“To be governed is to be watched over, inspected, spied on, directed, legislated at, regulated, docketed, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, assessed, weighed, censored, ordered about, by men who have neither the right, nor the knowledge, nor the virtue. … To be governed is to be at every operation, at every transaction, noted, registered, enrolled, taxed, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, authorized, admonished, forbidden, reformed, corrected, punished. It is, under the pretext of public utility, and in the name of the general interest, to be placed under contribution, trained, ransomed, exploited, monopolized, extorted, squeezed, mystified, robbed; then, at the slightest resistance, the first word of complaint, to be repressed, fined, despised, harassed, tracked, abused, clubbed, disarmed, choked, imprisoned, judged, condemned, shot, deported, sacrificed, sold, betrayed; and, to crown all, mocked, ridiculed, outraged, dishonoured. That is government; that is its justice; that is its morality.”
The GOP ironically seeks control in rendering the country ungovernable through obstructionism. They are upset that the Democratic Party wing of the ruling class blocks their ability to exert total control and governance. This is borne out by the ironic fact that even the government shutdown involved giving orders to government agents to prevent people from visiting memorials or national parks. A further examination reveals the GOP establishment’s support for criminalization of abortion and persecution of undocumented immigrants. These are hardly people who truly despise government in any principled manner.
The above mentioned type of obstructionism needs to be clearly distinguished from the genuine desire of the anarchist to render things ungovernable for the structurally privileged ruling class. A humane anarchist would seek to obstruct the functioning of government in a manner conducive to the well-being of those still dependent upon government for survival. An example would be prioritizing the rendering of the DEA dysfunctional over the food stamps program. The abolition of food stamps preferably follows freed market forces creating a radically more equal distribution of wealth. This will allow for the organization of egalitarian working class mutual aid societies.
