I am an anarchist. Yes, you read that right. This site advances anarchism as both an ethical philosophy and a political system. That is to say that we encourage interactions between people and groups of people on the basis of value, not need, and not force. We believe in a fair exchange of value for value, as opposed to compulsion, tyrrany, theft and censorship. If you take nothing else away from your time here, remember this: Government is force. Anarchism opposes force.

When I tell people that I am an anarchist, I typically get one of three reactions. Most often, people will laugh. "Hah," they'll chortle, "that's funny! Now really, what are you?" Sometimes, it will make people uncomforable, as if "bomb-throwing" is the implied adjective. Lastly, for some bizarre reason I get a lot of email from French people who are still hung up on such dated, immature ideas as "propaganda of the deed" and the Anarchist cookbook. See that bit in bold up above? I'll say it again: Anarchism opposes force. Bombings, assassinations, and riots can not be anarchist acts because they rely on fear, terror, and force to accomplish their goals: the very tools of the State. We'd like to encourage our French brethren and their compatriots to leave such maniacal despotism to the professionals.

As an ethical philosophy one might call anarchism by a different name, one that is also likely to generate strong reactions in people: capitalism. Simply stated, capitalism is the idea that value exists, is measurable, and transferable; that the only morally defensible system of exchange is based in this, e.g. the fair trade of value for value; and that the only fair governor of what value is worth is the free market.

As anarchists, or as capitalists, we believe in free trade. Like Free Software, we mean "free" in the sense of liberty ("free as in speech", not "free as in beer"). Free trade cannot exist when one, both, or all of the parties involved are compelled to participate. Thus, an economy backed by mandatory taxation cannot be free any more than a mine excavated by slaves can be. Put another way, capitalists don't interact with the world on the basis of need, but of value; capitalists reward value with value. Need rewards value with further need, and with force when that value is exhausted.

Don't believe me? Don't pay your taxes. You'll get a nasty phone call which, if you ignore it, will get you a nasty letter. If you ignore the letter, a nasty person will show up at your door; ignore them, and more nasty people will come to you, this time with guns. If you resist the nasty people with guns, you will be beaten. Resist the beating and you will be restrained and your property and livelihood confiscated. Resist restraint and ruination and you will be killed. As Ed Abbey says, "these procedures are known as the Rule of Law".

Thus, we at VioPac hope to offer a vision of anarchism divorced from the media rhetoric. We provide a forum for discussion, ranting, and snide commentary on the latest pop culture trends, some mailing lists of various utility, interest and secrecy, assorted sarcastic commentaries on whatever we feel like at the time, and a suitably random remainder we haven't been able to solve for yet (like the Book of the Month Club).

-- J. Morse Loyola