… the occasional advice column that’s taking the world by storm, one sovereign individual at a time.

This week’s question comes from a correspondent at the Libertarian subreddit. Our correspondent has been reading some discussion of the increasingly belligerent statism of conservatives within the Tea Party movement and the efforts of conservative politicos like Sarah Palin to harness the movement to their own ends — typically purging libertarians in the process. And he or she agrees, but doesn’t really know what to do about the co-optation and takeover attempts that conservatives always mount when a libertarian organization or a libertarian activist effort starts getting some buzz. What can you do when any time you try to go out in public, you face this kind of unwanted attention?

Dear Dr. Anarchy:

How do we keep neocons or someone else from co-opting a libertarian organization, without some kind of top-down approach? It seems like real libertarians just get drowned out in the din of statists, and the libertarian agenda gets changed in any desirable organization libertarians contribute towards.

Sincerely,
Co-opted in Connecticut

Dear Co-opted,

What you should do is stop wasting your political time on limited-government organizations, and become an Anarchist. instead.

Why is it that neoconservatives and other statist politicos keep trying to co-opt and take over organizations that libertarians started? The answer is the same for any politico — because they see the organization and the people in it as a means to political power. They’re able to treat limited-government reform groups like that because limited-government reform groups, while protesting big government, still want a little bit of government — to hold onto some part of the State and executive power (e.g. government cops, courts, borders, and soldiers). A Sarah Palin sees this as the platform she can stand on: as long as you’re willing to accept a little bit of government, she can ride your movement to victory, or if not victory at least a speaking gig and a comfortable sinecure, with a very selective set of promises about the kinds of government she’ll roll back.

But an Anarchist organization, or an Anarchist direct-action campaign against state power (like CopWatch or No Borders Camp, say), aims to change political conditions by frustrating or bypassing electoral and parliamentary politics, and the goal that you are trying to reach is to abolish the political means itself. When your means and your ends are to destroy the very thing that conservative politicos want to control, you no longer have anything to take that they could want to have.

I know it’s tempting to believe that you can go on doing just what you’ve been doing, and that this time — with the right sort of vigilance, maybe; with the right sort of understanding from the get-go — you’ll be able to do it right, or if things threaten threaten to go wrong, you’ll be able to see the warning signs before it’s too late, and do something about it. But when you keep seeing the same pattern over and over again in your political relationships and your casual interactions, it’s time for you to wake up and start facing facts. Political organizing is always going to attract politicos, and people with more political pull are always going to have the advantage in political organization. It’s not just time to dump this control freak; it’s time to think about whether you should be doing things differently, so that control freaks like this won’t find anything to attract them in the future. Stop putting your hopes into support for limited-government political parties and governmental reform; it’s time to stand up for yourself, without the crutch of legal politics, and put your time, energy and hopes into efforts that bypass governmental politics entirely, and treat the state as an enemy to be smashed, rather than a tool to be seized and wielded.

Sincerely,
Dr. Anarchy.

That’s all for today. Just remember, folks: people are more important than power. And everything is easier when you reject the State as such.

Next week: Dr. Anarchy answers your tax questions!

See also:

• GT 2008-07-08: Send in the clowns
• GT 2008-01-25: Take the A-Train
• GT 2008-01-26: In which I fail to be reassured
• GT 2009-06-09: The Crash
• GT 2008-11-14: So you are in favor of personal money holes?
• GT 2008-02-25: I am shocked! shocked! to find that politics is going on in here

