I translated this dystopian fiction novella by Ayn Rand because I feel it is one of the finest works of her. I tried my best to offer appropriate content in Hindi and I hope this translation will help all Indian libertarians to spread the ideas of ‘Individualism’ in Indian masses. I am also attaching this translation in pdf and docx format.

Anthem-स्तुति.pdf

Anthem-स्तुति.docx

एन्थेम

“स्तुति”

भाग एक

यह लिखना ही एक अपराध है। उन शब्दों को सोचना जो कोई भी और व्यक्ति नही सोचता और उन्हे एक कागज पर प्रस्तुत करना भी एक अपराध है जिन्हे पढने वाला और कोई नही। यह घृणा योग्य और दुराचार है। यह ऐसा ही है जैसे कि हम अकेले ही कुछ ऐसा बडबडा रहे हों जो कोई और नही बल्कि हमारे ही कान सुन सकते हैं। और हम यह भलीभांति जानते हैं कि अकेले ही कुछ सोचने या करने से बद्तर कुछ नही हो सकता। हमने कानूनों को तोडा है। कानून के अनुसार लोगों को तब तक नही लिखना चाहिये जब तक कि काउन्सिल ऑफ़ वोकेशन्स उन्हे ऐसा करने की इजाजत न दें। शायद हमे माफ़ कर दिया जाये।

लेकिन हमारे सिर पर सिर्फ़ यही अपराध नही है। हमने इससे भी बडा अपराध किया है, और इस अपराध के लिये कोई संञा नही है। हम नही जानते कि यदि इस अपराध को जाना गया तो हमे क्या दंड मिलेगा क्यूंकि मानवता के इतिहास मे ऐसा कोई अपराध हुआ नही है और इसके दंड का निर्धारण करने के लिये कोई कानून नही बने।

यहां अंधेरा है। मोमबत्ती की रोशनी हवा मे स्थिर है। इस सुरंग मे कागज पर हमारे हाथों की हलचल के अलावा और कुछ भी नही हिलता। हम जमीन के नीचे यहां अकेले हैं। यह एक डरावना संसार है, यहां एकान्त है। कानून कहता है कि मानवों मे कोई भी कभी भी और किसी भी वक्त अकेला नही होना चाहिये क्यूंकि यह एक बहुत बद्तर स्थिति है और यह सारी बुराइयों की जड है। परंतु हमने कई सारे कानूनों को तोडा है। और अब यहां हमारे एक शरीर के अलावा कुछ भी नही है, और यह देखना बहुत ही आश्चर्यजनक है कि सिर्फ़ दो पैर ही जमीन पर हैं और हमारे सामने की दीवार पर हमारे एक सिर की छाया है।

इन दीवारों मे दरारें हैं और इन दरारों मे से पानी बिना आवाज किये पतली धाराओं मे बहता रहता है जो स्याह और लहू की तरह चमकदार है। हमने यह मोमबत्ती गली के सफ़ाई कर्मचारियों के घर के रखवाले से चुरायी है। यदि यह चोरी पकडी गयी तो हमे सुधारक बंदीग्रह के महल मे दस वर्षों की सजा होगी। लेकिन इससे कोई फ़र्क नही पडता। महत्व की बात यह है कि यह रोशनी बहुमूल्य है और हमे इस रोशनी को लिखने के लिये तब खर्च नही करना चाहिये जब कि इसकी आवश्यकता हमे उस कार्य के लिये है जो हमारा अपराध है। हमारे कार्य, हमारे रहस्य, हमारे अपराध, हमारे बहुमूल्य कार्य के अलावा और कुछ भी महत्व नही रखता। फ़िर भी, हमे लिखना भी चाहिये, क्यूंकि— काउन्सिल हमारे अपराधों को क्षमा करे!— हम एक बार यह सब किन्ही और के नही सिर्फ़ अपने कानों के लिये कहना चाहते हैं।

हमारा नाम ‘समानता 7-2521’ है, जो उस लोहे के कडे पर लिखा हुआ है जो सभी व्यक्ति अपनी बाईं कलाई पर पहनते हैं और जिनपर उनका नाम खुदा हुआ होता है। हम इक्कीस वर्षीय हैं हम छ: फ़ुट लंबे हैं और यह एक परेशानी है, क्यूंकि ऐसे बहुत अधिक लोग नही जो छ: फ़ुट लंबे हैं। हमेशा ही हमारे शिक्षकों और नेताओं ने हमे यह बात बताई है और कहा है कि:

“समानता 7-2521, तुम्हारी हड्डियों मे विकृति है, क्यूंकि तुम्हारा शरीर तुम्हारे भाइयों के शरीर से अधिक बढ गया है।” पर हम अपनी हड्डियों को नही बदल सकते न ही अपने शरीर को।

हम एक श्राप के साथ जन्मे थे। इस श्राप ने हमेशा ही हमे वह सोचने को लालायित किया है जो प्रतिबंधित है। इसने हमेशा ही हमे ऐसी इच्छाएं प्रदान की हैं जो लोगों को नही करनी चाहिये। हम जानते हैं कि हम बुरे हैं, लेकिन हममे इसका विरोध करने की कोई इच्छाशक्ति नही है। यह ही हमारा आश्चर्य और हमारा रहस्यमयी डर है कि हम जानते हैं और हम इसका विरोध नही करते।

हम कोशिश करते हैं कि हम अपने बाकी मानव भाइयों की तरह बनें, क्यूंकि सभी मानवों को एक जैसा ही होना चाहिये। विश्व काउन्सिल के महल के पोर्टलों पर संगमरमर के पत्थरों पर यह शब्द खुदे हुये हैं जिन्हे हम अपने लिये तब दुहराते हैं जब भी हमे इसकी इच्छा होती है:

“हम सब एक हैं और सब मे एक हैं।

यहां कोई व्यक्ति नही है सिर्फ़ महान हम हैं,

हम हमेशा ही एक हैं, हमे अलग नही किया जा सकता।”

हम यह दोहराते रहते हैं, पर यह हमारी मदद नही करता।

यह शब्द बहुत पहले खोदे गये थे। शब्दों के मोडों पर हरी फ़फ़ूंद लगी हुई है और संगमर्मर पर पीले निशान हैं, जोकि उन वर्षों से भी अधिक पुराने हैं जिन्हे लोग गिन सकते हैं। और ये शब्द सत्य है, क्यूंकि ये विश्व काउन्सिल के महल पर लिखे हुये हैं, और विश्व काउन्सिल ही सभी सत्यों का प्रतीक है। महान पुनर्जन्म से, और उससे भी पहले से जिसकी कोई याददाश्त नही है, तब से ही यह ऐसा ही है।

पर हमे महान पुनर्जन्म से पहले के समय के बारे मे बात नही करनी चाहिये, नही तो हमे सुधारक बंदीग्रह मे तीन सालों की सजा होगी। सिर्फ़ बूढे लोग ही शाम के समय बेकारों के घर मे इस बारे मे खुसुर-पुसुर करते हैं। वे कई अनोखी बातों का जिक्र करते हैं, उन मंजिलों का जो उस अकथनीय समय मे आकाश की उंचाइयों तक थीं, उन गाडियों का जो बिना घोडों के ही चला करती थीं, और उन रोशनियों का जो बिना लपटों के ही जलती थीं। पर वह समय बुरा था। और वह समय तब बीत गया जब लोगों ने उस महान सत्य को पहचाना जो यह है: कि सभी मनुष्य़ एक हैं और सभी मनुष्यों की संयुक्त इच्छा के अलावा कोई इच्छा नही है।

सभी लोग अच्छे और बुद्धिमान हैं। सिर्फ़ हम ‘समानता 7-2521 ही, और हम अकेले ही एक श्राप के साथ जन्मे थे। क्यूकि हम अपने भाइयों के जैसे नही हैं। और जब हम अपने जीवन के बारे मे सोचते हैं, तब हम देखते हैं कि यह हमेशा से ही ऐसा ही है और इसकी वजह से ही हम निरंतर अपनी अंतिम, सबसे अधिक बद्तर स्थिति तक पहुंचे, जो हमारे अपराधों का अपराध है और यहां जमीन के नीचे छिपा हुआ है।

हम नवजात शिषुग्रह को याद करते हैं जहां हम पांच वर्ष की उम्र तक शहर के उन सभी बच्चों के साथ रहे जो एक ही वर्ष मे पैदा हुये थे। वहां के शयनागार सफ़ेद और स्वच्छ थे और उनमे एक सौ बिस्तरों के अलावा और कुछ भी नही था। तब हम अपने सभी अन्य भाइयों की ही तरह थे, तब हमारा सिर्फ़ यही अपराध था कि हम अपने भाइयों से झगडते थे। ऐसे कुछ ही अपराध हैं जो अपने भाइयों से किसी भी उम्र मे और किसी भी कारणवश लडने-झगडने से अधिक बुरे हैं। घर की काउन्सिल ने हमे ऐसा कहा था, और उस वर्ष के सभी बच्चों मे, हम ही थे जिसे कोठरी मे सबसे अधिक बार बंद किया जाता था।

जब हम पांच वर्ष के हुये तब हमे शिष्यों के घर मे भेज दिया गया जहां दस वार्ड थे जो हमारे दस वर्षों के अध्ययन के लिये थे। मनुष्यों को तब तक अध्ययन करना चाहिये जब तक कि वे पंद्रह वर्ष के न हो जायें। उसके उपरांत वे कार्य करने को जाते हैं। शिष्यों के घर मे हम तब ही उठ जाते थे जब टॉवर मे बडी घंटी बजती थी और जब वह घंटी दुबारा बजती थी तब हम अपने बिस्तरों मे चले जाते थे। अपने कपडे उतारने से पहले, हम बडे शयनागार मे खडे होते थे, और अपनी सीधी बांह उठाकर अपने तीन शिक्षकों के साथ एक साथ ही यह कहते थे:

“हम कुछ भी नही हैं, मानवजाति ही सबकुछ है। हमारे भाइयों की उदारता के कारण ही हमे जीने का अधिकार है। हमारा अस्तित्व हमारे भाइयों के जरिये, उनके द्वारा और उनके लिये ही है जोकि हमारा देश हैं। आमीन।“

उसके बाद हम सो जाते थे। वे शयनागार सफ़ेद और स्वच्छ थे और उनमे एक सौ बिस्तरों के अलावा और कुछ भी नही था।

शिष्यों के घर मे उन वर्षों मे हम, ‘समानता 7-2521, खुश नही थे। ऐसा नही था कि हमारे लिये अध्ययन बहुत कठिन था। बात यह थी कि अध्ययन हमारे लिये बहुत आसान था। एक अदभुत तेज मष्तिष्क के साथ पैदा होना बहुत बडा अपराध है। अपने भाइयों से अलग होना अच्छा नही है, लेकिन अपने भाइयों से बेहतर होना गंभीर अपराध है। शिक्षकों ने हमे ऐसा ही कहा था, और उन्होंने हमारी ओर घृणा की दृष्टि से देखा था।

इसलिये हम इस श्राप के विरुद्ध लडे। हमने अपने अध्ययनों को भूलने का प्रयास किया, पर हमे वे हमेशा याद रहे। हमने कोशिश की कि हम वह न समझ पायें जो शिक्षकों ने सिखाया, लेकिन हमेशा ही हम वह शिक्षकों के कहने से पहले ही समझ गये। हमने युनियन 5-3992 की ओर देखा, जोकि सिर्फ़ आधे दिमाग के दुबले लडके थे, और हमने वैसा ही कहने और करने की कोशिश की जैसा कि वो करते थे, लेकिन किसी तरह से शिक्षकों को यह पता चल जाता था कि हम उनके जैसे नही थे। और इसलिये ही हमे बाकी सभी बच्चों से अधिक बार पीटा जाता था।

वे शिक्षक न्यायोचित थे, क्य़ुंकि वे काउन्सिलों द्वारा नियुक्त किये गये थे, और काउन्सिल ही सभी न्यायों की आवाज हैं, क्यूंकि वे ही सभी लोगों की आवाज हैं। और यदि कुछ बार, हमारे अंतर्मन के रहस्यमयी अंधकार मे, हम उसका पछतावा करते हैं जो हमारे साथ हमारे पंद्रहवे जन्मदिन पर हुआ, तो हम जानते हैं कि वह हमारी ही गलती की वजह से हुआ। हमने एक कानून का उल्लंघन किया था, क्यूंकि हमने अपने शिक्षकों के शब्दों पर ध्यान नही दिया था। शिक्षकों ने हम सबसे कहा था:

“अपने मष्तिष्क मे यह निर्णय लेने की हिम्मत मत करना कि तुम शिष्यों का घर छोडने के बाद क्या कार्य करना पसंद करोगे। तुम्हे वही करना चाहिये जो काउन्सिल ऑफ़ वोकेशन्स तुम्हारे लिये निर्धारित करे। क्यूंकि काउन्सिल ऑफ़ वोकेशन्स अपनी महान बुद्धिमत्ता के अनुसार यह जानती है कि तुम्हारे भाइयों द्वारा तुम्हारी आवश्यकता कहां पर अधिक है, जोकि तुम अपने छोटे और अनुपयोगी मष्तिष्क के द्वारा नही जान सकते। और यदि तुम्हारे भाई मनुष्यों को तुम्हारी आवश्यकता नही है, तब तुम्हारे लिये इस धरती पर अपने शरीर का बोझ बनाये रखने का कोई कारण नही है।”

