Maxcactus asked, "Is the size or power more concerning? It seems that to accomplish something big like an electric grid, or the internet it would take a big structure of people and resources. I would imagine that an anarchist would prefer the smallest organization necessary for the task."
Programs or institutions that are big, powerful and long-lasting tend to be problematic. It's possible to design a program so that one or more of these characteristics is limited.
For example, a way to limit power is by making an institution directly accountable to the public. The police would be less powerful if they were assigned to a neighborhood, and had to face the voters there every year.
A way to limit the power of a utility company would be by encouraging local power production and distribution.
Limiting the power of corporations could be accomplished by limiting their lifespan to 30 years. They could be big and powerful, but not immortal. (This isn't such a radical idea; this is the way corporations used to work).
I guess what I'm getting at is that anarchism doesn't mean "no government" as a tautology, I believe that as a political philosophy it can make a contribution to public policy discussions.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
A Followup to Post on Anarchism
Posted by Erik at 10:18 AM
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>The police would be less powerful if they were assigned to a neighborhood, and had to face the voters there every year.
That's how we do it in some parts of Oakland. There are two tiers of armed authority. One handles crimes like homicide and larger property disputes, and helps enforce a local monopoly that supports the lower tier. This lower tier keeps order at a much more personalized level. Unfortunately, a given group of them will sometimes fire guns randomly just beyond their current borders as a way of undermining competitors' credibility...
Joel,
That's a good point, local organized law enforcement can become territorial and ganglike in nature.
I actually expect a lot more of this in the future, as law enforcement budgets are cut and services are increasingly privatized.
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