Who is this article addressed to?
This article is addressed to anarchists/voluntaryists/libertarians/free-thinkers who already or seek to espouse the ideas of agorism. For the purpose of this article, I will refer to this group as agorists. A person who is not an agorist is sometimes referred to as a normie or an NPC -- but, a more useful technical term is Statist.
What is "business"? What is "wealth"?
In this post, the word business is used in a broad sense. It includes, of course, voluntary economic/financial exchange, for procuring such things as food, small personal services (lawn care, hairdressing, maintenance, homeschooling), financial/legal/medical and other institutional services, natural medicine etc. It also includes, voluntary non-coercive human exchange in the broadest possible sense, to span even such activities as spending leisure time with one another (hiking, camping, feasting, book clubs, making music, etc.). All such voluntary non-coercive exchanges increase the wealth (subjective satisfaction) of at least all participants and, frequently, others as well.
Wealth and Opportunity Cost
When two individuals or groups do business with each other, freely and voluntarily and without coercion, two things happen :
- The wealth among and between them increases, since both parties are now at a more desired state
- The potential wealth, from having not done the same particular transaction(s) at that point in time, is now forever lost as a forfeited opportunity, for any other person(s) in the whole world (notably, including other Statists)
This dual reality may be wielded as a double edged sword by agorists by living out this simple and powerful principle : do as much business with agorists, as far as possible.
Do as much business with agorists, as far as possible
In particular, we can break down this idea into the following principles, in increasing order of importance :
- (a) Do business with other agorists whenever possible; (b) if not possible, do business with a Statist that an agorist already does business with, in order to increase the focussed exposure that particular Statist receives to the message of liberty; (c) whenever possible, avoid doing business with random Statists
- (a) Do business in crypto, whenever possible; (b) if using fiat, use cash or other untraceable means; (c) avoid paper trails (credit card, check) wherever possible
- Do business with local, in-real-life contacts, whenever possible
- need-to-know principle : As far as possible, avoid announcing demand or supply to wide public forums (wherever not needed, and wherever the risk is too high), keeping in mind that the wicked gaze of the State criminal mafia is ever roving over humanity, seeking vengeance and seeking to make an example out of some in order to terrify others. Even among established trust networks, one has to, unfortunately, stay vigilant and practice some amount of judicious caution, without descending into paralyzing paranoia.
Can it work? An example from the author's experiences.
My family and I recently transplanted to a brand new location, where we had only a couple of contacts to begin with (and only one of them could be fairly characterized as being sympathetic to anarchism/agorism). The following relates our story of trying to live out these principles.
Having outlined the above principles, it should be clear that they are not easy to achieve in practice. The pre-existing division of labor and skills possessed by agorists, especially in any given local area, is likely to be very small and not diverse enough to form an independent economy. This is why we had modest hopes : even if we could source a little bit of food or beer from some local agorists and teach some of our kids together, that would already be a huge win in my books. Furthermore, even doing business with such local agorists' pre-existing Statist business relationships would be sufficient consolation.
First and foremost, we needed to find this community! Over the course of 6 months, we shamelessly "cold-called". We reached out to FB friends, friends of friends, etc. who we knew were like-minded and like-valued. Almost all responded positively to these solicitations from total strangers, based on the commonly felt need to connect with each other over our shared values. Over a few months, the network grew to about two dozen or more individuals and families. We met with and befriended many of them.
Given our initial modest hopes, even finding a like-minded network of folks to have rational and wholesome conversations with was a huge blessing, in and of itself! But, on top of that, we are thrilled and humbled and thankful to reflect in retrospect that we have indeed been able to "do business with" members of this network in the following ways :
- Obtaining a home mortgage loan for our first home purchase, from a member's home mortgage brokerage
- Family dentist for our entire family of five
- Homeschooling together (1 day a week) with another family
- Family hair-dresser/barber for our entire family
- Electrician (for generator install and much more!)
- Many individuals and families with whom we have enjoyed the great outdoors, parks and playgrounds of the PNW!
- In the works : found a potential source for chickens, pickles, preserves
- In the works : found a potential source for rabbits
- In the works : found a source for plant-based medicine
- In the works : found someone who is willing to fix up our furnace (if ever needed)
- Also, if we ever need a lawyer or a nurse or a used-car dealer or a whole home remodeler or a plumber or a master carpenter, we know people in this network that we can call on
- In addition, in our extended network of folks who are still open to truth but are not yet fully free-thinkers, we found our real-estate agent as well as folks with which to do backyard gardening, machine-shop and wood-working, spelling/reading teacher, house painter, handyman
This is far beyond our wildest imagination and it has only been a few months of trying and we have not yet met even half of the network in person!
We hope the principles described here and our own personal stories would serve as encouragement to agorists everywhere.
In Liberty,
Paul
Hey, Paul!
Thank you for this article. I do indeed find it encouraging. I also find it challenging, because (although I consider myself an agorist) I fall considerably short of pursuing agorist principles as you've described them.
Recently I have become fixated on the idea that the "church" at large has fallen far short of living for and promoting the Kingdom of the Heavens, or Kingdom of God. I do believe that we need to locate and interact with one another in the ways you've described here in your article. "Everything peaceful and voluntary." I have come to view the state as the beast of John's apocalypse, and (sadly) the church as its false prophet.
I'm glad to learn of your successes, and wish you and your family ongoing and increasing success. I look forward to more articles like this!
Kindest regards,
-creatr
😄😇😉
@creatr, Your insight that many (perhaps, even most) in the visible churches have forfeited the core message of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God is my view as well. I am a Christian anarchist (but, I think that is redundant -- Christians must necessarily be anarchists). Having said that, I think the true Gospel is still carried within Scripture and the traditions of the various Apostolic churches (for sure, Orthodox and Catholic, but also Anglican and Lutheran and even many other protestants like Baptists). While many adherents (pastors inclusive) don't recognize those truths or preach them, they are still present, and that is encouraging.
Also, you might be encouraged to learn that I am living in one of the most liberal cities in America (and the world). Even here, my experience now shows that growing a network of 30 (and growing) of free-thinking, agoristic, liberty-inclined people (many who are also Christian) is possible. I am shameless and persistent when it comes to reaching out and befriending and I don't take a few initial rejections or cold shoulders or lack of enthusiasm personally. Asking people to change their social circle is a huge ask of their time and energy and social capital -- I am patient and gently persistent and it seems to be paying off.
Thanks for replying, @paulvp!
I find your experiences powerfully encouraging. Also very thought-provoking. I am and have been attempting to "bring the good news" of the Kingdom within a local congregation that my wife and I have been a part of for about three years now, and I continue to have hopes of success in that endeavor. However, your writing and comments have encouraged me to try to widen the net I am throwing, and to see if I can find more likeminded who are not necessarily part of the particular congregation I am in.
I would love to have a conversation with you sometime, brother? Perhaps over Signal Private Messenger, or over Wire, for the sake of (relative) privacy? :)
Hi @creatr, I just saw this message. I love Signal. I think we can connect on another medium first -- on a popular big-tech Messenger, you will see that I am 'Paul Varkey Parayil'. Let us exchange Signal numbers there.
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