हमे यह बात अपने बचपन के वर्षों मे अच्छी तरह मालूम थी, लेकिन हमारे श्राप ने हमारे संकल्प को तोड दिया था। हम अपराधी थे और हम यहां इस अपराध को स्वीकारते हैं: हम वरीयता की गंभीर विकृति के अपराधी थे। हमने कुछ कार्यों और कुछ अध्ययनों को अन्यों से अधिक महत्व दिया। हमने महान पुनर्जन्म के बाद से अब तक के चुने गये काउन्सिलों के इतिहास को गंभीरता से नही सुना। लेकिन हमने वस्तुओं के विञान को बहुत चाहा। हमने जानने की इच्छा की। हमने उन सभी वस्तुओं के बारे मे जानने की इच्छा की जिनसे हमारे चारों तरफ़ की धरती का निर्माण होता है। हमने इतने अधिक सवाल किये कि शिक्षकों ने इस पर प्रतिबंध लगा दिया।

हम सोचते हैं कि, आकाश मे और पानी के नीचे और उन पौधों मे जिन्हे हम उगाते हैं, गूढ रहस्य छिपे हुये हैं। लेकिन विद्वानों की काउंसिल ने कहा था कि वहां कोई भी रहस्य नही है, और स्कॉलरों की काउंसिल को सब कुछ पता है। और हमने अपने शिक्षकों से बहुत कुछ सीखा। हमने जाना कि धरती सपाट है और सूर्य उसके चारों तरफ़ चक्कर लगाता है जिसकी वजह से दिन और रात होते हैं। हमने उन सभी हवाओं के नाम जाने जो समुद्रों के ऊपर बहती हैं और हमारी महान नावों के परचमों को धक्का लगाती हैं। हमने यह सीखा कि मनुष्यों को उनकी सारी बीमारियों से निजात दिलाने के लिये कैसे उनका खून बहाया जाये।

हमने वस्तुओं के विञान को पसंद किया। और अंधकार मे, रहस्यमयी समय मे, जब हम रातों मे जाग जाते थे जब हमारे आसपास कोई भी भाई देखने, सुनने या अनुमान लगाने के लिये नही हुआ करता था तब हम यह चाहा करते थे कि हमे हमारा वक्त आने पर स्कॉलरों की काउंसिल मे भेज दिया जाये।

सभी आधुनिक अविष्कार स्कॉलरों के घर की ही देन हैं, जैसे कि बिल्कुल नया, जो मात्र सौ वर्ष पुर्व खोजा गया, जिसके जरिये यह जाना गया कि मोम और धागे का उपयोग कर कैसे मोमबत्ती बनाई जाये; इसके अलावा, शीशा कैसे बनाया जाये, जोकि हमारी खिडकियों मे लगाया जाता है ताकि हम बारिश से बच सकें। इन वस्तुओं को खोजने के लिये, स्कालरों को धरती का अध्ययन करना चाहिये, और उसे नदियों से, रेत से, हवाओं से और पत्थरों से सीखना चाहिये। और यदि हम स्कॉलरों के घर मे गये तो हम भी इनसे सीख पायेंगे। तब हम इन चीज़ों से जुडे हुये सवाल पूछ पायेंगे, क्यूंकि ये प्रतिबंधित प्रश्न नही हैं।

और प्रश्नों से हमे कभी भी फ़ुर्सत नही मिलती। हम नही जानते कि क्यूं हमारा श्राप हमे हमेशा और हमेशा ही वह जानने को प्रेरित करता है जो हम नही जानते। लेकिन हम इसका प्रतिकार नही कर सकते। यह श्राप हमारे कानों मे कहता है कि हमारी इस धरती पर कई महान वस्तुएं हैं, और यदि हम प्रयत्न करें तो हम उन्हे जान सकते हैं, और यह भी कि हमे इन चीजों को जानना ही चाहिये। हम यह पूछते हैं कि हमे यह सब क्यूं पता होना चाहिये, परंतु इसके पास कोई उत्तर नही होता। हमे वह जानना चाहिये जो हम जान सकते हैं।

इसलिये हम यह चाहते थे कि हमे स्कॉलरों के घर मे भेज दिया जाये। हमे इसकी इतनी अधिक इच्छा थी कि रातों मे हमारे हाथ कंबल के नीचे कांपते थे, और हम उस दूसरे दर्द को रोकने के लिये अपनी ही बांह को दातों से दबा लेते थे जिसे हम सह नही सकते थे। वह बुरा था और हम सुबह अपने भाइयों का सामना नही कर पाते थे। क्य़ूकि मनुष्यों को अपने लिये कुछ भी इच्छा नही करनी चाहिये। और जब काउन्सिल ऑफ़ वोकेशन्स हमे हमारे जीवन के निर्णय बताने आया जो यह बताते हैं कि वे जो पंद्रह वर्ष के हो चुके हैं उनका उनके बाकी के बचे जीवन-काल मे क्या कार्य रहेगा, तब हमे दंड दिया गया।

बसंत ऋतु के पहले ही दिन काउंसिल ऑफ़ वोकेशन्स आये, और वे महान हॉल मे बैठे। और हम जो पंद्रह थे और सभी शिक्षक भी महान हॉल मे आये। और काउंसिल ऑफ़ वोकेशन्स ऊंचे मंच पर बैठे, और उनके पास हर एक शिष्य से कहने के लिये मात्र दो शब्द ही थे। उन्होंने शिष्यों के नाम पुकारे, और जब एक के बाद एक सभी शिष्य उनके सामने पहुंचे, काउंसिल ने कहा: “बढई” या “डॉक्टर” या “बावर्ची” या “नेता“। और तब हर शिष्य ने अपना सीधा हाथ उठाया था और यह कहा था: “हमारे भाइयों की ईच्छा पूरी की जायेगी।“

अब यदि काउंसिल ने “बढई” या “बावर्ची” कहा है, तब वह शिष्य जिसे यह कार्य दिया गया है वह कार्य करने को चले जाते हैं और फ़िर वे आगे अध्ययन नही करते। लेकिन यदि काउंसिल ने “नेता” कहा है, तब वे शिष्य नेताऒं के घर मे चले जाते हैं, जोकि शहर मे सबसे बडा घर है क्यूंकि वह तीन मंजिला इमारत है। और वहां वे कई वर्षों तक अध्ययन करते हैं ताकि वे प्रत्याशी बन सकें और सिटी काउंसिल और स्टेट काउंसिल और विश्व काउंसिल मे सभी मनुष्यों के मुक्त आम चुनाव के जरिये चुने जा सकें। पर हम एक नेता नही बनना चाहते थे, जबकि यह एक महान सम्मान की बात है। हम एक स्कॉलर बनना चाहते थे।

इसलिए हमने महान हॉल मे अपनी बारी आने का इंतजार किया और तब हमने काउंसिल ऑफ़ वोकेशन्स को हमारा नाम पुकारते हुये सुना: “समानता 7-2521।” हम मंच की तरफ़ आगे बढे और हमारे पैर कांपे नही और हमने काउंसिल के ओर सिर उठा कर देखा। वहां काउंसिल के पांच सदस्य थे, तीन पुरुष थे और दो महिलायें। उनके बाल सफ़ेद थे और उनके चेहरे एक सूखी नदी के तल की तरह जीर्ण-शीर्ण थे। वे सभी वृद्ध थे। वे वर्ल्ड काउंसिल के मंदिर के संगर्ममर से भी अधिक बूढे लग रहे थे। वे हमारे सामने बैठे हुये थे और वे बिल्कुल भी न हिले, और हमने उनके सफ़ेद चोगों को हिला पाने वाली कोई भी सांस नही देखी। पर हम जानते थे कि वे जीवित हैं, क्य़ूंकि उनमे से सबसे अधिक वृद्ध के हाथ की एक उंगली हमारी ओर उठी थी, और फ़िर नीचे कर ली गई थी। यही वह एकमात्र चीज थी जो हिली थी, क्यूंकि सबसे अधिक वृद्ध के होठ तब नही हिले जब उन्होंने कहा: “सफ़ाई कर्मचारी।“

हमे ऐसा प्रतीत हुआ जैसे ही हमने काउंसिल के चेहरों की ओर देखने के लिये अपना सिर उठाया तब हमारे गले की नसें तन कर सख्त हो गईं, और हम खुश थे। हम अपने जीवन का निर्णय स्वीकार करेंगे, और हम अपने भाइयों के लिये खुश होकर और स्वेच्छा से कार्य करेंगे, और हम उनके खिलाफ़ अपने गुनाहों को मिटा देंगे, जिनके बारे मे उन्हे जानकारी नही है, पर हमें है। इसलिये हम खुश थे, और स्वयं पर और हमारी स्वयं पर विजय पर गर्व कर रहे थे। हमने अपनी सीधी बांह उठाई और हम बोले, और हमारी आवाज उस दिन उस हाल मे सबसे अधिक स्पष्ट और संभली हुई थी, और हमने कहा:

“हमारे भाइयों की इच्छा पूरी की जायेगी।“

और हमने सीधे ही काउंसिल की आंखों मे झांककर देखा, पर उनकी आंखीं बिल्कुल नीले शीषे के बटनों की तरह ठंडी थीं।

और फ़िर हम सफ़ाई कर्मचारियों के घर मे आ गये। यह संकरी गली मे मटमैला सा घर है। इसके आंगन मे एक धूपघडी है जिसके जरिये घर की काउंसिल दिन के घंटों के बारे मे बता सकते हैं और यह भी कि घंटी कब बजाई जाये। जब घंटी बजती है, तब हम सब अपने बिस्तरों से उठ जाते हैं। हमारी खिडकियों से आकाश पूर्व दिशा की ओर हरा और ठंडा महसूस होता है। धूपघडी की छाया उस आधे घंटे को दर्शाती है जब हम कपडे पहनते हैं और डाइनिंग हाल मे सुबह का नाश्ता करते हैं जहां पांच लंबी टेबिल हैं और हर टेबिल पर बीस बीस मिट्टी की प्लेटें और मिट्टी के प्याले हैं। उसके बाद हम शहर की गलियों मे काम पर अपनी झाडुओं और सूपों के साथ जाते हैं। पांच घंटों मे जब सूर्य ऊंचा होता है, हम घर को वापिस आ जाते हैं और फ़िर हम अपने दिन का भोजन करते हैं जिसके लिये आधे घंटे का समय दिया जाता है। उसके बाद फ़िर हम काम पर चले जाते हैं। उसके पांच घंटे बाद रास्तों पर छाया गहरी पडने लगती है, और आकाश भी नीला और गहरा चमकदार हो जाता है जोकि उजला नही होता। तब हम अपना रात का भोजन लेने को वापिस आ जाते हैं जिसके लिये एक घंटे का समय मिलता है। उसके बाद घंटी बजती है और हम सीधी पंक्तियों मे कई सारे सिटी हालों मे से एक मे जाते हैं जहां सामाजिक गोष्टी होती है। दूसरी पंक्तियों मे आये हुये लोग अन्य कार्यों को करने वाले होते हैं। मोमबत्तियों को जलाया जाता है, और विभिन्न घरों की काउन्सिलें एक चबूतरे पर खडी होती हैं, और वे हमसे हमारी जिम्मेदारियों और हमारे भाइचारे के बारे मे बात करती हैं। उसके उपरांत अतिथि नायक चबूतरे पर चढते हैं और वे हमारे लिये भाषण पढते हैं जो उस दिन सिटी काउंसिल मे बनाये गये होते हैं क्यूंकि सिटी काउंसिल ही सभी लोगों का प्रतिनिधित्व करती है और सभी लोगों को यह पता होना चाहिये। उसके बाद हम भजन गाते हैं, भाइचारे के भजन, बराबरी के भजन, और संयुक्त विचारधारा के भजन। हमारे घर लौटने के वक्त तक आकाश धुंधला जामुनी रंग का हो जाता है। फ़िर घंटी बजती है और फ़िर हम सीधी पंक्तियों मे सिटी थियेटर को जाते हैं जहां सामाजिक मनोरंजन के लिये तीन घंटों तक का वक्त होता है। वहां स्टेज पर एक नाटक दिखाया जाता है जिसमे अभिनेताओं के घर से दो महान कोरस अभिनय करते हैं जो दो महान आवाजों मे एक साथ ही बोलते और जवाब देते हैं। ये नाटक परिश्रम के बारे मे होते हैं और यह जतलाते हैं कि परिश्रम कितना अच्छा है। उसके उपरांत हम सीधी पंक्तियों मे पैदल वापिस घर आ जाते हैं। आकाश इस तरह प्रतीत होता है जैसे वह एक काली छलनी हो जिसमे चांदी की बूंदों से छेद किये गये हों जोकि फ़टने के लिये तैयार हैं। गलियों की लालटेनों पर तितले टकराते हैं। हम अपने बिस्तरों को जाते हैं और हम तब तक सो जाते हैं जब तक कि फ़िर से घंटी न बजे। ये शयनागार सफ़ेद और स्वच्छ हैं और उनमे एक सौ बिस्तरों के अलावा और कुछ भी नही है।

