Why Not Anarchy?

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Anarchy awaits the conservative who follows his ideals too far. This might sound surprising, considering that the classical anarchist is an enemy of all institutions—the state, of course, but also property (which he calls theft), marriage, religion. The conservative characteristically aspires to save such things. Yet there is a path that leads from conservatism to anarchism narrowly defined. It begins with federalism, cherished by nearly all American conservatives. It follows the thread of federalism further, however, to the point of Anti-Federalism—a preference for something like the loose Articles of Confederation over the more centralizing U.S. Constitution. From there it’s a short leap from radical localism to secessionism. Small is beautiful, isn’t it? Then a micro-state is lovelier than even the humblest federation.

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