• All Your Mind Are Belong To Her. Austro-Athenian Empire (2010-02-15). In which a law professor attempts to use libel law in order to censor negative reviews of her work. You may have thought that your considered opinion of Dr. Calvo-Goller’s work is your own. But you forget yourself, Sir: your opinions of her work are in fact the exclusive property of Dr. Karin Calvo-Goller, JD. (Linked Monday 2010-02-15.)
• Good Things: Ubuntu and Android. Alex Payne, al3x (2010-02-15). Good Things: Ubuntu and Android This is the second in a series of posts about good, nice things that I'm enjoying in the world of technology. The first post in the series was about Lenovo's ThinkPad X301 laptop, a solid alternative to the MacBook Air for those that don't mind… (Linked Monday 2010-02-15.)
• Colin Ward, 1924–2010. Anarchoblogs in English (2010-02-16). R.I.P. Click through for a long quote from Ward’s Anarchy in Action, “Anarchy and a Plausible Future.” (Linked Tuesday 2010-02-16.)
• New Proudhon Anthology Forthcoming. Anarchoblogs in English (2010-02-16). Congratulations to editor Iain McKay and sometime translator Shawn Wilbur. (Linked Tuesday 2010-02-16.)
• Man sodomized with Taser will receive six-figure settlement. Photography is Not a Crime (2010-02-17). [Trigger warning.] “The settlement contained a provision that officers were making no admission to violating the plaintiff’s civil rights” by deliberately sodomizing him with an electrical torture device in order to secure “cooperation.” Meanwhile, the city government will send the bill for compensating the survivor to a bunch of innocent taxpayers who had absolutely nothing to do with this atrocity. (Linked Wednesday 2010-02-17.)
• Texas cop arrested for "improper photography" Photography is Not a Crime (2010-02-17). Men in Uniform (Cont’d). Officer Brandon Gilroy, St. Edward’s University Police. Austin, Texas. (Linked Wednesday 2010-02-17.)
• Seattle artist sues man for photographing public art work. Photography is Not a Crime (2010-02-17). Intellectual Protectionism Vs. Free Speech and the Progress of the Arts and Sciences. (Or, Mr. Galambos goes to Seattle.) In which Jack Mackie, professional leech in the name of the Arts, grabs a tax-funded handout from the Seattle city government to sculpt a series of generic dance steps on public sidewalks in view of God and everybody in Seattle, and then, unsatisfied with having been paid once (by nonconsenting taxpayers, no less), goes back to government to use Intellectual Monopoly law to sue anybody who dares to distribute photographs that include a glimpse of the work that he put out for free public display. Most recently, he is attempting to sue photographer Mike Hipple for as much as $60,000. No word yet on whether he plans to start suing folks in Seattle for dancing the Foxtrot. (Linked Wednesday 2010-02-17.)
• Akron cop fighting suspension ends up with triple the time. Photography is Not a Crime (2010-02-17). I agree with most of the stuff that Miller says here — except for the claim that a 45 day vacation from his job is a “severe punishment” for a man who robbed a completely innocent woman of her property, abducted her by force and locked her in a cage for 18 hours even though she had not posed a threat to any living being or committed anything that even plausibly resembled a crime. If you or I did that, we’d be in prison for years. (Linked Wednesday 2010-02-17.)
• The Blood Bank. Roderick, Austro-Athenian Empire (2010-02-16). (CHT François.) (Linked Wednesday 2010-02-17.)

So, here is the latest on the Alliance of the Libertarian Left at the Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair.

First — I’d like to give a big shout-out to the three very generous donors who chipped in to cover all of the costs for the table registration fee and the shoestring-budget travel expenses from Las Vegas to San Francisco. Thank you! You’re awesome. Seriously.

Second. Along with the selection of booklets and buttons that we had at last year’s Bay Area bookfair, and last month’s bookfair in L.A., James Tuttle from Tulsa ALL will be bringing along some new literature from ALL and from Corvus. And Southern Nevada ALL will be bringing along a passle of new literature, including four new Market Anarchy Series zines and several new button designs. If you’re curious, or interested, we’ve added the new items to our distro page. If you need some literature and merchandise for your ALL local, or just want to pick some up for yourself, check it out — everything’s available either as an individual item or for discounted bulk orders. It’s a great way to get the word out; also a way that you can pick up some solid left-libertarian materials while helping us defray the costs of supplies and printing for the Bookfair.

Here’s a sampler of the new booklets and buttons we’ve got in at the Distro.

Market Anarchy #13: Libertarianism Through Thick and Thin Charles Johnson (2008) (Specially commissioned by James Tuttle of Tulsa ALL.)	Government is Violence / think Anarchy for consensual alternatives [ALL] (1.5!!!@@e2;20ac;b3;)	Market Anarchy #14: Libertarian Feminism: Can This Marriage Be Saved Roderick Long and Charles Johnson (2005) (Specially commissioned by James Tuttle of Tulsa ALL.)
Deporten a La Migra! [ALL] (1.5!!!@@e2;20ac;b3;)	The Best of BAD Press: Tracts in Individualist Anarchism 1986–1999 BAD Press (2001)	i don’t pay war taxes [ALL] (1.5!!!@@e2;20ac;b3;)
MA15: Property to the People! Expropriate the Expropriators! Where Are The Specifics? Karl Hess (1969)	NO BORDERS / NO STATE [ALL] (1.5!!!@@e2;20ac;b3;)	MA16: Liberty, Equality, Solidarity Charles Johnson (2008) (Specially commissioned by James Tuttle of Tulsa ALL. Ships on or after March 1, 2010.)
The General Strike Ralph Chaplin 1933) (Produced and distributed by Southern Nevada ALL for an ad hoc organizing committee of the IWW in Las Vegas.)	Crypto Anarchy and Virtual Communities Timothy C. May (1994)	Market Anarchy Zine Series: full print run 16 Market Anarchy zines for $1500