इसी तरह ही हमने चार सालों तक हर दिन अपना जीवन जिया जब तक कि दो बसंत ऋतुओं पहले हमारा अपराध हुआ। ऐसे ही सभी लोगों को जीना चाहिये जब तक कि वे चालीस वर्षों के न हो जायें। चालीस वर्ष की उम्र मे वे जीर्ण-शीर्ण हो जाते हैं। चालीस की उम्र मे उन्हे बेकारों के घरों मे भेज दिया जाता है जहां बुजुर्ग लोग रहते हैं। बुजुर्ग लोग काम नही करते, क्यूंकि शासन उनकी देखभाल करता है। वे ग्रीष्म ऋतु मे सूर्य की गर्मी मे बैठते हैं और ठंडों मे वे आग के करीब बैठते हैं। वे अक्सर कुछ नही बोलते, क्यूंकि वे थके हुये होते हैं। बुजुर्ग लोग जानते हैं कि वे जल्द ही मर जायेंगे। जब कोई चमत्कार होता है और कोई पैंतालीस वर्ष की उम्र तक जीवित बच जाते हैं तब वे प्राचीन बुजुर्ग बन जाते हैं और बच्चे जब बेकारों के घर की ओर से गुजरते हैं तब उनकी तरफ़ गौर से देखते हैं। हमारा जीवन ऐसा ही होना है, जैसा कि हमारे सभी भाइयों का होना है और हमारे पहले आये हुये भाइयों का हुआ।

हमारा जीवन भी ऐसा ही होता, यदि हमने वह अपराध न किया होता जिसने हमारे लिये सब कुछ बदल दिया। और वह हमारा श्राप ही था जो हमे हमारे अपराध तक ले गया। सिर्फ़ उस जानने की इच्छा के श्राप के अलावा हम हमारे सभी अन्य भाइयों की ही तरह एक अच्छे सफ़ाई कर्मचारी रहे। हमने सितारों की तरफ़ रातों मे कहीं अधिक देखा, और हमने पेडों और जमीन को देखा। और फ़िर जब हमने स्कालरों के घर के आंगन को साफ़ किया, तब हमने शीशे के टुकडों, धातुओं के टुकडों, और उन सूखी हुई हड्डियों को एकत्रित किया जिन्हे वहां के स्कालर फ़ेंक चुके थे। हमारे मन मे उन वस्तुओं को पाने की और उनका अध्ययन करने की इच्छा थी, पर हमारे पास कोई भी ऐसा स्थान नही था जहां हम उन्हे छिपा कर रख पाते। इसलिये हमने उन वस्तुओं को सिटी की हौदी मे रख दिया। और तब हमने वह खोज की।

वह पिछली बसंत से पहले की बसंत का एक दिन था। हम सफ़ाई कर्मचारी तीन लोगों के समूह मे काम करते हैं और हम युनियन 5-3992 के साथ थे, वे जो आधे दिमाग के हैं, और हमारे साथ अंतरराष्ट्रीय 4-8818 भी थे। अब युनियन 5-3992 एक अस्वस्थ व्यक्ति हैं और कभी कभी उन्हे दौरे पडते हैं जब उनके मुंह से झाग निकलता है और उनकी आंखें सफ़ेद पड जाती हैं। लेकिन अंतरराष्ट्रीय 4-8818 अलग हैं। वे लंबे, शक्तिशाली युवा हैं और उनकी आंखें जुगनुओं की तरह चमकती हैं क्यूंकि उनकी आंखों मे हंसी की चमक है। ऐसा नही हो सकता कि हम अंतरराष्ट्रीय 4-8818 की तरफ़ देखें और जवाब मे मुस्करायें नही। और इसी वजह से उन्हे शिष्यों के घर मे पसंद नही किया जाता था, क्यूंकि बिना कारण मुस्कुराना सही नही है। और उन्हे इसलिये भी पसंद नही किया जाता था क्यूंकि उन्होंने कोयले के कुछ टुकडों को इक्क्ट्ठा करा था जिनसे उन्होंने दीवारों पर कुछ चित्र बनाये थे, और वे चित्र ऐसे थे जो लोगों को हंसाते थे। लेकिन अभिनेताओं के घर मे रहने वाले हमारे भाइयों को ही इस बात की इजाजत है कि वे चित्रकारी कर सकें, और इसलिये अंतरराष्ट्रीय 4-8818 को हमारी ही तरह सफ़ाई कर्मचारियों के घर मे भेज दिया गया।

अंतरराष्ट्रीय 4-8818 और हम अच्छे दोस्त हैं। यह कहना एक बुरी बात है, क्यूंकि यह एक विकृति है, वरीयता की वह गंभीर विकृति जो सभी लोगों मे किसी भी एक को दूसरों से अधिक प्रेम करने को उकसाती है, क्यूंकि हमे सभी मनुष्य़ों को प्रेम करना चाहिये और सभी हमारे मित्र हैं। इसलिये ही हमने और अंतरराष्ट्रीय 4-8818 ने कभी यह नही कहा है। पर हम जानते हैं। हम तब यह जान जाते हैं जब हम एक दूसरे की आंखों मे देखते हैं। और जब हम ऐसे बिना शब्दों के देखते हैं, तब हम दोनो ही वे अन्य बातें भी जान जाते हैं जो विचित्र हैं क्यूंकि उनके लिये कोई शब्द नही हैं और ये बातें हमे डराती हैं।

तो पिछली बसंत से पहले की बसंत के उस दिन, युनियन 5-3992 को शहर के आखिरी छोर पर दौरा पडा, जो कि सिटी थियेटर के नजदीक है। हमने उन्हे सिटी थियेटर की छांव मे छोड दिया और हम अंतरराष्ट्रीय 4-8818 के साथ काम पूरा करने चले गये। हम दोनो थियेटर के पीछे के बीहड के पास आये। वहां पेडों और झाडों के सिवाय कुछ भी नही है। उस बीहड के आगे मैदान है और उस मैदान के आगे अनधिकृत जंगल है जिसके बारे मे लोगों को सोचना नही चाहिये।

हम कागज और कपडों के टुकडों को इक्कट्ठा कर रहे थे जो हवा द्वारा थियेटर से दूर उड्कर आ गये थे जब हमने उन झाडों के बीच एक लोहे की छडी को देखा। वह पुरानी थी और कई बरसातों की वजह से जंग खाई हुई थी। हमने उसे अपनी सारी शक्ति से खींचा, पर हम उसे हिला भी नही पाये। इसलिये हमने अंतरराष्ट्रीय 4-8818 को पुकारा और फ़िर हम दोनो ने उस छडी के आस-पास की जमीन को साफ़ किया। अचानक ही हमारे सामने धरती फ़ट पडी और हमने एक अंधेरे गड्ढे के ऊपर एक लोहे की ग्रिल देखी।

अंतरराष्ट्रीय 4-8818 पीछे हट गये। पर हमने उस ग्रिल को खींचा और उसने हमे रास्ता दिया। और फ़िर हमने नीचे जाती लोहे की घुमावदार सीढियों को देखा जो उस बिना सतह के अंधेरे मे नीचे जा रही थी।

हमने अंतरराष्ट्रीय 4-8818 से कहा, “हमे नीचे जाना चाहिये।“

उन्होंने उत्तर दिया, “यह वर्जित है।“

हमने कहा, “काउंसिल को इस गड्ढे के बारे मे पता नही है इसलिये यह वर्जित नही हो सकता।”
और उन्होंने कहा: “क्यूंकि काउंसिल को इस बारे मे नही पता, इसलिये ऐसा कोई कानून नही हो सकता जो इस गड्ढे मे जाने की इजाजत दे। और वह हर बात जो कानून द्वारा स्वीकृत नही है, वर्जित है।“

पर हमने कहा, “फ़िर भी हमे जाना चाहिये।“

वे कभी भी डरे नही थे, पर वे वहीं खडे रहे और हमे जाते हुये देखते रहे।

हम उन लोहे की घुमावदार सीढियों पर अपने हाथों और पैरों के सहारे लटके हुये थे। हमे हमारे नीचे कुछ भी नजर नही आ रहा था। और हमारे ऊपर आकाश छोटा और छोटा होता जा रहा था, और अंत मे वह एक बटन के बराबर ही रह गया। फ़िर भी हम नीचे गये। तब हमारे पैर सतह पर पडे। हमने अपनी आखों को मला क्यूंकि हम कुछ देख नही पा रहे थे। फ़िर हमारी आखें अंधेरे की अभ्यस्थ हो गयीं, पर हम उसपर यकीन नही कर पा रहे थे जो हम देख रहे थे।

वह कोई भी व्यक्ति जिसे हम जानते थे ऐसी जगह नही बना सकता था, नही ऐसा कोई व्यक्ति जो हमारे उन भाइयों की जानकारी मे था जो हमसे पहले जीवित थे। वह एक विशाल सुरंग थी। उसकी दीवारें कठोर और चिकनी थीं; वह पत्थर की तरह सख्त थीं पर वह पत्थर नही था। सतह पर लोहे के पतले ट्रैक थे, पर वह लोहा नही था, वह चिकना और शीषे की तरह ठंडा महसूस हो रहा था। हम झुके और हम आगे की और बढे, हमारे हाथ उन लोहे की सलाखों पर कसे हुये थे ताकि हम देख सकें कि वे कहां ले जायेंगी। लेकिन आगे एक कभी न अंत होने वाली रात थी। उस अंधेरे मे सिर्फ़ वे लोहे के ट्रैक ही चमक रहे थे, जो सीधे और सफ़ेद थे और हमे पीछे आने को प्रेरित कर रहे थे। पर हम आगे नही जा सकते थे क्यूंकि हमारे पीछे की रोशनी खत्म होती जा रही थी। इसलिये हम मुडे और वापिस आ गये, हमारे हाथ लोहे की सलाखों पर थे। और हमारा हृदय हमारी उंगलियों मे धडक रहा था, इसका कोई कारण नही था। और फ़िर हमे मालूम हुआ।

अचानक ही हमे मालूम हो गया कि यह जगह अकथनीय समय की है जिस समय का जिक्र नही किया जाना चाहिये। तो यह सत्य था, और वह अकथनीय समय था और उस समय के सभी आश्चर्य भी सच्चे थे। सैकडों पर सैकडों साल पहले मनुष्यों को वे रहस्य पता थे जिन्हे हमने खो दिया। और हमने सोचा था: “यह एक घृणित स्थान है। वो लोग गर्त मे जाते हैं जो अकथनीय समय की वस्तुओं को हाथ लगाते हैं।” पर हमारे हाथ जो हमारे रेंगने के दौरान रास्ते को छू रहे थे, उस लोहे पर ऐसे चिपके हुये थे जैसे वह कभी नही छूटेगा, जैसे कि हमारे हाथों की त्वचा प्यासी है और उस धातु से किसी ऐसे रहस्य की भीख मांग रही है जो उसकी ठंड मे छिपा हुआ हो।

हम धरती पर वापिस पहुंच गये। अंतरराष्ट्रीय 4-8818 ने हमारी तरफ़ देखा और पीछे हट गये।

” समानता 7-2521,” उन्होंने कहा, “तुम्हारा चेहरा सफ़ेद पडा हुआ है।“

पर हम कुछ नही कह पाये और हम उनकी तरफ़ देखते रह गये।

वे और पीछे हट गये, जैसे कि हमे छूने से डर रहे हों। फ़िर वे मुस्कुराये, पर वह खुशी की मुस्कुराहट नही थी; वह खोयी हुई और गुजारिश करती हुई मुस्कुराहट थी। फ़िर भी हम कुछ नही कह पा रहे थे। फ़िर उन्होंने ही कहा:

“हमे अपनी खोज के बारे मे सिटी काउन्सिल को बताना चाहिये और इसके लिये हम दोनो को ही पुरस्कृत किया जायेगा।“

और तब हम बोले। हमारी आवाज कठोर थी और उसमे दया का कोई पुट नही था। हमने कहा:

“हमे अपनी खोज के बारे मे सिटी काउन्सिल को नही बताना चाहिये। हमे इसके बारे मे किसी व्यक्ति को नही बताना चाहिये।“

उन्होंने अपने हाथों को अपने कानों तक उठाया, क्यूंकि उन्होंने ऐसे शब्द कभी भी नही सुने थे।

“अंतरराष्ट्रीय 4-8818,” हमने पूछा, “क्या तुम हमारी शिकायत काउन्सिल से करोगे और हमे अपनी ही आंखों के सामने पिट-पिट कर मरता देखना चाहोगे?”

