Anarchist To Capitalist; WTF?

If you’re on my livejournal, or following my old domain for long enough (circa 2002/2003). You remember my high school anarcho-punk stage which I am a bit embarrassed to admit now. I wasn’t embarrassed by the clothes I wore, how I looked/acted, but more with my flawed way of thinking and my desire to debate without having knowledge. As a future teacher (and just completing some drafts for a lesson I’ll be teaching soon), I decided to have a look in my high school work boxes which my Mom saved in the basement. It’s all there: grades 9-12, and another box from years prior.

Grade 10 stuck my interest. On the front of my homework agenda is black electric tape covering the whole face, with a chain lettered “love bites” as a title, and some bands which I still listen to. Centered, a piece of writing in which I discuss my political beliefs (or lack thereof).

I am an anarchist. Why? Because I have my own beliefs and views on what should be done in this country. We are said to be the “Land of the Free” and “the home of the brave.” “All men are created equal.” These statements are not true. I have been an anarchist since 7th grade. Not for fashion, not so I can draw the symbol everywhere. That’s not what anarchism is all about. Anarchy is about expressing your beliefs. We are the future, we are dreamers, we are not rebels without a cause. We are bright, intelligent people who are willing to fight for what we believe in. We despise the oppression of poor and minorities. If our country stands by the statement, “All Men are created equal” then why are there so many poor people? I was not brought up in a rich part of town, I did not have it easy. The government feeds off of the middle class people, the proletariat, the working class, the people who keep the rich from paying too many taxes. We want to be free, not tied down by the chains of tyranny, dictatorship, and communism. We are the new generation, we are anarchists.

Seven years later, I’m looking at this and laughing. Let’s poke holes! The true anarchist belief, is that there be no government, no order, only chaos. Therefore, would I care what is to be done in this country besides overthrowing the ruler, and moving on from there? The oppression of the poor, and of minorities? What about women? I must have forgotten that group, or I was lumping the gender with that of a minority, or a “poor” person. What’s the deal there? Poor people and minorities are not the only ones who have problems in our country. I used two large umbrella terms to generalize an even larger group of people. A statement that should have been eliminated before it was written down. While I may not have lived in the “rich” part of town, I did too have it easy. A 15 year old kid, in the perfect circumstance does not have to worry about food, clothes, money, and the other benefits that come with living under your parents’ roof. The speaker is this person. If the speaker were coming from a different type of home life, a statement like this could be tolerable. This however, is not. Proletariat? I considered myself to be of the working class? If anyone under the age of 15 claims to be in this social group, you are full of shit. Most likely you do not work. You go to school, you work for your grades, you come home.

Onto tyranny, dictatorship, and communism. The first two terms are redundant and therefore can be lumped together. So, we have dictatorship and communism. The first would eventually happen, by either one person, or a group. Someone almost always rises to power, thus anarchy destroyed. In a country where there are millions of different personalities, cultures, and races, someone is bound to take the initiative. Only, since there is a period of chaos prior to the rise to power, the power must be enforced. No more democracy, no more choices, no more freedom. Doesn’t that sounds lovely? Communism; it works when it’s perfect. I’m far from a communist, but if done right it can work. Everyone working together for a common goal. If done right, I personally can not find a flaw with the idea. The speaker is writing from a democratic, capitalist society. Communism is near impossible in America, and is a weak argument which was not backed up.

It’s easy to find the flaws now, but was not so when I was a 15 year old kid without a clue as to what is or was going on in my country. My beliefs have been reformed, and my ideals changed. I was uneducated, unaware, and just plain silly (for lack of a better word). Besides, “you can do a lot more damage from the inside than the outside.” (Steve-O, SLC Punk).

I am a pure blood Capitalist. I love money, freedom, and the choice to buy, sell, or trade goods to make my life better. Bettering my life, and the life of my loved ones is a joy. Chaos is pointless, and organization is key. I can choose to work full-time or part-time. I have the power to rise from the working class, or I can fall below the poverty line. I can start my own business, and pay others to do the dirty work for me. I can be a dictator or a friend. I can buy a new car that sucks gas, or I can walk or bike to my job. Without a job, I have nothing. No money, no benefits, and neither do the ones I care about. I am not tied down by a tyrant or by communism because I live in a capitalist country in which people are responsible for their own personal wealth. When a 15 year old comes up to me with his eyes painted black, sporting an A with a circle around it and calls me a Communist, I ask him where he got his bondage pants. I support the economy, although sometimes it isn’t in good shape, and I stimulate it as much as I deposit into it, although more often it is the former, and I wear Armani while doing it.

