Too much government = anarchy?

Butler Shaffer reported this today on the LewRockwell.com blog:

“According to a report from the organization Iraq Body Count, an average of 34 civilians per day have been killed since the American invasion of that country began. The report goes on to warn of the ‘anarchy’ arising in Iraq.

“I have never understood how the consequences of an abundance of government can be equated with ‘anarchy.’ The Iraqi people are suffering under the presence — not the absence — of numerous governments, including the United States, Great Britain, and the puppet ‘Iraq’ government itself. Furthermore, there have been some twenty-five non-United States governments participating as ‘coalition forces’ against the Iraqis. The butchery that continues in Iraq is the product of the state, not of free men and women pursuing their respective self-interests.

“What is occurring in Iraq is what was also taking place in Lebanon — where the specter of ‘anarchy’ was also raised — namely, a multitude of political systems or groups competing with one another to become the recognized monopolist on the use of violence in that country. The bloody process by which governments subdue a population is ‘anarchy’? Does such twisted thinking not explain the destructive nature of our world?”

Butler’s post reminds me of the time my friend Zack told a co-worker that he considered himself an anarchist. She was horrified that he associated with “neo-Nazi skinheads.”

I think Noam Chomsky probably said it first: those who control the language control the dialogue. The State and its lapdogs have controlled the language long enough. It's time we took it back.

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