I am now fighting two distinct battles. One against the idea that people are supposed to rule the world, and the other against the notion that governments are supposed to rule people. Frankly, I'm surprised you're not an anarchist. You've indicated that the "laws" that governments write are inferior to those that grow and evolve with cultures. But, in the answers to questions 502 and 592, you seem to concede the inborn right of you and your tribe to govern yourselves---to ignore old minds that are merely elected, and often critically opposed to your ideas. You contend that the problems of our culture developed systemically, yet you feed a failed, corrupt system (the U.S. government) with your vote. I find it difficult to believe that you can see the potential of walking away from civilization without ceasing the opportunity to walk away from corruption. Al Gore is a great alternative to George Bush for president, just as a clean knife is better that a rusty one for impaling oneself. • Ishmael.org, the work & philosophy of Daniel Quinn

I am now fighting two distinct battles. One against the idea that people are supposed to rule the world, and the other against the notion that governments are supposed to rule people.

Frankly, I’m surprised you’re not an anarchist. You’ve indicated that the “laws” that governments write are inferior to those that grow and evolve with cultures. But, in the answers to questions 502 and 592, you seem to concede the inborn right of you and your tribe to govern yourselves—to ignore old minds that are merely elected, and often critically opposed to your ideas.

You contend that the problems of our culture developed systemically, yet you feed a failed, corrupt system (the U.S. government) with your vote. I find it difficult to believe that you can see the potential of walking away from civilization without ceasing the opportunity to walk away from corruption. Al Gore is a great alternative to George Bush for president, just as a clean knife is better that a rusty one for impaling oneself.

Your surprise that I’m not an anarchist surprises me, since I’ve made it abundantly clear that I admire the functionality of tribal societies—and they’re certainly not anarchies. I see nothing whatever in my answers to questions 502 and 592 that concedes the inborn rights of anything to anybody. (I have elsewhere asserted that the very notion of “inborn rights” is a figment of our cultural imagination.)

I wonder how you know that I “feed a failed, corrupt system (the U.S. government)” with my vote. I have nowhere said that I do. In my answer to question 502 I said I “would not be inclined to throw away my vote just to make a gesture.” This is true, but all it indicates is what I wouldn’t do, not what I would do or actually do. Do you perhaps have a spy posted outside my home on voting days?

ID: 605
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updated: 18 Jan 2003

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