The best website introductions to Agorism can be found on Wikipedia and also at www.agorism.info as well as www.agorism.org - all presenting very good explanations. For more detail though you need to acquire Samuel Edward Konkin's 'The New Libertarian Manifesto' and 'An Agorist Primer' - both available cheaply from Amazon ( his more comprehensive work, 'Counter Economics' will be published posthumously in the near future ).
For fictional presentation there is no better work than 'Alongside Night' - an award-winning science-fiction novel by the Agorist J. Neil Schulman. Fellow Agorist and sci-fi writer Victor Koman's work is also worth checking out ( I'd recommend 'Kings of the High Frontier'! ).
( Ps. For something 'visual' get hold of a box set of Joss Whedon's brilliant series 'Firefly' - either deliberately or not a brilliant exposition of the flavour of Agorism, right down to Counter-Economics - tragically curtailed at the end of it's first series... ).
Monday 25 May 2009
Agorism
Greetings to All Visitors!
You have discovered an Agorist blog created and administered from the United Kingdom.
What is 'Agorism'? Agorism is a radical free-market philosophy initiated in it's present form by Samuel Edward Konkin 3rd ( known popularly as SEK3 ). It is a logical and consistent development of Anarcho-Capitalism as developed by the political philosopher and 'Austrian' economist, Murray N. Rothbard ( and, indeed, has been described as 'more Rothbardian than Rothbard' ). Although an anarchist philosophy, the term 'Agorism' ( from the Greek 'Agora' or open market ) carries none of the linguistic 'baggage' that burdens bothe the terms 'Anarchism' ( with it's connotations of 'traditional', left-wing anarchism and popular conception of 'chaos' ) and 'Capitalism' ( identified popularly with Big Business ruthlessness and as being allied to the State ).
The Agorist goal is the Agora - an open and free market economy where individuals live in peaceful communities of their own creation, un-burdened and un-harassed by any State or 'Government'. An Agorist world where one is free to pursue 'the Good' according to one's own lights and to engage in any activity that does not impinge upon the liberty of others. A world of respected and protected property rights where what one owns ( including one's own body ) is inviolate and may be protected by force - either one's own or a competing protection/ insurance company. A world where one purchases freely - whether it be education, medical care, tobacco or cocaine - untaxed and unimpeded by any State.
The means or 'path' to the goal is Counter-Economics. Counter-Economics is the activity of individuals and groups of making a living outwith the State and it's apparatus. This may involve many activities currently labelled as 'grey' or 'black' economy. Agorists believe that the free society will arrive from the 'ground up' through the increasing engagement by individuals in counter-economic activites until such a time as the State disappears or is unable to enforce it's coercion due to the strength of private protection companies. This is opposed to the idea that such a state of liberty will or can be attained through political means, from the 'top down'. Agorists maintain that there are two ways in which one can acquire wealth; the economic means whereby one produces and/or trades non-coercively with another and the political means, the method of taking by force - that which is employed by the State ( 'Statists' are those that support such inherently violent and coercive methods by government, however 'small' their conception of government may be ). It is mainly for this reason that Agorists eschew party politics - the statist system whereby one attempts to get enough support for one political gang to enforce it's collective will upon one's fellow citizens ( obviously this includes abstaining from voting or the spoiling of one's ballot paper as voting implies satisfaction with the statist system ).
Agorism is Libertarian in it's original sense as developed by Murray N. Rothbard ( ie. an 'anarcho-capitalist' philosophy ). However, the term 'libertarian' has been acquired and adopted in recent times by statists who believe in so-called 'minimal government' ( 'minarchists' - the term was created by SEK3 ) or even small-government conservatives. Agorism is the consistent development of the Libertarian idea to it's logical conclusion.
This blog, I hope, will serve as a vehicle or forum for the exchange and debate of ideas particularly from fellow Agorists and/or those new to this philosophy and especially from the United Kingdom who, to my knowledge, have no internet presence currently. In due course I hope to link this blog to a 'UK Agorist' website and store for the purchase of merchandise...
I look forward to the posts of all interested and amicable visitors.
Laissez-Faire!
You have discovered an Agorist blog created and administered from the United Kingdom.
What is 'Agorism'? Agorism is a radical free-market philosophy initiated in it's present form by Samuel Edward Konkin 3rd ( known popularly as SEK3 ). It is a logical and consistent development of Anarcho-Capitalism as developed by the political philosopher and 'Austrian' economist, Murray N. Rothbard ( and, indeed, has been described as 'more Rothbardian than Rothbard' ). Although an anarchist philosophy, the term 'Agorism' ( from the Greek 'Agora' or open market ) carries none of the linguistic 'baggage' that burdens bothe the terms 'Anarchism' ( with it's connotations of 'traditional', left-wing anarchism and popular conception of 'chaos' ) and 'Capitalism' ( identified popularly with Big Business ruthlessness and as being allied to the State ).
The Agorist goal is the Agora - an open and free market economy where individuals live in peaceful communities of their own creation, un-burdened and un-harassed by any State or 'Government'. An Agorist world where one is free to pursue 'the Good' according to one's own lights and to engage in any activity that does not impinge upon the liberty of others. A world of respected and protected property rights where what one owns ( including one's own body ) is inviolate and may be protected by force - either one's own or a competing protection/ insurance company. A world where one purchases freely - whether it be education, medical care, tobacco or cocaine - untaxed and unimpeded by any State.
The means or 'path' to the goal is Counter-Economics. Counter-Economics is the activity of individuals and groups of making a living outwith the State and it's apparatus. This may involve many activities currently labelled as 'grey' or 'black' economy. Agorists believe that the free society will arrive from the 'ground up' through the increasing engagement by individuals in counter-economic activites until such a time as the State disappears or is unable to enforce it's coercion due to the strength of private protection companies. This is opposed to the idea that such a state of liberty will or can be attained through political means, from the 'top down'. Agorists maintain that there are two ways in which one can acquire wealth; the economic means whereby one produces and/or trades non-coercively with another and the political means, the method of taking by force - that which is employed by the State ( 'Statists' are those that support such inherently violent and coercive methods by government, however 'small' their conception of government may be ). It is mainly for this reason that Agorists eschew party politics - the statist system whereby one attempts to get enough support for one political gang to enforce it's collective will upon one's fellow citizens ( obviously this includes abstaining from voting or the spoiling of one's ballot paper as voting implies satisfaction with the statist system ).
Agorism is Libertarian in it's original sense as developed by Murray N. Rothbard ( ie. an 'anarcho-capitalist' philosophy ). However, the term 'libertarian' has been acquired and adopted in recent times by statists who believe in so-called 'minimal government' ( 'minarchists' - the term was created by SEK3 ) or even small-government conservatives. Agorism is the consistent development of the Libertarian idea to it's logical conclusion.
This blog, I hope, will serve as a vehicle or forum for the exchange and debate of ideas particularly from fellow Agorists and/or those new to this philosophy and especially from the United Kingdom who, to my knowledge, have no internet presence currently. In due course I hope to link this blog to a 'UK Agorist' website and store for the purchase of merchandise...
I look forward to the posts of all interested and amicable visitors.
Laissez-Faire!
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