Now that I’ve done a terrible job of elaborating on Antistatism, I think I could talk about Utopianism. Sir Thomas More created the name when he wrote about a fictional society. It was an ideal society from his viewpoint, one that even embraced Christianity instead of disregarding all their past traditions of sun worship. However, as far as I know, More wasn’t the first to create the concept behind a Utopia. The first that I know of had to be Plato with his Republic.
The concept behind Utopia is one where man finds a way to create a perfect society in some way. Apparently mankind is flawed in some fashion (the Christians call this sin) and so only a few enlightened and wise individuals can guide the dumb masses towards salvation of some kind. In truth, there has been little attempts made at Utopia throughout most of human existence until recently and I suspect it largely has to do with the existing governments at the time. A world without sin is bad for government business.
While Statism, as a political attitude, certainly derives itself from Utopian ideals, this doesn’t preclude Antistatists, anarchists, and over liberty-minded individuals from this dangerous and downright foolhardy Fix-It attitudes. I admit that I have fallen into this trap several times myself believing that things will be perfect if only this institution was dismantled or this concept became a mainstream attitude. In truth, there are certainly problems that can be resolved by full liberty (both civil and economic), this doesn’t solve the fundamental need for government in the first place.
Government is created usually out of fear. It is this fear that it feeds and grows on. People really can predict what other assholes are going to do and so they sacrifice liberty and property in some fashion in return for security. At first it is a hardly noticeable loss but over time more is taken and less is given in return. This is usually when things really start to fall apart. On a side note, I firmly believe that unless the United States Federal government takes some serious austerity measures, it will be falling apart within the next few decades. Oh, and the young people will probably eat the elderly for sustenance and for vengeance of the abomination that is Social Security and Medicare. Well, probably not, but it’s the closest thing to a zombie apocalypse we’re going to get.
Anyway, the Utopian ideal stems from the idea that if a certain system is put in place, then everything will work right. Sure, when you confront a Utopian with this, they will flatly deny, but they will claim that things will be monumentally better under their system than things are now. So while it won’t be perfect, it will be near perfect, right?
Consequently, the Utopian-minded person will seek to prove that their ideas are the best way to do things. Unfortunately, many philosophers are not engineers. What I mean by that is that many people with lofty ideas don’t consider the practical issues and the faults in the system. As a software developer, I am confronted with situations every day where I am forced to choose one or another that works for a particular module I am working on. What is good for one piece can easily be a terrible process for another piece. If you ever analyzed sorting algorithms, you may have a vague idea of what I was talking about. I’ve always believed that if Congress was made up of engineers rather than lawyers, things would be much more sane. But then, that is a Utopian ideal in a sense.
The fact is, to be anti-Utopian you have to first recognize that there is no such thing as a perfect system for humanity to thrive under. There will always be flaws and faults in the system because mankind is nothing more than a series of flawed individuals. Sure there are some who are more flawed than others, but at the end of the day we’re all a bunch of evil SOBs.
So while I may seek to change things a certain way, it is really for my own benefit. I do not wish to attempt to bring about any kind of Utopia. Too many have been killed in the process in last century alone to justify that. But since this blog, which no really reads, is the only way I can do that, I guess I’ll be living the life I want to live.
As for Utopia, it’s a fool’s quest. Anyone who thinks that the problems of this world will be eradicated when certain things are done a certain way will only find themselves knee-deep in blood. I would advise that rational people stay away from fools as they tend to be dangerous in large numbers. Kind of like zombies, only the danger is less obvious.