From rzook@xxxxxxxx.xxxx Fri Feb 19 13:08:54 1999 X-Digest-Num: 65 Message-ID: <44114.65.276.959273824@eGroups.com> Date: Fri, 19 Feb 1999 15:08:54 -0600 From: Rob Zook > From: "Engdahl, Rod" > > Actually, the libertarian believes that the purpose of government is > served in four areas: > > 1. internal security (to protect individual rights) served by local and > regional police forces. > 2. external security (to defend from outside attack) served by regional > and federal armed forces > 3. arbitration (to ensure that civil and governmental disputes are > fairly resolved) served by local, regional and federal courts > 4. exchange standards (to ensure equitable exchange rates for the value > of the workforce) served by some fixed or governed monetary standard. > > This is quite different from an anarchist, a simple believer in free > will, or a worshiper of governmental largess. Actually, I've come to think of "anarchist/anarchism" as a over-define/under-defined term. In other words, no single generally accepted definition. The only common thread I found in the various anarchistic literature I've read is a strong distrust of any institutionalized form of government, along with a rather, IMHO, pie in the sky ideal of humans cooperating in groups for a common good. That's of course leaving out the common media definition of anarchist which seems to be "a nasty person who blows things up". Personally I like the definition of the anarchist in Robert A. Heinlein's _The Moon is a Harsh Mistress_. Of course even that did not pretend to define anarchism in any absolute way, just as an anarchist living in a non-anarchistic society. Rob Z.