वे अचानक ही सीधे खडे हो गये और उन्होंने उत्तर दिया, “इसके बदले मे हम मरना पसंद करेंगे।“

“तब,” हमने कहा, “शांत रहो। यह जगह हमारी है। यह जगह हमारी, ” समानता 7-2521, की है और धरती पर किसी भी अन्य मनुष्य की नही। और यदि हमने कभी इसको सौंपा, तो हम इसके साथ अपने जीवन को भी सौंप देंगे।“

तब हमने देखा कि अंतरराष्ट्रीय 4-8818 की आंखों मे आंसू भरे हुये थे पर वे उन्हे गिरा नही रहे थे। उन्होंने कुछ फ़ुसफ़ुसाया, और उनकी आवाज कांपी, और उनके शब्दों का सारा स्वरूप खो गया:

“काउन्सिल की इच्छा सर्वोपरि है, क्य़ूंकि यह इच्छा हमारे भाइयों की है, जोकि पवित्र है। लेकिन यदि तुम्हारी यह इच्छा है, तो हमे तुम्हारी बात माननी चाहिये। हमारे सभी अन्य भाइयों के साथ अच्छा होने से बेहतर हम तुम्हारे साथ बुरे बन जायें। काश काउन्सिल हम दोनो पर दया करे।“

उसके बाद हम दोनो साथ साथ सफ़ाई कर्मचारियों के घर की और चल पडे। और हम शांति मे चले।

तब से ऐसा हुआ कि हर रात, जब सितारे ऊंचे होते थे और सफ़ाई कर्मचारी सिटी थियेटर मे बैठे होते थे, हम, समानता 7-2521, चोरी से अंधेरों मे भागते हुये अपनी सुरंग मे पहुंच जाते थे।

थियेटर को छोडना आसान है; जब मोमबत्तियां बुझाई जाती हैं और अभिनेता स्टेज पर आते हैं, तब किसी की भी आंखें हमे अपनी सीट के नीचे और टेंट के कपडे के नीचे रेंगते हुये नही देख सकतीं। बाद मे, यह आसान है कि परछाइयों मे चोरी से छिपे तरीके से आया जाये और पंक्ति मे अंतरराष्ट्रीय 4-8818 के बाजू मे तब खडा हो जाया जाये जब पंक्ति थियेटर को छोड रही होती है। गलियों मे अंधेरा होता है और कोई भी व्यक्ति आस-पास नही होता क्यूंकि किसी भी व्यक्ति को सिटी मे चलना नही चाहिये यदि उनके पास उसका उद्देश्य न हो। हर रात, हम बीहड की ओर भाग जाते हैं, और हम पत्थरों को हटाते हैं जो हमने उस लोहे की ग्रिल पर उसे लोगों से छिपाने के लिये रखे हैं। हर रात, तीन घंटों के लिये हम धरती के नीचे होते हैं, अकेले।

हमने सफ़ाई कर्मचारियों के घर से मोमबत्तियां चुराई हैं, हमने शीषे, चाकू, और कागज चुराया है, और हमने यह सब इस जगह पर ला कर रखा है। हमने शीशियां और पाउडर और अम्ल स्कालर्स के घर से चुराये हैं। अब हम इस सुरंग मे हर रात तीन घंटे बैठते हैं और हम अध्धयन करते हैं। हम अनजानी धातुओं को गलाते हैं, और हम अम्लों को मिलाते हैं, और हम उन जानवरों के शरीरों को काट कर खोलते हैं जो हमे सिटी की हौदी मे मिलते हैं। हमने गलियों मे पडी हुई ईंटों को इक्कट्ठा कर उनसे एक ओवन बनाया है। हम उस लकडी को जलाते हैं जो हमे बीहड मे मिलती है। आग ओवन मे टिमटिमाती है और परछाइय़ां दीवारों पर नाचती हैं, और यहां हमे परेशान करने को लोगों की कोई आवाज नही है।

हमने पांडुलिपियों को चुराया है। यह एक बडा अपराध है। पांडुलिपियां बहुमूल्य होती है, क्यूंकि क्लर्कों के घर मे रहने वाले हमारे भाई लोग हर एक स्क्रिप्ट को दुबारा अपनी स्पष्ठ लिखावट मे लिखने मे एक वर्ष का समय व्यतीत करते हैं। पांडुलिपियां दुर्लभ हैं और वे स्कालरों के घर मे संभाल कर रखी जाती हैं। तो हम धरती के नीचे बैठते हैं और हम इन चुराई हुई लिपियों को पढते हैं। इस जगह को खोजे हुये हमे दो वर्ष हो चुके हैं। और इन दो

वर्षों मे हमने उससे कहीं अधिक ञान अर्जित किया है जो हमने शिष्य़ों के घर मे दस साल रहकर जाना था।

हमने उन विषयों को भी जाना है जो लिपियों मे नही हैं। हमने उन रहस्यों को सुलझाया है जिनके बारे मे स्कालरों को कोई जानकारी नही है। हमे यह ञात हुआ है कि अनजाना विश्व कितना विशाल है, और कई जीवनकाल भी हमारी खोज को अंतिम चरण तक पहुंचाने मे कम होंगे। पर हम अपनी खोज का कोई अंत नही चाहते। हम कुछ नही चाहते, सिर्फ़ यह कि हम अकेले रहें और हम अध्धययन करें, और यह महसूस करें कि हर दिन हमारी दृष्टि चील से भी पैनी हो रही है और चट्टानी क्रिस्टल से भी साफ़ हो रही है।

बुराई के रास्ते अजीब होते हैं। हम अपने भाइयों के सामने झूठे हैं। हम अपनी काउंसिल की इच्छा की अवहेलना कर रहे हैं। उन हजारों मे जो इस धरती पर चलते हैं, हम अकेले, इस घंटे मे हम अकेले ही ऐसा काम कर रहे हैं जिसका कोई उद्देश्य नही है सिर्फ़ यही कि हम यह करना चाहते हैं। हमारे अपराध की बुराई किसी मनुष्य के मष्तिष्क द्वारा खोजी जाने योग्य नही है। हमारे दंड की प्रकृति, यदि यह मालूम हो जाता है, मनुष्य के ह्र्दय द्वारा महसूस करने योग्य नही है। कभी भी नही, न तो सबसे बुजुर्गों के भी बुजुर्गों ने न ही किसी मनुष्य ने वह किया है जो हम कर रहे हैं।

और फ़िर भी हम मे कोई भी शर्म नही है और न ही कोई पछतावा। हम खुद से ही यह कहते हैं कि हम बुरे और धोखेबाज हैं। पर हम अपनी आत्मा पर कोई भी बोझ महसूस नही करते और न ही हमारे ह्र्दय मे कोई डर है। और हमे ऐसा लगता है कि हमारी आत्मा वैसी ही शुद्ध है जैसे एक झील जो सूरज के अलावा किसी की भी आंखों से नही देखी जाती। और हमारे ह्रदय मे—-बुराई के रास्ते अजीब होते हैं—- हमारे ह्रदय मे वह पहली शांति है जो इन बीस वर्षों मे हमने जानी है।

Please read the rest in pdf or docx format

Anthem-स्तुति.docx

Anthem-स्तुति.pdf

Read Murray N. Rothbard!

(While Ayn Rand was strongly against the idea of collectivism, she failed to realize that the sort of political system she advocated, which is also known as minarchy, is fundamentally no different then any other form of collectivism. This is the reason why Minarchy cannot work in a world of free individuals and the only applicable solution to sustain individual liberty is Anarchocapitalism or Voluntaryism.

In her Book, “Anthem,” the hero of Ayn Rand, Equality 7-2521, also called as The Unconquered, who later took the name Prometheus, asks himself, “But I still wonder how it was possible, in those graceless years of transition, long ago, that men did not see whither they were going, and went on, in blindness and cowardice, to their fate. I wonder, for it is hard for me to conceive how men who knew the word “I” could give it up and not know what they lost. But such has been the story, for I have lived in the City of the damned, and I know what horror men permitted to be brought upon them.”

That transition started with the call and support for Minarchy, which ultimately will lead to nothing but extreme forms of collectivism, to the City of the damned, where Prometheus lived before being outlawed.

In my other post, I clearly explained how the whole concept of Minarchy is strictly based on the immoral concept of Tacit Social Contract and hence, it is against the concept of Natural Rights, here in this post, that tacit social contract and its evil consequences are shown in a tasteful manner which eventually will cause a failure of the Galt Gulch and will initiate further endeavors of Individual graceful men to find a land for free individuals.

Here is a genuine fictional presentation of what will happen in a minarchist state of Objectivists which was presented at the Facebook wall of Avanindra Singh here, it has been written by Phil Ophie, another Facebook Friend.)

“When the looters’ state collapses, deprived of the best of its slaves, when it falls to a level of impotent chaos, like the mystic ridden nations of the Orient, and dissolves into starving robber gangs fighting to rob one another – when the advocates of the morality of sacrifice perish with their final ideal – then and on that day we will return.

We will open the gates of our city to those who deserve to enter, a city of smokestacks, pipe lines, orchards, markets and inviolate homes. We will act as the rallying center for such hidden outposts as you’ll build. With the sign of the dollar as our symbol – the sign of free trade and free minds – we will move to reclaim this country once more from the impotent savages who never discovered its nature, its meaning, its splendour.

Those who choose to join us, will join us; those who don’t, will not have the power to stop us, hordes of savages have never been an obstacle to men who carried the banner of the mind.”

From John Galt’s radio speech, shortly before the collapse of the United States

“Galt’s Gulch: 28 Days Later”

Minarchy is another form of Collectivism which again breaks into aggression, oppression, and destruction of Individual Values!

Jim Halstead walked slowly up the dirt lane leading up to the farm house of Judge Narragansett, dreading his news. Why Chief Danneskjold always sent him, he did not know, but he agreed to be a policeman, he was paid to be a policeman, and if that meant running errands, then run errands he would. Not for the first time, though, he wished that someone who knew anything about telephones would come to Galt’s Gulch.

The Judge had seen him coming, and met him on the porch. “Don’t bother me, don’t bother me, don’t bother me!” he started in petulantly. “I’ve said it before, there’s not enough business to expand right now!”

Patiently, Jim inwardly sighed and prepared himself for a further outburst. “Sir, the problem is that a third judge has accepted Mr. Galt’s radio invitation. This one has sworn the same oath the other two did. And he wants to go into the judging business here. And unlike the other two, he’s not budging, he’s insisting.”

Judge Narragansett turned purple. “Insisting, is he? There’s only one judge needed for a community this small, and that judge is me. We start having a variety of judges running around, and it’d be anarchy! The other two realized that, he’ll just have to realize it, too!”

Jim nodded, then said quietly, “Well, sir, he seems to feel that since you wrote that line in the Constitution, about not abridging production or trade, that he has a right to practice any trade he likes.”

“Oh, he does, does he?” snarled Narragansett. “And how would it would be if anytime someone didn’t like my verdict, they could just choose him as a judge instead? We all know about my proverbial fairness, but how about his? What if he starts letting everyone off with a light sentence?”

“Begging your pardon, sir”, replied Jim, “but that’s besides the point. The guy has rented out an office above Hammond’s Grocery Store, and is advertising that he is in business. Chief Danneskjold thought you should know.”

“Why what the hell are we paying him for, if not to stop this kind of thing!”, exclaimed the Judge. “I’m going down to Hammond’s now, and put a stop to this!” And with that the Judge started down to the small collection of stores that made up the downtown of Galt’s Gulch, with Officer Jim Halstead trailing behind bemusedly.

Minarchy: Everything Against the John Galt’s Oath

Mr. Hammond was sweeping the front entrance of his store when Narragansett came storming up, Jim in tow. “What’s the idea, what’re you trying to do to me?” yelled Narragansett. Mr. Hammond said stiffly, “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean, but I’ll thank you to keep a civil tongue in your head when speaking to me. I didn’t leave one group of bureaucrats just to be talked to this way by another self-appointed gang.”

“Gang?”, said Narragansett, “Why I’ll have you know that I was elected to this position, same as Chief Danneskjold, same as Mayor Galt! And I’ve every right to expect the citizen’s cooperation in keeping law and order going!”

Mr. Hammond snorted. “Elected. Yeah. Funny how there was that influx of starving workers just before the election. Funny how they all swore the oath as fast as Midas got them into his new apartments. And funny how the slate that Midas backed won by a landslide.”

“Are you implying…” began Narragansett, but Mr. Hammond overrode him.

“I’m not implying anything, I’m flat out saying it was a put up job. And I never agreed to your Minarchy anyway, so what do I care about how many others do? I think Galt needs to re-read his own speech. Meanwhile, I rented out my own office space. That’s my right. I believe you’re the fellow who penned that in to the Constitution. So if you want to go see Judge Smith, go see him, otherwise, leave me be.” And with that Mr. Hammond went back to his sweeping.

Judge Smith looked up calmly from his desk as Judge Narragansett stormed in, Officer Halstead nervously hovering in the doorway waiting on an invite. “I remember hearing from Mrs. Galt”, said Judge Smith mildly, “about how when she was waiting to speak to Ken Dannager, she was stopped simply by a shut door. I see that tale made little impression on you. Now state your business briefly, or leave, I’ve work to do.”

“You’ve no work to be done here, but finding another vocation, Mister Smith.” Began Judge Narragansett. “That and taking down that preposterous sign out there claiming that you’re a ‘Judge For Hire’. There’s only one judge in these parts, the one elected, and that’s me!”

Judge Smith pondered this. It had been a time of great recent hardship, and the memory of the months after the collapse, the loss of his family to the bands of looters and cannibals had aged him. As had the trek across the nation dodging other gangs, and trying to find food from looted and burnt out stores, or futilely trying to glean food from barren fields, or set crude traps that worked just barely enough to get him to this part of Colorado. At that he’d been but 120 pounds of his former 180 pounds of college football physique.

He’d been nervous to learn that they’d made a new government here, and had not been entirely reassured by the overly strenuous promises of the fairness of the new bill of rights that apparently the man before him had wrote up all on his own. But nor had he relished resuming his trek.

Removing his glasses, he rubbed his nose, looked up and said, “Judge Narragansett, I took the oath. I meant the oath. I was a judge before, for thirty years, and I see no need to learn a new profession. I don’t entirely like that you have a government, but I was pleased that you put in that clause about freedom of trade. I am trading my services as a judge to any who wish. And before you burst in, I was preparing for some upcoming cases from those who apparently do wish my services.”

