… and Nodoum

Part 1 of this column is here.

Logan Dance was called a swing doctor by some, but really what he did was help people to find their way thru the thickets and weeds of life. Frequently, these choke points were nothing but old paths, leading nowhere now, to which the client had become accustomed, trapped. Almost always the habits were self-imposed, at the beginning out of a sense duty, and were now held in place by inner force, a realm of the ‘musts.’ Logan’s technique was simple: ask a few questions to identify the source of the burden, discover the authentic thrust of personal energy inside, maneuver the client to a position to  drop the burden (without resistance and without hurting anyone), and let it go.

Of course, it took years to develop the details. Logan had become a sought-after life coach or swing finder, which fit with his origins and discoveries of how to enable ‘the nothing feeling of the perfect swing’ for individuals in the world of golf. More about that elsewhere. The client today wasn’t an individual per se, rather a social cause, the liberty movement… as embodied in the well-meaning person of one of its younger leaders. Franklin had called, wondering at this seemingly new phenomenon afflicting all manner of libertarian activism,  which was named—depending on the medium—voluntaryism, self-sovereignty, anarchism, autarkism, agorism, libertarian leftism, etc.

“Logan, I don’t know whether these people have climbed out of a cave or what. But they’re against any practical action in the real world that is at all internal to the political system. Their answer to every call to action or help is ‘What do you expect from government?’

“For example, say an armed Homeland Security force surrounds a small city in Michigan that refuses to prohibit its citizens from raising chickens. Someone organizes a march on Lansing to call on the governor to raise a militia for the defense of the citizens. The response of these wunderkinders is:

“‘Sorry, can’t be bothered. Anything done under auspices of government is immoral because it violates the nonaggression principle… even if it’s one level of government fighting against the aggression of another level.’

“It’s completely ‘Night of the Living Dead’ out there, L. Anything one proposes—whether it’s proven liberty officials or candidates, help with issue petitions, raising money for victims of the Drug War, nullifying unconstitutional federal measures, marching against GMOs, or repealing bad laws in general—these ‘trolls’ lie in waiting to suck any passion out of would-be liberty workers:

“‘We’re anarchists, by golly, and we don’t do jack… on principle! And neither should you. Don’t sully yourselves. Read your Murray Rothbard.'”[1]

Logan had heard of the many new variations of idealistic granola farming. He was an anarchist himself, as was Franklin and just about every libertarian under the age of 70. In fact, Logan was old enough and insider enough to have known many of the founding anarchists that these ‘trollarchists’ claimed to be emulating. Virtually none of the original thinkers insisted on their own views exclusively, rather each was multimodal in strategy—recognizing solid progress was possible in the context of government (for example, marijuana decrim,  nullification of the NSA, standing up for the Second Amendment, etc.).

Interestingly, Logan had just recently had an epiphany reading a quote from the amazing Richard Buckminster Fuller:

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality.
To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

The idea of constructing a new model, a new reality, for so many things that were not working at all well for real people—education systems, welfare, ecology, activism  models, fundraising and marketing… and government itself—was becoming like a mantra for Logan Dance. It was just so much easier and effortlessly powerful to let go of the old ways while simultaneously building the new paradigm. “If you build it they will come.”

And they certainly will come. Logan mentioned his new epiphany to Franklin. Franklin responded, “So, what are you saying? The trollarchists are actually on to something? Are you taking their side?!”

“Not at all, F. The problem with the trollarchists isn’t that they’re anarchists, it’s that they’re nonconstructive anarchists. I went through a phase like that when I was in my 20s, bred of too many hits of testosterone and other substances, in a word, ego. It’s tough being young and male in a state-suffocated world with few productive options; every man I’ve known wants to make something of himself, or at least build a fine life for his family. If you’re at all cause-oriented, you want to stand out as someone who has made a morally and intellectually proper contribution.

“I would not be surprised that the ruling Cabal (what I call the Men of the Power Sickness) has actually set up a fifth column effort to suborn these de-optioned young men… in order to dilute and suppress the general movement toward truth, justice, and liberty—take promising young minds and turn them all about, sending them back into the real world as Barnacles on the Ass of Progress. But qua barnacles, they’ll have no significant slowdown effect on the movement toward the Next Stage.

“That’s because they are really not doing anything. They’re kibitzers. When they do decide  they want to connect (inside the system with real people who need better alternatives), and when they leave their warm, herb-friendly circle of pontification to build an alternative of their own—ideas for new and improved political mousetraps are boundless—then and only then will they be relevant. And I fully expect most of them will figure out the equation very soon. The light of living liberty penetrates deeply, even into caves and under bridges.”

Franklin breathed easier and let go of his burden.

[1] Speaking of Murray Rothbard, this detailed column he wrote years ago on the Movement of the Libertarian Left and Sam Konkin III has much of value to state about the glorified, purified antistatist oeuvre. It’s exquisitely ironic that trollarchists make Murray Rothbard into a demigod.

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