To Be Free Is To Be Self-Governing

The notion of living in a free society raises the practical question of what, exactly, we must become and do in order to be such a people.

Autodiathism is the answer. "Anarchy" has become jargon, saddled with impossible baggage. I jettisoned that term long ago, even though I still use it on occasion. I coined "autodiathism" some years ago from the Greek for "self determination". The idea is to be self-governing. It is a simple concept the requirements and challenges of which are monumental in spite of their outward simplicity.

Civilization is a condition in fundamental conflict with human nature. Civilization cages what is essentially a wild and free animal in its nature, and so the animal rebels against the bondage, however light it may actually be. Our choices in this regard are few: live with the constraints of living among and amid one's fellows, or kill each other until we are left with the last two cavemen, Thak Eisenberg and Grog Blumenthal, nervously eyeballing each other from opposite sides of the nightly fire, hobnailed clubs in hand and ready to deal the final period at the end of humanity's last sentence.

Clearly, the human instinct to survive - to LIVE - biases us toward learning to live with each other. This is perhaps the right choice, everything considered. But the challenges there are stupendous because the civilized state rubs against and thwarts our hunter-gatherer nature. Having been suppressed, the inner animal of nature's origin rebels, and so we have robbery, assault, and battery - as well as all the other "wrongs" that men commit against each other.

The Framers of America were quick to point out that free people must perforce be moral. In the context of civilization, morality turns out to be a huge hill to surmount. But once there, it is relatively easy to remain there, all else equal.

To be free is in deep part to be self-governing in accord with one's proper moral constitution and his habits of comportment. But even in a society that is morally sound in the general, there will be those who either cannot or will not self-govern. We call them criminals, most often... or in some cases just "assholes". Because they fail to self-govern, they must be governed by others for at least a time.

So a basic requirement for flourishing and ubiquitous autodiathism is that people BECOME "government" - but not in the usual sense of the lie with which we all grew up. Rather than governMENT, there must be governANCE; firstly of the self by the self, but secondarily and only where and when needed, of those who fail at it, by those around them. This is primary, but there should also be secondary roles of near-equal importance and of great utility, where we hire trusted guardians of the peace who discharge their sworn oaths as matters of primary obligation, paid of course. Because their lives are pledged to such service functions as investigations and trial of accused criminals, they become well adept at those functions that include law, forensics, and so forth. But they are not absolute authorities whose every fiat must be blindly obeyed. They are, indeed, servants who operate at our sufferance. They operate within an envelope of granted authority under agreed conditions making clear to them that any excursion beyond the metes and bounds of that generously granted authority will carry harrowing consequences, anywhere from losing one's position or life, to losing life itself, depending on the severity of the violation in question.

This all requires vast public participation, high moral standards, and an attitude of eternal vigilance, narrowly PROVISIONAL trust, and a grim intolerance of any breach of that trust, including the ready will to remove life from those who break faith with whom they swore to serve, i.e., the general public.

This is a task that, were we to begin today with full cooperation and material means for implementation, would take at least a full generation go get off the ground in a way we might even vaguely deem "comfortable". It would take probably at least three or more full generations to get most of the mental, cultural, and the various external poisons out of the population. And it would likely take a healthy number of public executions as stark illustrations and reminders of just what it means to betray the trust in which all such guardians of the peace have been vested.

Draconian response to tyranny is essential as the deterrent, no matter how seemingly trivial the violation may seem, It is the only way to best ensure that all comers to the altar of the public trust do so with shivers for fear of betraying it, whether through corruption or accident.

The price of tyranny must be set to such impossible height that all scoundrels are immediately dissuaded by their own choice to demur from public service. Let them endeavor to defraud grandma of her savings, rather than assume the mantle of trust, for tolerance of such people with the latter leads to what we now have: borderline chaos and endless grift with life rendered a misery for countless legions of otherwise good people. The time is now finally upon us to decide, and decide we shall, one way or another; whether through positive action of the default of evasion what sort of a world it is in which we wish to live. There is no escaping this, so my advice is to think on it carefully, realizing what you relinquish if you choose continuing tyranny, which will one day not too far off, advance beyond our reach to throw it from our necks. I continue to believe in the goodness of people, in spite of the evil that besets us on all fronts. And so once again I bid you adieux, and as always, please accept my best wished. May the Divine guide us all toward the light of goodness.