“What!”, screamed Judge Narragansett. “Who? What are their names? Any cases should have been brought to me, at my home, Monday through Friday when I deal with such matters!”

“I won’t be giving you their names”, said Judge Smith, “Though I imagine you’ll learn of them eventually. And my hours include Saturdays and Sundays, and I’m right here in town, and I don’t divide my attention with farming as you choose to. Perhaps those were considerations.”

“And perhaps these cases are against Mr. D’Anconia, and they are hoping for a more favorable verdict from a stranger, unfamiliar with our unique situation here!”, retorted Judge Narragansett. “Well, it won’t work! Any workers with a complaint about unsafe conditions can come to me, or quit if they think it’s that bad. These aren’t the days where the government can run roughshod over the industrialists!”

“Are they the days where they can run roughshod over the workers?” said Judge Smith. “Those men were promised safe conditions, they feel the contract was broken – after the fourth death of their fellow workers they felt this. Do they not have a right to seek an enforcement of the contract that D’Anconia freely signed with them? ”

“I knew it!”, yelled Judge Narragansett. “I dismissed that case in a summary judgement just last week! This is illegal and immoral!”

“Actually”, said Judge Smith, “These are two other men. Perhaps they feared a similar result if they took it to you. Perhaps you having dinner at D’Anconia’s house so often concerns them. Or perhaps his hefty donations to your campaign was what made them nervous. In any case, they’ve asked me to judge, and as that is my trade, I am going to exercise my freedom of trade – you know, that you said you’d make no law to abridge.”

Judge Narragansett was growing increasingly apoplectic. Officer Halstead feared he’d have a heart attack, and it was well known that Dr. Hendricks had declared that he’d not be treating any “government bastards” just last month when General Wyatt of the Army had come in with a fractured ankle from scouting about the outlying towns for refugees that might be of use in the Valley.

“You misunderstood that amendment.”, Judge Narragansett said through gritted teeth. “Free trade and production does not include police, or military or the courts. Those have to be run by the government, otherwise it would be anarchy.”

John Galt’s Oath is Everything Against the Concept of Minarchy, it is for Voluntaryism!

“So plain English does not mean plain English?”, asked Judge Smith. “’Make no law against freedom of production and trade’ now means ‘make some laws’ against ‘some trades’? And what of the oath? I am to live my life for you now, by refraining from offering any competition or choice to the others?”

“Without the government handling court, there’d be no objective law!” said Judge Narragansett, looking smug. But his smile faded when Judge Smith calmly replied, “Objective law does not come from the barrel of your gun, it comes from free men freely dealing with each other in the free market.”

“Oh, I see!”, snarled Judge Narragansett. “But it can come from your gun?”

“Unlike you, I have no gun.”, replied Judge Smith. “But I see you have brought yours. Come in, Officer Halstead is it?”

“Yes, sir.”, replied Jim hesitantly. “And I’m just here to keep the peace, I work for a Minarchic government, we don’t initiate force.”

“I’m sure you don’t, son.”, said Judge Smith. “However, you may wish to check on some of your premises, as I’ve a feeling you’ll be called on to do so soon enough. Right, Judge?”

Narragansett purpled. “It is you who is initiating force, by…”

“By working my trade?”, interrupted Judge Smith.

“By working a trade that belongs only to the government!” yelled Narragansett. “Arrest him!”

The Making of Collective

Jim winced. Chief Danneskjold had warned him this might happen. And had explained to him how as a Minarchic government policeman, he had to uphold the law, and that the law was emphatically the province and duty of the Minarchic courts – Judge Narragansett – to say. He had not been sure that was right, but nor did he wish to have to work D’Anconia’s mines like some of the other refugees did.

“Sir…Judge”, he amended hastily as Narragansett glared at him, “I am not sure how I can arrest him, he’s not hurting you, and you’re in his office.”

“He’s judging cases, when only the government gets to do that, isn’t he? That’s initiating force against our whole collective!”

“Collective, Judge?” asked Jim.

“Town, town, you know what I mean! I was elected, he wasn’t, I have the right to work my trade without ruthless predatory dog eat dog competition and he…”

“Doesn’t get to work his trade?” finished Jim. “You wish me to arrest him as he takes freedom of trade seriously? I’m sorry, I can’t do that.”

“Oh, you can’t, can you?” said Judge Narragansett. “Then when I’ve talked to your Chief, we’ll see about finding a policeman who knows to follow orders. And you can try and find work elsewhere, and see how far you get!”

Jim shook his head sadly, “I don’t doubt that will be hard. But I cannot initiate force against a man. That’s not the oath I swore.”

Non Aggression Principle Can’t Exist in Minarchy

Government is Aggression, NAP doesn’t support Minarchy anyhow, it is for Voluntaryism.

At that point, Chief Danneskjold came in. “Relax, Jim, don’t quit just yet. Judge Narragansett, cool down. Um, ‘Judge’ Smith, is it? So you’re the young fellow who’s been causing all this fuss?” The Chief paused though, as he just noticed that Judge Smith was not as young as he had first seemed. His eyes were old, as only those who had been outside the Valley during the collapse could be.

Judge Smith said, “Chief, apparently Judge Narragansett thinks I’ve initiated force. He wants me arrested.”

The Chief said, “Well, let’s see if we can’t avoid that. You’ll agree that you wish things to be peaceful and prosperous here?”

Judge Smith nodded.

“Can you tell me how having two competing judges makes for peace? Like this case you think you have, how are you planning on having Mr. D’Anconia agree to let you judge it?”

“Chief, that will be up to him.” said Judge Smith. “Most men like to have their side heard. He may come and present his side, or send a representative. Or decline to say his peace. If so, I’ll rule based on the facts I have.”

“And if those facts say he is guilty?” asked the Chief.

“Then I’ll assess what reparations he owes, and let the men know.”

“And if he does not pay?”, asked the Chief, almost purring now.

“Then the men may choose to gain that reparation by their own efforts, or that of other men, specifically hired for the occasion. Perhaps your own Officer Halstead, if he is soon to be seeking new employ.”

“But that’s anarchy, and that would be force initiation, you see that, don’t you?” asked the Chief.

“Anarchy, yes, force initiation, no. In this hypothetical, it would be D’Anconia declining to have a dispute settled peaceably by a neutral party.”

“But what makes you a neutral party?”, asked the Chief. “Maybe D’Anconia does agree with settling disputes peaceably, but trusts Narragansett more than you.”

“Then he can say so. And we can all get together – Judge Narragansett, I, the two plaintiffs and D’Anconia, and work out a way agreeable to us all.”

“And if that can’t be, if there is no agreement?”, asked the Chief.

“It would depend on why there was no agreement.” Responded Judge Smith. “If one party is insisting it only be his way, while the other parties are willing to compromise, then that would mean one thing. Or perhaps it would be vice versa. There’ll be time enough to tell when we’re talking it out.”

“But if there’s no agreement, for whatever reason, what then?” asked the Chief.

“Then the meeting is over. If either party is paying either or both of us, then each of us can still judge. We’ll publish our decisions, and that’s that.”

“Case closed?” asked the Chief.

“As far as I and the other judge are concerned. True, the two I might rule in favor of will then be seeking their reparations. And the one that Narragansett may rule in favor of may defend thinking he is right. If the thought of protracted violence and retribution upon retribution bothers any of the three, I imagine it will encourage them to work out an arbitration agreement that they can all grit their teeth and live with.”

“You don’t think it would be better to simply have one man make a final decision, and definitely avoid that possible bloodshed?” asked the Chief.

“So that the two can be told to go to hell, and the one who has the judge over to dinner can be upheld? How does that avoid bloodshed? The way I propose, there is every incentive for the three to work together to find a peaceful way to settle this. Under what you propose, there is every reason for some to walk away feeling left out, disenfranchised and put upon. Which prompts a man to violence faster? An agreement he freely made even though he grits his teeth, or a proclamation issued arbitrarily that he is told to do and shut up about it?”

“I’ve heard enough.”, said the Chief. “This comes from my old dreams of being a philosophy teacher. I let the student argue too much. Now it’s time to show you force with a mind behind it – Halstead, arrest him!”

“But sir, neither you nor Judge Narragansett have explained why he can’t work his trade, he’s not actually hurting anyone!”, said Jim.

And drawing his gun, Chief Danneskjold said, “You must decide, do you follow orders, or not?” Jim not making any move either way, looked like a deer in the headlights. He did not wish to initiate force, but he did not wish exile. In a minute, the Chief got tired of waiting, asked, “Mines or exile, Jim?” at which point Officer Halstead reluctantly arrested “Judge” Smith.

Making of a New Free World

Judge Narragansett gave him a fair and neutral trial, and they exiled Mr. Smith to a bleak and barren wilderness that Mr. Smith suddenly saw as much more hospitable than he had before. Probably for Dr. Hendricks, Mr. Hammond, and fifteen others from the Valley leaving their jobs and joining him to seek a freer place to live in peace.

The two miners died later that week in a copper mine strike gone violent, their widows brought suit, and Judge Narragansett found in favor of his friend D’Anconia. When next a former judge showed up in town, he heard of the tale, and was wise enough to “voluntarily” choose to shovel manure at Dwight Sanders hog farm. Six weeks later, having seen how the Minarchy worked, he slipped away one night with four others tired of Judge Narragansett’s brand of “objective law”.

You are You!

The establishment of a few axiomatic truths is required to make rational inferences from observed activity. Examples of these include: no object can be in two places at the same time, one and one make two, and of course “A” is “A”. It would seem, however, that an additional claim has made its way to this list of self-evident truths with little conscious awareness; the necessity of the State. Of all the commonly accepted truisms, this one is among the least scrutinized and the most dubious All other axioms may be verifiable from direct observation. You are you (the philosophic equivalent of “A is A”) can be verified by looking in the mirror. One and one make two may be verified by taking an individual stone and placing it next to another. However, how do we verify the necessity of the state? The first response may be “well it has always been there!” This of course is a non-sequitur as the longevity of the state has nothing to do with its validity. Perhaps other examples of tribal or archaic societies will be cited to show the state as being necessary to protect us from such a base or savage lifestyle. However, these examples also tend to fit within the definitional parameters of a “State”.

What is the State?

This of course brings us to the question of “What is the State?” In the words of Dr. Hans Hermann Hoppe the State “is defined as an agency characterized by two unique, logically connected features. First, the state is an agency that exercises a territorial monopoly of ultimate decision making. That is, the state is the ultimate arbiter in every case of conflict, including conflicts involving itself. It allows no appeal above and beyond itself. Second, the state is an agency that exercises a territorial monopoly of taxation. That is, it is an agency that unilaterally fixes the price that private citizens must pay for the state’s service as ultimate judge and enforcer of law and order.” (Hoppe) The conflict of interest should be apparent and the logic of the definition sound. Extrapolated from this definition is the State’s exclusive “legal” right to initiate the use of force against others, peaceful or otherwise.

Now that we know what the State is we may conclude that Anarchy is what the State is not: A society organized and based exclusively on voluntary exchange, association, and intercourse. Before the practical application of an anarchic system is elaborated upon, it would behoove us to review the two fundamental principles upon which it is based: The Non-Aggression Principle and The Principle of Self-Ownership. In the words of Dr. Murray Rothbard the Non-Aggression Principle states that “No man or group of men may aggress against the person or property of anyone else…. ‘Aggression’ is defined as the initiation of the use or threat of physical violence against the person or property of anyone else. Aggression is therefore synonymous with invasion.” (Rothbard, 23) The State must necessarily be in conflict with this principle as its functioning is predicated upon the initiation of the use of force and coercion. Thus, proponents of the Non-Aggression Principle must endorse a system of anarchy as the only viable and logically consistent alternative to the State. This is of course tautological; if you are pro-state you must be anti-anarchy and vice-versa, since the existence of one negates that of the other. There is no third option. Thus phrases like “I am for a non-coercive state” or “I support a state that does not operate by means of initiating force” are contradictory since coercion and force initiation are both intrinsic attributes of State function.

Principle of Self-Ownership

Principle of Self-Ownership!

Dr. Rothbard carries on to define the Principle of Self Ownership as “the absolute right of each man by virtue of his/her being a human being, to ‘own’ his or her own body; that is, to control the body free of coercive interference.” (Rothbard, 28) For the reasons stated above, this principle is also in direct conflict with the premises of the State. There are only two alternatives to this statement. One is that another person or group of persons has a higher claim to your body than you do. This philosophy of course lends itself to aristocracy, oligarchy, and despotism. The other is that everyone has an equal claim to everyone else’s body, so no one fully owns anyone nor do they own themselves. This philosophy of course lends itself to ideas of democracy, socialism, and communism. This second alternative is the philosophical premise upon which our current state rests upon today. Some may argue that perhaps it’s a hybrid of these two alternatives with those in Washington being the oligarchs and the populace being the mutually owned proletariat, however, what can be certain is that we are not being permitted to exercise exclusive rights to our sovereign bodies as stated in the Principle of Self Ownership. One final premise I would like to establish prior to our discussion of a practical application of anarchy are the necessary criteria for the ownership of property. The first one is original appropriation, or in other words “finders keepers.” If you so happen to stumble upon an unclaimed good in nature then you may claim ownership of said good if you so choose. The second criterion is simply a consequence of the first as it states that anything you produce from your originally appropriated good is also yours. Dr. Hoppe states the third and final means by which one may attain rightful ownership over a good to be through “…voluntary, contractual transfer of its property title from a previous to a later owner. To deny these truths is to claim that a second person or set of people have a higher claim on your property, or that everyone shares an equal share of all property.” (Hoppe) Notice that Dr. Hoppe’s final point mirrors the alternatives to the Principle of Self-Ownership; this is not merely coincident. At least one of these three aforementioned criteria must be met in order for an individual to be considered the rightful owner of a given good.

