Remember, "freedom is the point"

During some file-shuffling, I stumbled today on this wonderful rant from Larry “Brick” Pillow, who used to write voluminously for the old Libertarian Connection many years back. I admire Brick’s “back to basics” approach to anarchism.

“I’m an anarchist — not a socialist, not a libertarian, not a syndicalist, not an anarcho-capitalist, not an anarcho-communist, not any of the above — just a plain old anarchist. Now, some of my friends call themselves one or more of the above, and so long as it’s couched in a detectable love of liberty, I don’t generally make a fuss about the particulars. But to my way of thinking, the anarcho-this and anarcho-that folks are the lunatic fringe OF the lunatic fringe. Some of them are nice people (and some of them aren’t), but in their fetish for economics they’ve missed the point of what anarchy IS. Anarchy is not an economic system. It’s simply the absence of government, and that’s enough for me. Without an authority system crammed down our throats, we’ll have whatever economic systems we freely choose. I want my freedom; and whether that means living in a co-op, a commune, a cartel or a condominium is of very little interest to me. It’s utterly beside the point — the freedom is the point.”