Ethics is Complicated: Moving Beyond Dogmatic Anarchism

In my writings on the topic of ethics, I have spoken of a hierarchy of values and used marginalist theory to explain my theory of ethics. If you are unfamiliar with my general theory of ethics, please check out my posts on Ethics: https://steemit.com/ethics/@ekklesiagora

I have, for several years, identified as an anarchist and defended that position. I no longer identify as an anarchist. However, I do still tend to agree with a lot of communalist and social anarchist ideas. My theory of ethics ranks values in a hierarchy. I value life, water, food, health, shelter, transportation, entertainment, books, movies, etc. And I value them in that order. Shelter is no good for me if I am dead. Books won't make me happy if I am starving.

I understand the historical arguments against the State and the injustices it usually entails, but I also understand the trade-offs involved in its wholesale abolition. I believe that altering the State to make it more just would be more likely to satisfy my preferences/values than reorganizing society on an entirely anarchistic basis would. I like the ideas of Henry George, Thomas Paine, Guy Standing, and Yanis Varoufakis. I realize that using Georgist tax policies in order to nationalize land and natural resources and using the revenue from those taxes in order to fund a citizen's dividend or universal basic income is a simple and guaranteed solution to the problem of poverty. I realize that such taxation and redistribution is impossible without something remarkably like a State. I also see single-payer healthcare as the best solution to the healthcare problem. And I recognize that both the existence of money and the existence of the State are necessary for the particular sort of economic system that I believe would maximize human well-being.

I also want libertarian communalist reforms: legalize drugs and prostitution, create democratic assemblies at the local level, give us more participatory democracy and recallable delegates; give us digital democracy, give us economic democracy, democracy in the workplace. I still want all of that, but first I want Georgist taxation and redistribution, so that poverty and exploitation are completely eliminated and everyone is able to prosper together. I also want Pigouvian taxes to penalize pollution and carbon emissions. I want healthcare regulations, standards for food safety, rules for driving in traffic, etc.

The reality is that we don't live in a perfect world. There is no God. This world was not designed to fit into any ideal framework or meet any idealized standards. Anarchists usually get more right than they get wrong, but a one-sided critique of the State misses a hell of a lot. OSHA, unemployment insurance, social security, and such have really improved our condition. The State, like man, can be used for good or evil. I'm more in favor of a Bookchin type dual power solution. We need a citizen’s union that, like a labor union stands between workers and capital, stands between the people and the State and twists the arms of politicians in order to ensure that the State is used for good.