Merits of Anarchy

Quickly, I would like to suggest a methodology of evaluating the merits of anarchy. The first point I would like to make is that the following stateless solutions to complex social problems I will be proposing are not meant to be authoritative, rather they are simply meant to be viewed as plausible examples of how said problems could or may be resolved. The marketplace of ideas driven by billions of minds will doubtlessly come up with much more refined and innovative solutions to the issues we will be discussing shortly. Secondly, I ask that when you evaluate the validity of these proposals that you compare them to current state methods and their corresponding efficacy as opposed to an ideal or utopic society. Many of us tend to make that unfair contrast when scrutinizing such theories.

First and foremost I would like to discuss two ideas and/or functions which all States ascribe to: taxation and social contract. Let us start by breaking down the implications of taxation, by first asking its purpose. Well that is simple enough; taxes are imposed on any given people as a means to fund the operations of the state. Taxes come in many forms ranging from sales tax, capital gains tax, estate tax, income tax, inflation tax (printing money), excise tax, tariffs …etc. There are too many to make an exhaustive list, suffice to say the State prides itself in its ability to formulate different means to tax its constituents. The common element shared by all taxes, however, is their mandatory nature. Payment of these taxes is not conditional, and anyone caught trying to evade said payments will be quickly punished in the form of fines, imprisonment, or even death. Thus it may be concluded that taxation in itself is a form of coercion as condemned by the Non-Aggression Principle (NAP) stated above. We can take this conclusion further by equating taxation to theft, i.e. you are compelled to pay them under the threat of coercion. Whether the act is committed by a common thug or an agent of the State with a shiny badge and a funny hat, coercing an individual to relinquish his/her personal effects is an act of theft. Anarchists are diametrically and fundamentally opposed to theft as it is in direct violation of both its fundamental principles of Non-Aggression and Self-Ownership. On a side note, it is counter-intuitive for States to claim that in order to protect your property they must first fund their protective measures by violating the very property rights they portend to protect through taxation! This type of cognitive dissonance is typical of the State when attempting to validate its existence. Some may say that taxation is not theft because we get a product or service in return in the form of a public good be it a road or a public library. However, this is analogous to purchasing a car for someone in his/her name and expecting him/her to pay for it. It is ludicrous to expect someone to pay for a product or service he/she did not agree to purchasing even if the individual is able to enjoy the benefits of said public good (as in the case of national defense). Where there is no consent, there may be no liability, and this brings us to the highly acclaimed Social Contract.

Government Protecting And Serving the Hell Out of You!

Does this phrase sound familiar to you? “If you don’t like Country X then you can get the f*&$ out!” I may be digressing, but I thought it noteworthy to acknowledge the “insult upon injury” expectation to not only pay for a service you didn’t ask for, but to also not complain about what you get or even offer alternative means of its production or allocation. This idea is of course completely at odds with the free market. Reverting back to the Social Contract, I feel it to first be in order to define exactly what a Social Contract is in the context of the State in relation to its constituents. A Social Contract is, in short, a binding contract applied to all persons arbitrarily determined to fall under the jurisdiction (typically determined by their physical residence) of the State. Being under the State’s arbitrarily determined jurisdiction is literally the only requisite for the contract to be binding. Your lack of individual and voluntary consent is immaterial. Again, we find another conflict with the premises of the State, as Anarchists recognize the only valid contracts to be ones in which are individually and voluntarily agreed upon absent the threat of coercion. You may say that “well we do in fact choose and therefore voluntarily consent to such public goods through the process of voting!” Yet again, even assuming you aren’t just voting in self-defense for fear that someone may use the state against you if you refrain, a majority vote does not translate into the consent of each individual being bound by the contract. “Well, what if we could get unanimous consent? Would it still then be considered an invalid contract?” If society can achieve unanimous consent on a particular issue then the involvement of the state would be entirely superfluous. At that point the State would be an unnecessary middle-man.

Why State is Unnecessary?

Next we will evaluate the age-old argument that the state is necessary to protect the good people from the bad people. So let us first take a step back and consider the four possibilities of societal makeup.

1. All men are moral. If this is true then of course there is no need for a state, since the threat of “bad” people will inherently be nil.
2. All men are immoral. If this is a case then we are all screwed and any attempt to form a state can only result in the wicked tyrannizing everyone else. This situation may be the most representative of the stereotypical Mad Max view of Anarchy.
3. The majority of men are moral and a minority immoral. This is what I personally believe to be the case. However, since the state represents the institutional monopoly over the “legal” initiation of the use of force over others, then certainly evil people will occupy a great many positions of authority in that system as good people tend to not seek this coercive power. A curious observation on this point is that many people tend to think of the state as immune from infiltration by immoral people; however it would seem the contrary is closer to the truth. Even if some good people are able to attain positions of authority in this system, many of them will succumb to corruption from exposure to this unnatural coercive power.
4. The majority of men are immoral and the minority is moral. In this case a State would certainly be destructive as the constituents, which as stated above consist of a majority of immoral persons, would simply use their voting power to push through immoral policies.

Thus we may conclude that in all four possible situations, the State is not a preferable solution to the issue of the existential threat posed by evil people (Molyneux, 90).

Concept of Dispute Resolution Organizations (DROs)

Before we can discuss law and order I must first introduce the ideas of dispute resolution organizations (DRO) a.k.a third party arbiters and the diverse application of insurance companies.

Third party arbitration is simply the private form of what we know today as the court system. The difference is, however, that the arbiters being used in any dispute between two or more parties must be agreed upon by each party before any subsequent arbitration may take place. This successfully averts the sticky conflict of being subject to laws under which an individual does not agree. Again, think back to the idea of Social Contract. If rulings by any DRO are seen to biased or unjust then the individual may always play the trump card and make the ruling public, and if the claim is found to be valid then there will be a loss of major business for this dubious DRO. Also keep in mind that it would be in the interest of any competing DRO’s to detect this type of foul play. Thus, this system of competing DRO’s, consumer evaluations, and the press serve to regulate and temper any potential abuse of arbitration power. The success of a particular DRO will be predicated upon consumer satisfaction, reputable past dealings, availability of subject matter experts related to various disputes, and the degree to which their rulings are viewed as valid which again goes hand in hand with its reputation. Furthermore, the DRO’s level of interoperability with other DRO’s will be another major factor in its success and profitability. A real world example of this would be the cell phone industry; would you really want an AT&T phone if you could not talk to someone using Sprint or Verizon? Thus, there are obvious economic incentives for these DRO’s, as well as other third party insurance organizations, to establish a high degree of reciprocity and interoperability within their operational procedures.

Let us move on to the establishment of property ownership. This may be accomplished by the certification of a third party service provider. It would be in the consumer’s best interest to select a widely recognizable certifier so as to decrease the probability of losing an arbitration battle against someone with a competing claim on the given property. If a property dispute takes place, the third party arbitrators may simply review the date at which the disputed property was claimed by each of the self-proclaimed owners along with the validity of the records provided to determine the ruling. Again, a third party arbitrator may also provide a means for the prospective patron to appeal any unfavorable judgment as a means to qualm his/her concerns of these potentially sticky situations and thus make its service that much more desirable. And of course as mentioned earlier, the consumer will always wield the whistle blowing trump card.

Role of Insurance Companies

Next we move on to the applicability of insurance companies. In a stateless society one’s reputation is vital for his/her economic viability. Many businesses will have a vested interest in verifying a given person’s reputability before dealing with said individual, so as to determine the probability of transactional reciprocation (the chances that the person will/or can actually pay for the product or service being offered). With the presence of such a demand, it will be highly likely that insurance companies or some other third party will provide the service of easily scannable and conveniently accessible third party records. These records could include a plethora of information ranging from a person’s credit history, criminal history, medical information…etc. Of course, many businesses would likely require or highly recommend the usage of such personal records when conducting business and different businesses will place a different amount of weight on different pieces of information. Of course these personal records may be conveniently stored and carried in the form of a card or even an RFID chip. The individual will be economically compelled to attain this service and will probably also have to submit his/herself to a few stipulations set by the insurance/records provider in the case of misconduct during the patronage of said service. For example, if he/she decides to steal, the premiums for the insurance will likely increase as he/she becomes viewed as a higher risk and the individual will be required to compensate the affected owner of said stolen property before coverage is reinstated.

Cases of Murders or Rapes

 The same methodology would apply to anyone who murders or rapes or performs any other form of misconduct. The costs of compensation or even length of voluntary confinement will be in proportion to the heinous degree of the crime committed. One may object however “what if the person goes off the grid?” Well, two things: First, the person will have to forgo all the luxuries that the division of labor provides and deal with the plights of economic ostracism. Second, the risk for this exists under a State system so it is not an argument against Anarchy in favor of the State. In addition, it would be in these insurance companies best interest to create an environment where these altercations are prevented, as this is the only guaranteed situation where the insurance company will profit. The State not only is absent this incentive to prevent crime, it actually has every incentive to allow it to increase so that it may justify an expansion in its budget. Also, most victims prefer a form of monetary restitution to having to pay for their offender’s incarceration fees through taxes! Simply put, in a free society with no trading prohibitions, the economic incentives for crime are dramatically decreased whilst there is a corresponding increase in the incentive to conduct honest business. Anarchy does in no way rely upon the good nature of people to function properly; it only assumes that people are motivated by self-interest. This does not preclude the existence of altruism, however, as acts of altruism are inherently voluntary.

National Defense!

Next the dreaded question of National Defense! Well we run into the age old collective action problem, where some claim that if everyone is not forced to pay or if they do not have assurances that others will pay, then they themselves will not either. However, there is plenty of empirical evidence to the contrary. Let’s take tipping for example, most people tip even though they are well aware of the possibility that others will not. These defense DRO’s will, unlike the State system of national defense, be primarily concerned with economic efficiency. They will attempt to provide the highest degree of defense at the lowest cost. Additionally, there will not be the moral hazard that permits them to be used to police the world and “secure interests”, because their existence will be predicated on continuous patronage of its customers, who will not be willing to fund such unnecessary and costly adventurism. It is the very fact that many are concerned with foreign invasion that will serve to fuel the demand requisite for the manifestation of a defense DRO service and its associated financial viability. Also, these defense DROs may provide its patrons with donor cards which various businesses may offer discounts for showing. Again, this is all speculation, but hopefully you are able to see the viability of such an arrangement. Furthermore, the lack of gun controls will discourage domestic criminals or foreign invaders from heedlessly invading the country or a given person’s property. A disarmed populace, after all, is just asking for predatory targeting. Finally, private security firms would rise out of the lack of desire for people to have to protect themselves.

This leads us to our final point of “how do we prevent the manifestation of another State out of these Defense DROs and private security firms?” Well, this is an obvious concern, and as such, when said Defense DRO or private security firm is soliciting to you their services they will have to find an innovative way to qualm this fear. Perhaps some methods may include subjecting themselves to third party inspections to ensure they are not amassing a secret army (the funding of which would raise a myriad of other obstacles which we will not elaborate on). Perhaps they will also set up a trust fund managed by a third party in which they will submit to you if they are found to be operating outside of their contractual guidelines. Again, everyone’s prosperity and livelihood in a stateless society would be intrinsically tied to the continued absence of the State. This, therefore, would provide the self-interested incentive for consumers to demand safe-guards against the manifestation of such a State. Finally, would it not be considered a funny concern that there is a mere chance of a state forming in an anarchic system? How would ensuring the existence of a state possibly be seen as a preferable alternative to this? Certainly this is a ridiculous suggestion.

I know we only covered a few topics, but hopefully now you have not only learned the ethical basis behind the idea of Anarchy, but also the viability of its practical application. For those of you who think that Anarchy is just an idealistic notion, ask yourself is the more realistic one really a system that is funded through coercion and whose policies are formulated by a select few and whose compliance is mandated under threat of violence? Is this not the incredibly idealistic and I would argue irrational and evil notion? Please, I only ask at the very least not that you agree, but that you instead refrain from supporting the use of violence to forcibly impose your will on me. I promise I will pay you the same respect.

 Works Cited

Hoppe, Hans-Hermann. “State or Private-Law Society – Hans-Hermann Hoppe – Mises Daily.”

Ludwig Von Mises Institute. 9 May 2011. Web. 29 Nov. 2011.

Molyneux, Stefan. Practical Anarchy. Freedomain Library, 2008. Print.

Rothbard, Murray Newton. For a New Liberty: the Libertarian Manifesto. San Francisco: Fox &  Wilkes, 1978. Print.

(By a Facebook Friend!)

