http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/ Rational Refreshing Reflections on What's Happening Now en-en Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/recent.gif http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/ http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/index.html http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/index.html 26A022.htm 26A022 A Very Notable Book by Jim Davies, 6/2/2026    First written in 2008 and recently updated and re-issued as a second edition, Dr Skoble has produced a most valuable contribution to anyone wondering if there might be a viable, rational alternative to the existing top-down, governed society that now prevails everywhere. Until received as a welcome birthday gift I'd never heard of it or him, and the blame is mine. Its title is exactly what needs to be done and the text, I found, is right in line with my own understanding, but presented in a very appealing, winsome and scholarly way. It's an excellent book to bring to any friend who still supposes that government is "necessary." Dr Skoble is a professor of philosophy and my immersion in that discipline has been only ankle-deep; so this review will probably fall short of doing his book justice. However I'll persevere, because it deserves to be better known. Deleting traces the importance of individual rights to the earliest philosophers, and attributes the competing Hegelian view to the "Hobbesian Fear" - that is, the fear that without the supreme authority of a State, human interactions would be shambolic; for example, contracts must be enforcible, so there's need for an enforcer. Hegel formed his philosophy around 1800 and argued for the supremacy of the State over the individual; a theme found especially useful a century later by Hitler and Mussolini. However it's a view beloved by every ruler, not just by overt Fascists: Hegel sees mere people as members of a giant machine, that the purpose of their lives is to help it prosper. As Benito expressed it: “everything within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.” In contrast there is the liberal tradition, in which the individual has rights; and I think Skoble assumes that most in his profession give respect to that and so that the controversy comes down to how those rights can be reconciled or balanced with the perceived necessity of some kind of authority or "umpire." And that is exactly where the line appears between anarchists and minarchists, about whom a ZGBlog in January offered comment. An example of how Prof. Skoble deals with that line comes in his third chapter. The late Robert Nozick, philosophy professor at Harvard, was a libertarian of that persuasion who reasoned that in an anarchist society, some will exercise their right to choose by contracting with a defense company. Then after competition, mergers and acquisitions the several such firms may well reduce to a single, dominant defense agent; and since it could not provide defense for its customers alone, it would reasonably oblige everyone to subscribe - and hence closely resemble the War Department of a State. Thus, Nozick says, a State would be chosen freely without violating rights - for at least that important function. Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/12A012.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/12A012.htm Read more about #039;12A011: Whatamp;#039;s To Be Done?, 2/29/2012 Fresh out of arguments, they silence the opposition #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A022.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A022.htm Read more about #039;26A022: A Very Notable Book, 6/2/2026 by an anarchist philosopher! ----------amp;gt; #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A021.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A021.htm Read more about #039;26A021: Straw Men, 5/26/2026 Scary government stories #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A020.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A020.htm Read more about #039;26A020: European Squealers, 5/19/2026 Boo-hoo, the umbrellaamp;#039;s folding! #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A019.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A019.htm Read more about #039;26A019: The Need for Rivals, 5/12/2026 Competition stimulates progress #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A018.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A018.htm Read more about #039;26A018: Imagine a Free Gulf, 5/5/2026 Obstacles removed #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A017.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A017.htm Read more about #039;26A017: The Deadly Game, 4/28/2026 Collectivist deception #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A016.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A016.htm Read more about #039;26A016: Judges and Robbers, 4/21/2026 Justice isnamp;#039;t based on force #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A015.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A015.htm Read more about #039;26A015: Warmonger Hegseth, 4/14/2026 A know-little loose cannon #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A014.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A014.htm Read more about #039;26A014: Distrust Trusts, 4/7/2026 They are not trustworthy #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A013.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A013.htm Read more about #039;26A013: MAGSA?, 3/31/2026 America was great when its government was small #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A012.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A012.htm Read more about #039;26A012: The Latest War, 3/24/2026 Governments always kill #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A011.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A011.htm Read more about #039;26A011: Kids on the Net, 3/17/2026 The right fix #039; on the Zero Government blog... 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Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A007.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A007.htm Read more about #039;26A007: A War Update, 2/17/2026 Why they are still killing each other in Ukraine #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A006.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A006.htm Read more about #039;26A006: Self Defense, 2/10/2026 It will be DIY in the ZGS, and highly effective #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A005.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26A005.htm Read more about #039;26A005: Delightful Deflation, 2/3/2026 Prices will FALL. How about that? #039; on the Zero Government blog... 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Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26F001.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/26F001.htm Read more about #039;26F001: Our Relationship Rules, 1/6/2026 What we are expected to obey #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/25A052.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/25A052.htm Read more about #039;25A052: Conservative Follies, 12/30/2025 Fewer than some, but fatal all the same #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/25A051.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/25A051.htm Read more about #039;25A051: A Society of Thieves, 12/23/2025 Itamp;#039;s what weamp;#039;re becoming #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/25A050.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/25A050.htm Read more about #039;25A050: A Shocking Theory, 12/16/2025 Kickbacks in high places? #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/25A049.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/25A049.htm Read more about #039;25A049: What Houses Cost, 12/9/2025 Much less in the ZGS #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/25A048.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/25A048.htm Read more about #039;25A048: My Friend Bill, 12/2/2025 A tribute to the late Bill Schmidt #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/25A047.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/25A047.htm Read more about #039;25A047: A Magic Money Mystery, 11/25/2025 Simply solved #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/25A046.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/25A046.htm Read more about #039;25A046: Health amp;amp; Wealth, 11/18/2025 Both will improve after government goes #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/25A045.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/25A045.htm Read more about #039;25A045: The Body Hunt, 11/11/2025 Prof. Rancourtamp;#039;s Autopsy on the Bogus Plague #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/25E044.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/25E044.htm Read more about #039;25E044: Government, Taxes and War, 11/4/2025 Truth in a nutshell, by Bill Schmidt #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/25A043.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/25A043.htm Read more about #039;25A043: The Source of Evil?, 10/28/2025 Itamp;#039;s a devilish question #039; on the Zero Government blog... Sun, 07 Jun 2026 00:25:08 +0000 http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/25A042.htm http://www.theanarchistalternative.info/zgb/25A042.htm Read more about #039;25A042: Shalom?, 10/21/2025 The big omission from the Gaza peace deal #039; on the Zero Government blog... 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