly possessed by his courage to challenge the wealthy corporations that were pulling the strings of the government. I was aligned with the anti-war sentiments of the Left, and Sanders had not voted for the Iraq War. It seemed as if the Left was right for me.
But whenver I dug too deeply into the Left’s philosophy, there was something wrong with it. I didn’t actually know what the Left ultimately wanted. Only that there were capitalists who needed to “pay their fair share." The philosophy never settled. I was already looking for something that made better sense.
While a socialist, I experienced very little resistance from the Right. When I did, there was that self-righteous prick in my gut that made me want to fire back at those who questioned socialism -- such as learning that the poor are not, in fact, actually getting poorer, while the rich get richer. Both the poor and rich are growing richer, but the poor are slower to catch up. I was on fire, and I didn’t want to stop Feeling The Bern.
What finally doused the flame and awoke me to my senses?
I discovered the YouTube podcasts of a charismatic, bald Irish fellow by the name of Stefan Molyneux.
I watched his presentations for hours. It was Molyneux who gradually introduced me to a new philosophy called Anarcho-Capitalism. It is a simple but powerful philosophy -- nobody should murder or threaten to murder someone else, and nobody should steal someone else's property. Every human being owns himself.
Even a toddler could not disagree with that basic principle of non-aggression. Yet, when one extrapolates this principle into an entire worldview, he runs into a very big problem, because he can no longer justify any of the actions of the State.
The very existence of a government violates this most basic ethic. Taxation is theft. It is a transgression against every individual's right to their private property. Socialism is, of course, impossible without the apparatus of the State regulating and taxing the economy. That means Socialism is a brutal, barbaric system. It means Bernie Sanders is an enemy of the entire human race, a plundering pirate of the worst breed, because he disguises himself in the veneer of a kindly, elderly gentleman who only wants social justice. Who else but the most blackened, selfish soul could ever disagree with such an honest man?
It was an awful yet glorious moment, like pulling porcupine needles from my face, one-by-one, as each myth of socialism was uprooted from my intellect and bandaged with the healing balm of anarchy.
That’s when I took the red pill, and I dropped down the rabbit hole.
If one takes for granted the legitimacy of government, then anyone of any intellectual or moral capacity will most likely gravitate to the Left. That probably explains why the vast majority of intellectuals are socialists. But if the legitimacy of the government can be called into question, then it becomes absolutely clear -- it isn't private business that is the cause of corruption, but the government itself. How in blazes can someone shake his fist at corporations because of their “authority"? Does Wal-Mart control a population of people within an arbitarily set geographical territory? Does it tax everyone it has imposed itself upon? Does it conscript every young male within its territory to fight in a war waged solely for its own interest and caused by its own political bungling? Does it censor my views from the media?
No. But these are the grim characteristics of every Democrat’s precious planned and centralized State.
The government exists whether or not its subjects wish to indulge its activities. Only governments imprison people. Only governments wage wars. Only governments raise flags and create cults of worship and allegiance to their power called "nationalism" and "patriotism." Sure, many governments allow for the election of leaders, but such an option is mockery to freedom, a lose-lose choice that is even worse than the so-called “wage slave’s dilemma.” The world will never be rid of theft and murder until we confront the only entity that is given exclusive permission to commit it: the State.
Once I reached the cross-road between Socialism and Capitalism, I had to confront the contradiction that was driving a splinter through my mind. If I held hatred against authority, then why was I poised against entrepreneurs? They earn wealth by selling me goods and services, instead of the government, who use guns to tax money from its subjects and wage war against others? The market earns its power from the consent of costumers and the contracts of its workers, but the government imposes its will by force.
At first, when I caught wind of anarcho-capitalism, I wasn't so sure that full capitalism would solve the problems of the State. But as I studied David Friedman, Murray Rothbard, Lew Rockwell, and Tom Woods, it’s clear that virtually everything that the government currently does -- even national defense -- the free market could do better. I quickly recovered my trust in capitalism.
I am tired of politics, borders, flags, wars, taxes, elections and a monolothic bureacracy that chronically disappoints the interests of those it claims to serve. Hardly any of the ills of civilization are caused by capitalism or the private sector, unless they are in collusion with the State. I see no way that societal problems will go away so long as we continue to support the State. I cannot see how the human race will survive through the next century if we are divided by governments and identify ourselves by those who rule us. If people continue to simply blame the wealthy for all the woes of society (as if "society" weren't a collectivist illusion itself!), if they continue to set politicians upon pedestals as our ultimate benefactors and protectors, then the human race is doomed.
There are thousands of more reasons why I Bernie Sanders, in favor of pure anarchy. Here’s just a few:
(1) Bernie Sanders is wrong about the economy and everything else.
(2) Society should be run by economics, not politics.
(3) Lysander Spooner says I did not sign your precious "social contract"
(4) The gender wage gap is a myth.
(5) Free college is not “free," and the resulting scarcity would make your degree useless.
(6) Minimum wage law will only further destroy the economy.
(7) The success of socialist Sweden is a myth.
(8) Bernie Sanders' voting history is anti-thetical to his "anti-war" label
(9) Bernie Sanders has spent is entire career lodged in the political machine; despite Millenials lauding him as the anti-establishment candidate, he is just another Washington insider.
I cannot list every single reason I turned from a Democratic Socialist to an Anarcho-Capitalist. That is essentially what my YouTube channel, my blogs, and the rest of my life's labor’s shall comprise of -- debunking socialism, the blue pill of which I once partook.
Simply put, Sanders wrong about everything. They lie about the economy, the sexes, the races, religion and history. The Left always appeals to emotion. I have a logical mind.
Bernie Sanders doesn't attack cronyism. He just attacks capitalism.
That's why I changed my mind about him.
I advise all Millenials to do the same.