Indian citizens are continuously observing a series of ripples against the atrocious environment prevailing in India that makes a woman feel helpless, weak and dependent. However, all these ripples are gradually losing the momentum to bring about any change in the societal environment of India which certainly is worrisome. She, whose name is still unknown, was raped on the dreadful night of 16^th December 2012 and she died on 29^th of December 2012. However, Indians welcomed the New Year 2013 with a hope that the “government” will bring about some drastic change in the Indian legal system and Indian police and protection system that will provide better security, better protection for women in Delhi and in whole India.

Those hopes were battered again when the cases of sexual assaults, rapes and crimes against women, girls, and kids kept making headlines of all major newspapers and news channels continuously and gradually, the Indian citizens were ready to accept that at the most they can perform some candle-marches and some protest marches, to add up, they may burn some police vans to show off their anger, but at the end, they will have to accept that they are helpless, protection less and the government can do nothing about it. On March 6^th 2013, a 3 years old girl was kidnapped and raped in Tirur, Kerala and it was enough for me to ponder about the situation and to visualize a solution.

Will Stricter Laws reduce crime against women?

It is notable that no matter how strict, how cruel anti-rape laws become, it won’t reduce the rate of crime against the women. Why?

The reason behind a person to decide never to rape, or commit any crime is not that laws are strict, but that he realizes that forcing a person is wrong  and it is anti-reason. A person may not attack a girl because he realizes that violence is immoral and unacceptable. Or, he may not attack because of the fear that the girl will protest and she is strong enough to defend herself.

Those who oppose Gun Rights should realize that a psycho criminal won’t care for gun control laws while these laws make the innocent citizens defenseless.

We cannot deny that there are evil people in the world however, laws cannot stop them. If we could legislate the crime away by passing any number of laws, we might have already done that. ¹  It is obvious that if the Indian government endorses extremely strict laws against those who are accused of sexual crimes, things may go in a completely bizarre direction while it certainly doesn’t guarantees any reduction in crime rates. If the criminal psychopath knows that laws are strict, he will ascertain that the girl may not fly away alive after he kidnaps and rapes her. Instead of facing danger of being reported against his crime by the girl, he will prefer to kill her. More rape victims would end up dead than currently. How will that help the cause?

Furthermore, strict laws always give way for increased corruption and exploitation of innocent citizens. While rape is a sensitive issue, it is also a fact that some of the registered rape cases prove to be fake and baseless and there hardly is a valid way to confirm that only real and appropriate accuses will be entertained by the police. ²

What has Government Done?

The Delhi gang rape case inspired citizens to unite and protest against such heinous crimes and obviously, their protest was to provoke the government to do something ‘good’ for the girls and the society as whole.

This was the second time when Indians, just like herds, got together to shout against the common atrocities that they face. Previously, Indians got together under the banner of India Against Corruption to protest against the rampant corruption in the ‘governmental administrative system.’ That movement went awry and fruitless because while the leaders of that movement like Anna Hazare, Arvind Kejriwal, Baba Ramdev etc., had a huge number of followers to protest along the lines drawn by them, they didn’t have any logical understanding of the problem and hence, it was impossible for them even to think about a probable solution for the problem of corruption. Because of their naivety and lack of reason, the government succeeded in breaking up their team and destroying all the fire that the general masses of heard like citizens offered to those IAC movement leaders.

Same was the case with the protesters against the sexual crimes in India. However, this time these herds of protesters had no specific team of leaders and that is why it was easier for the government to ignore this series of protest. The politicians didn’t just ignore these protests; rather they used it as an opportunity to strengthen their hold on ‘vote-banks.’ Some politicians demanded for stricter laws such as chemical castrations, and or death penalty, while some others demanded for monetary benefits and other privileges for women. Ultimately, the government showed how much it cares for citizens and specially for women by showering huge monetary proposals in favor of girls and women in its Budget for the year 2013 and they named it the Nirbhaya Fund.

It should be noted that the government first robs and extorts us citizens through taxation and only then it plans for how to waste our hard earned money for their politically motivated budget plans. Obviously, the next general elections are coming closer and the government had to shower sweets to gain women’s vote which counts around 50% of Indian population. However, announcing the Nirbhaya Fund was like declaring that rapists will keep exploiting girls, women, and kids and the government cannot stop them, yet, the government will rob the citizens a little more so that it may offer ‘monetary compensation.’³

Who is Responsible?

Many politicians and social leaders claimed that Bollywood is a reason for the ‘increase’ in rate of sexual crimes in India and they are planning to ban ‘item songs‘ of Bollywood movies. Previously, some Khap Panchayat leader blamed Chinese food (Chowmein) for increasing sexual violence in India and now, people are blaming Bollywood songs for it. Similarly, politicians have kept blaming the victims themselves for the crimes committed against them. One of the politician said, “Women will command respect and there will be no lawlessness in society if they have character and wear decent clothes.”⁴

Obviously, neither the protesters, nor the politicians have any idea about what could be done to provide better protection for women, however, the government is all set to further exploit tax payers so that it may squander the hard earned money of tax-payers.

Self-Defence is the best Defence!

It is the time when we must realize that self-protection is the best possible protection. No other person can offer better protection to a person who is aware about his safety. Certainly, this doesn’t mean that women should sacrifice their freedom on the name of protection. Rather it means that women should come forward to protect their own self as self-defence is the fundamental right of a person and a right cannot be granted, nor it can be demanded, rather it is naturally realized and executed. However, the government certainly curtails this fundamental right of every individual citizen by various senseless and irrational laws and legislation such as gun-control. It should be noted that a girl or a woman may not protect herself against goons and bullies if she is not well armed to protect herself. Furthermore, a criminal will certainly avoid confronting a girl if he knows that she is well-armed to protect herself and if he will try to harm her, she will react and her reaction may prove to be fatal for the criminal. The sense of fear that the girl is not weak and she is well armed not only to defend herself but also for counter-attack will resist any criminal from taking chances of any inhuman act.

Another way to attain protection with all fundamental rights is to employ a person or an agency for private protection and security services. However, since the government wants to maintain monopoly over violence and it certainly hates competition, the government doesn’t allow private security agencies to provide proper protection for those who need it. Rather it imposes a coercive, compulsory governmental police system that in fact works for the protection of the government, politicians and bureaucrats at the expense of tax-payers while the tax-paying citizens often find insufficient police help. Furthermore, one cannot trust the governmental police. It has monopoly and since there is no competition, there cannot be any criteria or measures for improving the police protection system. Because of lack of competition, there is lack of responsibility. Things become strange when the police officers themselves are accused of rapes and extortion. Politicians suggest that recruiting more women in police force may improve the situation. The fact is that even women are human beings and they are no angels. Thus, the women police will also suffer the same problem of lethargy, inhumanity, and irresponsibility that is becoming the trademark of the governmental police. If a private security provider acts inhuman and irrational in any manner, one can simply remove him or her from their job. However, no matter how insensitive and irrational the governmental police may act, no one cannot question it and even if the police is questioned for wrong acts, there is no other option available for protection.

The government is wholly responsible for making girls and women vulnerable and defenceless against bullies, goons and criminals. Instead of encouraging the feeling and ability of self-defence and self-responsibility, the government controls individuals by snatching their right of self-defence through various gun control measures. Secondly, in order to avoid any reasonable opposition against their corrupt ways, the government enforces monopoly over police and legal system. Obviously, the major beneficiaries of monopoly over police and legal system are the government, bureaucrats, and politicians. ⁵

Another basic reason for the vulnerable and dangerous situations for women and girls is the lack of capitalism in Indian society. Here, the socialist government controls the market and hence, it goes awry. Socialism brings poverty while capitalism creates wealth. If there was capitalism, people in general would be wealthier and would have more to lose for a moment’s madness. So the marginal propensity to commit such crimes would be reduced. It is also true that even wealthy people commit crime, yet, any reduction in crime and specially, sexual crime would be a great thing.

The higher rate of sexual crimes in India suggests that the Indians are sexually frustrated to such an extent that they attack girls and women on roads. One of the very basic reasons behind this is that the Indian society doesn’t offer proper importance for the role of prostitutes. The government has criminalized prostitution and it is considered as an immoral act. However, there is nothing immoral in the act of prostitution because it certainly is voluntary act without any coercion or violence.⁶

How to Reduce Crimes

Cause of sexual crimes is the mythical concept that female is weaker sex. To eradicate this myth, women need to take help of weapons for self-defence.

Capitalism or free market system can offer a strong system of proper protection for girls, women and kids. As for example, a free market with no Shop-Closing Laws will be able to offer proper protection for every girl or woman who needs to go out of her house during the late hours for her jobs at call-centres or late-night hospitals etcetera. Unlike the Police Commissioner of Delhi⁷ , no shop-keeper will suggest that women should be fearful and they should not move out of their houses alone or during late hours or odd times. Instead of trying to restrict the woman’s right of movement, the shop-keeper along with others will try to provide proper safe environment for girls and women even during late nights by employing competitive and trustworthy private security agencies who will ascertain that no bad element may harass any of the potential customer of the mall, or market and this will certainly provide a strong safety net for any one moving out nearby the market.

Similarly, privatizing the roads will reduce sex crimes to such a drastically lower rate that one can say that we can put an end to the cases of eve-teasing, sexual harassment, kidnapping, and rapes on the roads by privatizing the roads⁸  . The private owners and managers of the roads will ascertain proper security and protection of the individuals using their roads because it will enhance their chances of business and profits. In addition, they will ascertain that only trustworthy road transporters may use their roads for their businesses. This will not only reduce chances of sexual harassment and rapes in moving transport vehicles, but it will also reduce the chances of road accidents to very low. Furthermore, the transportation companies managing buses will also recruit private security guards to protect their passengers at any time against any odd situations be it robbery, sexual harassment or accidental calamities.

Conclusion:

While the government and politicians of opposition parties can politicize the issue of crime against women and girls to exploit vote-banks, ridiculous policies such as Nirbhaya fund, stricter laws implying more tyranny and less freedom, and so on are certainly not going to improve the situation and it is very evident from the fact that within three months after the death of Nirbhaya, the victim of Delhi gang rape case, we have seen a huge number of gang rape cases including the case of the rape of a three year old kid.

Yet, it is not very difficult to reduce and practically remove the curse of sexual crime from our society and it can be achieved by following the given steps:

1. Recognizing the Right to Self Defence and allowing Individual citizens, girls, and women to carry safety weapons so that they may defend themselves at the time of need. This will help in eradicating the general belief that women are weaker sex. No matter how physically weak a woman is against a cruel rapist, if she has a safety weapon and if she knows how to use it, no devil will ever dare to touch her without her consent.
2. Free Market Capitalism is the sure way for better growth, development and peaceful management of any society and if Indians are willing to work for reducing crime rates, they need to work for establishing individual freedom and dignity first, which is possible only in the scenario of free-market capitalism.
3. Simple voluntaryist measures such as, “No Shop-Closing Laws,” Privatizing protection agency, police and legal system”, and “Private Road Systems” will offer better safety and security for individual citizens and the society as whole against terrorism, sexual crimes, kidnapping, ransom, murders, and other petty crimes.

1. On the other hand, experiences have shown that often specific ‘stricter’ laws backfire. As for example, some of the states of the United States adopted ‘three strikes’ law because of which, there was an abrupt increase in homicides in those states.
2. False allegation of rape can cause the same humiliation and distress to an accused which a rape victim undergoes, the Delhi High Court has said and highlighted the need to guard against such implication.

   “It is true that rape causes the greatest distress and humiliation to the victim but at the same time a false allegation of rape can cause equal distress, humiliation and damage to the accused as well. The accused must also be protected against the possibility of false implication,” Justice S P Garg said while letting off a man accused of rape.

   Allowing the plea of Surender Kumar, sentenced to seven- year imprisonment by a trial court for allegedly raping his sister-in-law, the court said, “In the present case, the story projected by the prosecutrix is so improbable that it cannot be believed.”, India High Court: Fake-Rape Claims Just as Bad as Rape

3. We should not forget that similar funds were announced in the year 2009 to help the poor Indian farmers by wavering off their loans so that the government may reduce the rate of Indian farmers committing suicide. Obviously, those grandiose policies and monetary funds proved to unsuccessful and the farmers are still committing suicide at a high rate while the government is facing charges of scam and corruption about the issue of distribution of those funds that were meant for helping the farmers. Similarly, various “Ladali” and Mid-Day-Meal programs have proved to be huge failures while the tax-payers’ money spent on those programs is being siphoned off in the bank accounts of officials and ministers.
4. As a matter of fact, 20 percent of rape victims in the year 1991 were below age 10 and 35.8% were below age 14³ . Obviously, those kids weren’t wearing slutty clothes, nor were they out at odd hours. Furthermore, the number of rape cases among staunch Muslim communities of India where the women are often found wrapped in black burkas and niqab is no less than the rape victims of other communities. So why doesn’t the niqab covering complete body of Muslim women save them against being raped? Oh yes, one may find the answer in Saudi Arabia where the moral police of the kingdom said, “the Haia men will intervene to force women to cover their eyes, especially tempting ones. ” The fact is, women are being raped in places like Saudi Arabia too where they force their women completely covered under black clothes and to suppress the complaints, the judiciary punishes the rape victims for speaking out, Clothes, Sex and Violence
5. We should not forget the Suryanelli Rape Case in which a high order Congress Politician is involved (The victim also accused the Congress Minister P J Kurien of being involved in the case, after seeing his photograph in a newspaper, but Kurien was exonerated by the police investigators and the courts.) We cannot forget Congress veteran leader N.D. Tiwari too who kept exploiting a woman and then denied of being the biological father of her son while the DNA report clearly showed that he is the actual father. We certainly cannot forget the Lakhimpur Kheri case in which a 14-year-old girl was allegedly raped and hanged inside a police station premise in Nighasan area Lakhimpur
6. One can suggest that legalizing prostitution will also help in reducing the extent of sexual crimes while it is beyond any doubt that legalizing prostitution will certainly improve the situation of sex workers and will not allow criminals to exploit them while it will also restrict criminals to force innocent and unwilling girls to get involved in forced prostitution.
7. “You can’t travel alone at 2am and then say Delhi is not safe. It would be ideal if a woman takes her brother or driver along. It’s wrong to say the Capital is not safe for women.”

