The Fight Against Fascists (I Can't Believe This Exists)

[Dill]

(06-10-2021, 11:14 AM)Crazyjdawg Wrote: Libertarians and objectivists (the ones who believe "tax is theft") generally consider themselves conservative. "Don't tread on me" etc etc. It isn't entirely consistent with other conservatives, especially those who have idolized Trump, the head of the state, to the extent that MAGA folks have, but there are different ways to define rightwing vs leftwing.

There are a few different theories on what defines left vs right. Most leftists believe the metric is "egalitarianism vs hierarchies" (socialism/communism/anarchism being 100% egalitarian, with fascism/monarchy/dictatorship being 100% hierarchy) and that is how they define what is left and what is right. Anything that encourages equality or equal rights for all people would be a left wing concept, for example. That's why you see leftists claiming the abolition of slavery and the civil rights acts as left wing movements.

The other way to categorize the two sides is "more freedom vs less freedom." This is what most right wing anarchists ascribe to. They believe that anything the government does removes freedom. Regulations on business removes freedom. Mandates from the government removes freedom. Taxes remove freedom. etc etc. Police would also fall under that umbrella, making a right wing anarchist's hatred of police be consistent with their ideology despite being against the "law and order" concept from most right wingers. 

They want to do what they want, when they want and they don't want the government trying to stop them. Of course, this theory only considers positive freedoms. It completely ignores negative freedoms, such as a law from the government that outlaws murder. Despite being a mandate from the government, that law doesn't remove freedom from its citizens (unless that citizen wants to go murder people, of course). It universally gives the citizens the freedom to, generally, not have to worry about being murdered for no reason/petty reasons.

So, you can see, that based on what theory you ascribe left and right concepts to will determine if you consider anarchists to be leftwing or right wing. The truth is there are ways to come to the same conclusion (that government should be removed/curtailed/abolished) while having completely different reasons for that conclusion.

One of the main ways you can determine the difference between a leftist anarchist and a rightwing anarchist is to ask them why they don't want a central government.

A leftist anarchist would likely respond that they believe it is impossible to eliminate social hierarchies as long as there is a ruling class that can define other people's lives for them.

A right wing anarchist would likely respond that they don't like being told what to do and don't think they should be required/forced to pay taxes (especially social welfare program taxes) for "lazy" people who don't "pull their weight" in society.

To prevent confusion, a lot of people call rightwing anarchists "Anarcho-capitalists," as they generally believe in Laissez-Faire Capitalism where there are no regulations on how you make money. Kind of like the opposite of Socialism, where every industry is privately owned and all decisions are made based on profit and self-interest rather than any moral or ethical standard. 

This group seems to fall under the latter group, considering this occurred during a time of lockdowns and the government "telling people" to stay inside and wear masks.

The "You don't own me" line definitely reinforces this.

Well said. Better than well said. Just excellent.

Just to reinforce your point about defining the political spectrum via attitude towards "hierarchies," the terms "right" and "left" originated during the French Revolution, when the representatives of social hierarchy and traditional order (aristocracy and the Church) sat in the National Assembly on the RIGHT side of the speaker's dais, and the commoners and leveling radicals (like the Jacobins) sat on the LEFT. 

In the U.S. where have had no feudal class distinctions, classical liberalism, often fused with social conservatism, has come to mean "traditional order," forming the U.S. "right." We don't have much of a "left" to speak of in the U.S., if by that we understand what the rest of the world calls "left."  We do have a lot of "social liberals" who now catch the label.  

Good breakdown of "anarchism" as well. Capitalist libertarian "anarchists" like Murray Rothbard assumed that if every human interaction could be reduced to or transformed into market exchange, and regulated by supply and demand, eventually no government would be needed at all. That's very different from, say, a Marxist who believes that government will not be needed when class power is eliminated. 

And yes, the right wing "anarchy" of the militias in question is more about "nobody can tell me wut to do--NOBODY--cuz it says right there in the Declaration and the Bible!"  Police tell us what to do ("Sir, you can't park there") and so they are naturally the face of that enslaving system we call "Guvmint."