The economics class that I took in college probably shaped my political beliefs more than anything else in my life. I don’t remember if it was “micro” or “macro” economics 101, though it doesn’t matter much. I think it was required for my minor. It was a hard class, lots of studying and math and really strange cost curves and stuff. But I learned a lot… namely, that in a perfectly capitalist environment, the market has a way of taking care of itself. And for that reason, I think it’s really important to support and trust the economy.

People are making this huge deal about our economy *right now*. Like, the Dow dropped a few points and therefore the world is going to end. But if you look at the entire modern history of the stock market, in ANY ten year period, the market gained a net increase. In 97% of the five-year periods, the market gained a net increase. Even during the “great depression”, the market gained a net increase.

I believe that things WILL straighten out eventually. This is the natural cycle of the market, and for us to try and force the market to do something unnatural will not succeed.
Melinda
and by the way, if you become an English teacher, I bet you will have lots of fun anarchist essays to look forward to!
Melinda
It’s fun to read things we wrote when we were young and realize how young we really sounded. When we were that age it sounded like brilliance on the page. But now we can see how much smarter we are and how much more we know now. I take it that you want to teach high school kids? Good luck! I’m trying out the elementary school.
Deanna
WOW! I’m shocked, because Melinda LITERALLY took the words out of my mouth ha ha. I was going to mention how the media makes the economy out to be way worse than it really is. Like she said, it is a natural occurrence for the market and it will eventually pick back up - it always goes through a period of ups and downs.

ha ha @ the old picture. A-Christine is still adorable. We all go through phases. I used to be such a “hardcore” goth ha ha. OH, those were the days.
Brandi
Awesomeness. I think you in high school & me in high school would have gotten along.
J
AWESOME post! I don’t even know where to begin with this comment because I think of something to say for every single sentence you wrote. I have a friend who has the same kind of thinking that you had as a 15 year old self. Even his username on AIM has the word anarchy in it. I really don’t think he knows what he’s talking about. But I guess people just go through phases where you think they know what they’re talking about when, in fact, they have NO idea. Most of the time, I still feel like an ignorant little kid who has a lot to learn but here are some of the things that I do know: I agree that if everyone was really committed to the idea of communism, it will probably be the perfect way of living. Realisitically, that will never happen. In Utopia, everyone will get an equal share of the wealth of the world because everyone will work equally hard. In the real world, that will never happen.
I also know for sure that I’m sick of going to the grocery store with the little money that I made from work to buy myself ramen noodles to find an able-bodied person in front of me being supported by my tax dollars to be buying steak with his/her food stamp (which really isn’t a problem) AND using the cash that he/she has to buy alcohol. Something has to be done there. There definitely needs to be a welfare system… I’m not at all suggesting that it needs to be abolished but I think ours is too damn flawed. Everyone should have access to education THEN everyone who is able-bodied should fend for himself/herself. Is my comment still related to your post or am I just ranting? Haha But hopefully you’ll see the connection between what i just said and being responsible for your personal wealth.
Felisa
yay teenie wisdom! I used to write terrible, terrible poetry at that age *hides*.
Sasha
I’m pretty sure I wrote something similar to that when I was 15, haha.
Kara
Your article is very interesting, i bookmarked your blog for future referrence
best affiliate program
Wow, that is so true. In this country, we have SO many opportunities. Even when you’re born in a very poor family (poor relative to others in our nation), you can still have a place to live at, have the state help you out with basic necessities, free education with which you can use to your advantage to smarten up and make a better life for yourself. I just wish more people in our country were more grateful about that, rather than blame the “system” or their family (or lack thereof). I understand that psychological problems can be an obstacle, but again, this nation hands us all these opportunities on a platter; even if you’re disadvantaged, you can rise up pretty easily.
J.O.