8. Will private roads remain safe for women, children? Will there be vandalism, chain snatching, eve teasing, and rapes on private roads?

   Private roads will be highly secured. The shops, showrooms, corporate and business houses nearby the roads will confirm that no criminal hooligan may attain access to their area. They will employ private security for the whole area and the private road owner will also employ proper security for their roads. Overall, it will be very difficult for criminals to attempt chain snatching, eve-teasing, and kidnapping or any other crime on private roads. Better security will increase the worth of the road and profits of the road owner. Women will be free to move on roads anytime even at night without any fear as no road-side sexual harassment will be possible. The shop owners, corporate office owners and road owners will confirm it otherwise they will suffer losses as consumers will avoid using unsafe roads. Encroachment on roadsides won’t be possible.

Violence

A person may deny resorting to violence against another person because he may realize the importance of non-aggression principle and believe that initiation of violence is immoral. However, morality cannot be the only reason behind the general acceptance of non-aggression principle. One may realize that his initiation of violence may lead the other person to retaliate and if he will attack the other person, that person may use arms against him and instead of being the aggressor; he may end up being the victim. Even if this person is strong enough to defeat the other, he may realize that in order to defeat and victimize the other person, he will have to spend much more energy than what his victory may compensate for. A person may avoid violent attacks because he may realize that his attack may prove to be beneficial for shorter run (like attacking a person, killing him, robbing his wealth and running away with it), but in longer run, it will prove to be disastrous. Furthermore, he may realize that instead of killing and robbing the other person, he may in fact make higher profits in longer run by avoiding violence and making better choices.

Slavery

On the other hand, a person may realize that if he is strong enough to attack, defeat, and kill the other person at any time, then instead of killing, he may simply threaten the other person for his life and by doing so, he can force that other person to pay for his satisfaction. In general, such an act is known as robbery, which certainly is a violent act. However, by continuing or maintaining the threat of violence against that other person, he may force the other person to regularly offer him a part of the fruits of labor of the other person. This is slavery and under the system of slavery, the slave-owner uses the slave as his livestock, cows, buffaloes, and other animals, he uses the slave as a means of production to fulfill his own desires and in return, he offers the slave a right to continue to live under his shelter, regulations, and directions. He feeds the slave and offers him housing and at times, he may show kindness and affection towards the slave too by offering some prizes or privileges. In order to save his life, the other person may agree to accept this arrangement of slavery, however, this agreement isn’t voluntary, rather; it is just a better choice between being killed or brutally harmed by the aggressor, or being the slave of the aggressor. The slave doesn’t voluntarily or willingly works for the benefits of the owner, rather; he works for the owner grudgingly while knowing that a revolt against the aggressor will prove to be costly as he may get severely injured or killed, furthermore he may find it difficult to prepare for fighting against the aggressor.

One may suggest that this other person isn’t a slave, rather; he is just doing service for the first person in order to attain food, shelter, home, etc. however, if this is true, then there is no need of violence or threat of violence to force the other person do to work for the first person. If the other person is really looking for the benefits offered by the first person in return of working for him, then it is voluntary agreement that doesn’t involve any violence or threat of violence. It should be noticed that under the system of slavery, the other person has no right to bargain and thus, a slave will always remain in worse conditions than he would be in absence of threat of violence if he offers his labor for the first person willingly. It is quite clear that the first person will always gain benefits at the expense of his slave.

Government

Under slavery, the slave must work under the command of the owner under the threat of violence. It is a clear case of hegemony where the owner commands and the slave obeys. The slave can either obey the orders of the owner, or he can decide to revolt against the orders of owner in which case, he will have to face dire violent consequences, incarceration, physical punishments, monetary punishments, injuries, or even death. If he revolts and fails to end the oppression by the first person, then the owner may punish him and re-establish his hegemony over him while confirming that he may never attain enough strength to revolt again. Under such a system, the owner necessarily exploits the slave to gratify his own desires at the expense of the slave and since it is a continual set of interpersonal relations between the slave and owner, it can be said that is marks the constitution of a society. The planned organized actions of the oppressor or exploiter are called the organized crime, or governmental authority, while the victims are termed as citizens obeying the government.

Current Organized Crime

Let us analyze our current situations as it will help us in understanding the nature of organized crime and government hegemony. Recently, the Indian government’s Employees Provident Fund Organization – which comes under the ministry of labor and employment, issued a circular according to which,  various allowances paid to employees will have to be added back to the basic salary and provident fund contributions computed against this higher value¹ . This will mean that the employees will have to save much more money in provident fund while he will be allowed to take lower income at home. Obviously, the employees of public or private organization aren’t allowed to decide how much money they want to save and in what manner and how much money they should spend for their daily needs. The government is there to decide this for the employees. Similarly, the employers are also not free to decide how much they should contribute for the provident funds of their employees, the government has decided that. This suggests a similar hegemonic relation between the government and Indian citizens which in fact is exploitation, the government is the slave-owner, and the citizens are the slaves.

In a clearer manner, the Indian government again proved the veracity of this hegemonic owner-slave relationship by issuing a stern warning to Indian Tax Payers. The government warned them on 10^th of December 2012 to either disclose their correct income and pay advance tax by December 15 or be prepared to face action² . This tax is actually an honest part of the fruits of labors of common citizens which has to be offered to the government regularly to avoid any harsh violent action. Obviously, the government is exploiting the citizens by means of compulsory taxation under the threat of violence. In order to emphasize the fact that the government is the owner of the tax farm of which we Indians are slave, our Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said, “paying taxes is a mark of civilization.” Obviously, he has some weird notions of civilization; yet, the Indian society certainly is based on violence, threats, and robbery, exploitation and tyrannical hegemony. No common Indian is free as all Indian citizens are the slaves of government, whose gang-members are bureaucrats, politicians, big corporate, and the national bank owners who create fiat money and fiduciary medium. Next year on 15^th of August, think twice before claiming that it is your independence day, no common Indian ever became free; they all are slaves, just the slave-owners changed.

1. Save More in Provident Fund but Take Home Less as Salary, TOI
2. Disclose True Income or Face Action Government Warns Tax Payers, TOI

The Poor Man, continuously being robbed by the government as the purchasing power of his savings is continuously being reduced by Inflation, the Indirect Coercive Tax, the effect of Fractional Reserve Banking.

The biggest advantage of Indian government is that the Indian economy is still going through the process of disinvestment which means that the Indian government has a lot of assets in business and service sectors that can be disinvested to attain valuable monetary cash to do away with the yearly governmental expenditures and the national debt. The actual motive of economic reforms should be the process of limiting the government. The lesser the governmental control over economy will be, the better will be the situations for development, progress and prosperity of Indian individuals. However, there hardly are any hopes for reducing the interference of our government in our daily lives, nor are there any signs of any reduction of governmental interventions in the Indian economic sector. Rather, the Indian government that was wholly socialistic before 1991 is now gradually turning into a serpent of mixed economy that is holding a strong grip over all sectors of productions and service provisions through its fangs of corporatism. At one hand, they are disinvesting major production and service sectors in parts, allowing infusion of foreign currency in Indian markets, on the other hand, with king size government share in all these sectors and with illogical regulations over the market, they are setting the rules of the game in which, they do not allow any corporate house to fail.

Is Government Reducing its Size?

In his essay Resistance to Civil Government popularly known as “Civil Disobedience,” Henry David Thoreau said,

“That government is best which governs not at all; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have.”

Even Mahatma Gandhi had specific vision of Swaraj or ordered anarchy for Indians in his mind as he claimed that

a state is a “soulless machine” which, ultimately, does the greatest harm to mankind” and “the ideally nonviolent state would be an ordered anarchy.”

The obvious fact is that the less there will be government, the lesser wastage of resources there will be. However, Indian situations are certainly not going in the direction of gradual decrease of governmental interventions in social and economical life of Indian citizens. At one stage, the government is “disinvesting” the production and service sectors “in parts,” at other stage, it is introducing socialistic plans of Education for All, Free food for all, Free Healthcare for All or Universal health care etc. Recently, the government announced a cap on prices of around 642 medicines and before it, they announced health regulators at public and private hospitals. The scams of mid-day meals have become so common that nobody talks about them nowadays, especially because now people have to contemplate about the disinvestment scams like 2-G scam, coal-gate, CWG scam, and so on, and the situations are ruining at such a pace that soon these bigger scams will also become forgotten issues. Nobody actually accentuates the actual, real and extreme scam of fractional reserve banking, deposit and credit expansion out of nothing, and printing fiat currency out of thin air.

The Corporate Mantra of Oligarchy and Bailouts

The general expectations of economic reforms are that the individual Indian citizens will have a chance to take their responsibilities at their own and they will enjoy the reduction in burden of coercive taxes and inflation while the government will gradually reduce the burden of subsidies. This process means that the citizens won’t be burdened with the burgeoning national debt and fiscal deficit. However, this is not happening at all; rather, the government have introduced the functioning of corporatization and oligarchy according to which, a selected few corporate houses attain their share in governmental disinvestment and in general, they are provided complete financial help through government regulated banks to continue the same old processes with similar wastages. Because of fractional reserve banking, extremely low CRR (Cash Reserve Ratio), and irresponsible mix of government and corporate, most of the market sectors are continuously suffering effects of continuous cycles of artificial economic booms, credit expansion, credit crunches, liquidity crisis, and economic recessions. In this scenario of inflation, the common man is continuously loosing the purchasing power of his savings and the real beneficiaries of all this loot are the government, politicians, corporate houses and bankers.

Continuously Increasing Fiscal Deficit and National Debt

During the medieval period in 11th century, Godiva often referred to as Lady Godiva, an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who, according to a legend, rode naked through the streets of Coventry in order to gain a remission of the oppressive taxation imposed by her husband on his tenants.

The fiscal deficit of Indian economy was estimated to be just 5.1% of its GDP during the start of this fiscal year. This figure of fiscal deficit seems to be negligible however, it is certainly not. Indian economy is still enjoying the benefits of governmental disinvestment which is the major source of GDP but, the government, instead of experiencing a reduction in its size, is continuously expanding itself to control more and more of the economic freedom of individuals. Yep, they are now starting to change the patterns of subsidies, they are planning to provide subsidies in cash, they have started issuing Adhaar Cards too, they have reduced gas and petrol subsidies too, but now they have introduced free healthcare, free education and free food too. Who will pay for these so called free things? Obviously, the tax payers, and it’s not like only rich or middle class people pay the taxes, even the poorest person of India pays indirect taxes which are being enforced in form of inflation that results in price rise and reduction in purchasing power of the little currency notes a poor man can have.
Recently, the UPA government’s finance minister P. Chidambaram has asked for additional Rs 32,120 crore to meet the government expenses out of which, around Rs 2,000 crore will go to the ailing Air India. So, the new estimation of fiscal deficit by UPA government is 5.3%, however, the independent HDFC bank audit suggests that this year the fiscal deficit will easily cross 5.5% mark. Let me remind you the fact that the government has already announced a bailout package of Rs4000 Crore for SBI which is continuously suffering liquidation crisis. Out of that bailout help, the SBI will transfer Rs1500 crore as another bailout for the ailing Kingfishers Airlines. All these bailouts for aviation sector are being offered after the announcement of 49% FDI in aviation sector.

So, the government is showing its philanthropic nature for corporate sector but these bailout help isn’t going to be provided from the pockets of the government, it will be robbed from us the tax-payers, the customers of fractional reserve banking controlled by Reserve Bank of India which is still struggling against the whooping inflation rate. All this bailout money is again going to raise the inflation bar up and it’s an incessant process. The thing that seems to be dangerous is the fact that this expansion of government is in that period in which it is continuously “disinvesting” itself. What will happen to these free food, free education, free healthcare programs once all will be “disinvested” and gifted to these greedy corporate houses who are enjoying the government loans, government entitlements, government easements and governmental bailout packages right from the start? Obviously, the government has two never ending finance collection tools, one is coercive taxation and other is fraudulent fractional reserve banking and both these tools are very efficient to rob the common citizens of India and here we have no Lady Godiva ¹  to protest against the coercive government in favor of us, tax-paying poor citizens who are continuously being robbed every now and then.

1. During the medieval period in 11th century, Godiva often referred to as Lady Godiva, an Anglo-Saxon noblewoman who, according to a legend, rode naked through the streets of Coventry in order to gain a remission of the oppressive taxation imposed by her husband on his tenants, to know moe, visit Wikipedia page. If she comes back in 21st century and be a resident of India, what will she do to protest against the coercive taxation and fraudulent, forged fractional banking practices of India in favour of Indian common men, and in fact, Indian poor men who are continuously loosing the purchasing power of their saved money?