alister air writes:
> Alex LoCascio wrote:
> >Anarchism by its very nature is a petit-bourgeois, reactionary
> >phenomenon, and its adherents either tend to be middle-class radical
>
> Just out of curiosity, do you ever wonder why there's no broadly
> united left coalition... anywhere?  Do you think that pointless (and
> inaccurate) diatribes against fellow anti-capitalists might have
> something to do with it?

I don't think so.  I think it is because left thinkers are paralyzed
to some degree by their own rejection of government.  A coalition
won't work for long without structure and rules.  As soon as there are
structure and rules, there is government.

> >power."  Of course there's a concentration of power!  Just because power
> >is distributedly widely doesn't mean it ceases to be power.
>
> So, this means that it's fine to have a central organising committee
> ruling over the masses...?

How widely should power be distributed?  Suppose it is completely
distributed (100%).  Then every person has a veto.  All votes must be
unanimous.  Since no vote will be unanimous in a large population, no
votes will pass.  Nothing will get done.  Then no single person can
have a veto, which means each vote must pass by some percentage.  What
should that percentage be?  How big should the "central committe" be?

What about stupid people?  I mean really stupid people.  And there
*are* lots of them.  Should stupid people have the same voting power
as intelligent people?  Should there be disqualifying acts of
stupidity that cause a person to forfeit his voting right?  For
example, if you own a swimming pool and you don't teach your children
to swim and one of them falls into the pool and drowns, then you are a
really stupid person and you should not be allowed to vote on matters
that affect everyone.  Or maybe a stupid act should be punishable by
loss of voting right for a specific length of time.  If your child
drowns in your swimming pool because you didn't teach him to swim, and
you are convicted of this stupidity, then you are deprived of your
voting right for, say, 15 years.

These decisions and others must be made by the members of any
coalition.  You can't just say everybody is equal and nobody has to be
bound by rules they don't like.  It's not surprising to me that left
coalitions fall apart.

martin

Martin Smith                    Email: [log in to unmask]
P.O. Box 1034 Bekkajordet       Tel. : +47 330 35700
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