Aphorisms for an Enemy of the State

Freedom is expression; it is struggle; it is both joy and sadness; it is the capacity to experience life as a full being, not chained by either oppression or ignorance; freedom is the ability to live as one sees fit. Life without freedom is truly not life at all, it is the bleak, meaningless existence of a machine.

Human interaction has always been based on a subtle balance of force and voluntarism. The libertarian posits a society of only voluntarism, and the statist relies solely on force. The anarchist recognizes the intricate exchange between these two modes of interaction. The anarchist prefers voluntarism and civilized society whenever possible, but does not hesitate to use force when injustice and coercion masquerade as reason and order.

The anarchist recognizes no measure of good or evil other than himself. He is unfettered by the exalted idols of state, law, and statist morality. The anarchist, knowing himself to be the only measure of right action, does what is right without appeal to popular conceptions of justice. The justice of democracy is the justice of the inhuman mob, and can justify any atrocity. Only the individual, both vulnerable and capable, can perceive right and wrong.

If a child is starving, feed the child. If a man is enslaved, free him. Do not appeal to the powers who have starved the child and enslaved the man, be the power that feeds and frees. Above all, help those starving and enslaved to free themselves, to become their own liberators.

The anarchist does not posit a 'system' of organization such as a government to replace the current system. Such inflexible and abstract systems are fundamentally hostile towards the natural beauty of human expression. Coercion and oppressive violence thrive in an atmosphere of such "order". Only the spontaneous order of free humanity is life-affirming and just.

Every 'right' and 'freedom' we are allowed by the state is just that: a condescension, a tiny concession by greater power to weaker power. These 'privileges' only serve the interest of the greater power, pacifying us and making us blind to the truth that such concessions represent our oppression as surely as a police beating. Those in power have drawn the map which delineates what we can and cannot do. Because of this, what is allowed shows our oppression just as clearly as what is disallowed.

Life on welfare is not life. When a human being is placed under the heel of another, whether through the institution of slavery or that of the welfare-state, they are denied that which is most valuable and meaningful to humanity -- freedom. What is preferable to starvation and squalor is just barely that.

Do not just act charitably towards the needy. To do only that much is to belittle and weaken those most in need of strength. Empower the needy. A man empowered can sustain himself, but a man constantly weakened can only become weaker.

It is better for the poor to appropriate wealth as they see fit through criminal acts than to rely on government to execute the theft and redistribution for them. When one relies on welfare, he or she acts as if the state's theft is not crime, and at once legitimizes the state's violence while belittling onesself. When the individual commits a crime, he places himself above the holy ideology of law and state, rather than depending on that idol for his life and well-being. Welfare is the slave asking for better quarters. He is still a slave. Do not be content in slavery.