I’d like to take special note of a couple new items in the Market Anarchy series . There is, first, the most recent issue (#15), which is a reprinting of Karl Hess’s Where Are The Specifics?. For those of you familiar with Rothbard’s (in)famous Confiscation and the Homestead Principle (already part of the Market Anarchy series, as Market Anarchy #1: All Power to the Soviets!), this is the article by Hess that Rothbard was riffing on when he wrote that essay. (The two were first published together in a single issue of Libertarian Forum, along with a polemic against the government assault on People’s Park.) Since the two are of a set, to go along with All Power to the Soviets! I gave the Hess booklet the title Property to the People! Expropriate the Expropriators! Hess’s article is shorter than Rothbard’s, and raises a lot more questions where Rothbard aims for a specific answer (Hess asks what would become of General Motors in a free society; Rothbard tries to answer the question). But it’s notable, among other things, for Hess’s shout-out to militant reclaim-the-land movements in the Southwest U.S. / northeast Aztlan, and for the really excellent programmatic statements at the beginning, on the difference between the defense of individual property and freed-markets, on the one hand, and apologetics for actually-existing property claims and the typical business practices of state capitalists, on the other.

And, second, there is the upcoming issue (#16), which is — at long last — a reprint of my essay Liberty, Equality, Solidarity: Toward a Dialectical Anarchism, which will be freely available for reprinting with attribution at the end of February 2010. (As a result, the booklet ships on March 1 at the earliest.) It used to cost somewhere between $60 and $80 to get a printed copy of the essay; come March, it can be yours in an attractive booklet edition for only $1^.75. The essay ranges pretty widely, from the anarchist case against limited government to radical equality to the interconnection of struggles and thick conceptions of libertarianism to individualist anarchist engagements with radical feminism, the labor movement, and the great capitalist conflation controversy. Thus: The purpose of this essay is political revolution. And I don't mean a “revolution” in libertarian political theory, or a revolutionary new political strategy, or the kind of “revolution” that consists in electing a cadre of new and better politicians to the existing seats of power. When I say a “revolution,” I mean the real thing: I hope that this essay will contribute to the overthrow of the United States government, and indeed all governments everywhere in the world. You might think that the argument of an academic essay is a pretty slender reed to lean on; but then, every revolution has to start somewhere, and in any case what I have in mind may be somewhat different from what you imagine. For now, it will be enough to say that I intend to give you some reasons to become an individualist anarchist, and undermine some of the arguments for preferring minimalist government to anarchy. In the process, I will argue that the form of anarchism I defend is best understood from what Chris Sciabarra has described as a dialectical orientation in social theory, as part of a larger effort to understand and to challenge interlocking, mutually reinforcing systems of oppression, of which statism is an integral part—but only one part among others. Not only is libertarianism part of a radical politics of human liberation, it is in fact the natural companion of revolutionary Leftism and radical feminism.

(This booklet edition of Liberty, Equality, Solidarity was, incidentally, made possible by a generous commission from James Tuttle of Tulsa ALL.)

Anyway. If you’re there at the Bookfair, these items and some others will be out on the table for you to check out. If circumstances force you to be square rather than there, they are all available now through the Southern Nevada ALL Agitprop & Artwork Distro.

Enjoy!

• Introduction to Square. John Gruber, Daring Fireball (2010-02-11). Another little masterpiece from my friend Adam Lisagor.  â˜…  (Linked Sunday 2010-02-14.)
• Not Safe for Prison. Jesse Walker, Jesse Walker: Reason Magazine articles and blog posts. (2010-02-12). The Bent County Correctional Facility in Colorado has censored our March issue, sent to a subscriber behind bars, because of a rule prohibiting images of "scantily clad provocative poses." If you're curious to see what the warden considers a scantily clad provocative pose, click here for the offending photo. (Linked Sunday 2010-02-14.)

Happy Anna Howard Shaw Day! (And happy birthday to my sister, Ms. L.E.J.!)

What better day than February 14th for Shamelessness? This week has been a week for catching up on old commitments and making new connections. You probably know by now about my letter to the Secretary of State of South Carolina; you may not know that I was briefly interviewed about the letter by Ernie Hancock on Declare Your Independence. Anyway, to turn back to local affairs, a crew of us from Food Not Bombs Las Vegas rolled out on Tuesday to help feed 200 FWs on the picket line at NV Energy corporate headquarters. I made it out for a somewhat productive FNB business meeting Saturday, and I’m heading out to Baker Park this morning for our weekly free picnic. On Thursday at Anarchist Cafe and then yesterday, we made our first steps towards organizing a local CopWatch network in Las Vegas. We’re beginning weekly meetings this Saturday; if you’re curious, contact me or follow us on Twitter for updates as they come out. Meanwhile, I’m still in the midst of preparations for the trip out to the Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair.

Et tu? What have you been up to this week? Write anything? Leave a link and a short description for your post in the comments. Or fire away about anything else you might want to talk about.