The Illusion of Authority
How government survives on belief, not consent.
This question keeps coming up. With the markets closed today, I’m going to answer it once, in full, so I can point back to it going forward. People ask why I call myself an anarchist, what that means, and how I see the world through that lens. This isn’t a throwaway line or a quick tweet — it’s a philosophy I’ve wrestled with for years, rooted in Natural Law and the rejection of coercion. So here it is, one time, clearly:
I Do Not Consent: Why I Am an Anarchist (Anarcho-Capitalism)
“A body of men holding themselves accountable to nobody ought not to be trusted by anybody.”— Thomas Paine
There comes a moment—if you’re honest—when obedience no longer feels virtuous. When the ritual of voting feels hollow. When paying taxes feels more like extortion than duty. When law enforcement looks less like protection and more like coercion. That moment, for me, was not a flash of rebellion. It was a quiet, sober realization: I do not consent.
“The State never has any objective but to improve its own power and secure its own perpetuation.” Albert Jay Nock
I am an anarchist. Not because I oppose order, but because I oppose slavery. Not because I hate structure, but because I reject the premise that one group of people has the moral right to rule another. Authority, as it is commonly practiced, is the most accepted superstition in modern life—and one of the most dangerous.
I. The Myth of Legitimate Authority
"If any man shall ask me by what right any prince, or people, or court pretends to bind me in conscience to obey their laws, I answer, by no right at all."— Lysander Spooner
From the time we are children, we are taught to believe in authority. We are conditioned to believe that some people—through rituals like elections or by wearing uniforms—gain the moral right to issue commands, while others have a duty to obey.
But if you peel away the euphemisms—government, policy, taxation, law enforcement—you are left with this: a system of institutionalized violence. A system that rests not on consent, but on coercion.
No man, and no group of men, gains moral rights by writing rules on paper. Voting does not sanctify theft. Legislation does not erase harm. If I cannot steal from my neighbor to fund a school, I cannot grant that right to a politician. Delegating immorality does not make it moral.
"No man can delegate, or give to another, any right which he does not himself possess."
— Lysander Spooner
Authority, as it is used today, is an illusion. It is the idea that some people may violate Natural Law—and call it governance.
II. Natural Law: The Real Law of the Land
“Do not think that you can possibly escape the reward of your actions.”— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Natural Law is not a theory. It is not a belief system. It is not religious dogma. It is the immutable law of cause and effect that governs the consequences of behavior among intelligent beings. It is discoverable through observation and reason, and it applies equally to all.
Natural Law holds that there are objective right and wrong actions:
It is always wrong to initiate violence unless you are defending yourself or property.
It is always wrong to steal.
It is always wrong to coerce.
These truths are not dependent on culture, time, or tradition. They are self-evident. You can observe their consequences. Coercion breeds resentment. Theft undermines trust. Violence escalates conflict.
"The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws."
— Tacitus
Man-made laws are often in direct conflict with Natural Law. That is why the most oppressive regimes are also the most legalistic. They drown morality under a sea of codes, statutes, and permits—none of which address right or wrong. Only what is allowed.
But morality is not defined by legality. It is defined by whether an action causes harm to another sentient being. That is the metric. That is the real law.
III. Voting Is Not Consent
"Majority rule is often invoked in support of laws, but majorities can be just as tyrannical as monarchs."
— John Stuart Mill
The modern world treats voting as sacred. It is the civic ritual that legitimizes all that follows. But let us ask the obvious: does casting a vote in a booth once every few years truly confer moral authority to those who govern?
Can a vote make theft moral? Can it justify war? Can it make surveillance ethical?
No. A vote is not a magic wand. It does not transmute violence into virtue.
Voting is treated as consent. But in truth, it is often the act of choosing which master will hold your leash. And for many, it is a coerced choice—vote, or have no say. But to those who understand Natural Law, the choice is clear: I do not want a master. I do not want a leash. I will not pretend consent simply because I was given a false choice.
IV. The State Is a Religion
"The most detestable wickedness, the most horrid cruelties, and the greatest miseries that have afflicted the human race have had their origin in this thing called government."— Leo Tolstoy
Government is the most dangerous superstition because it operates with the fervor and blind faith of religion. It has its own rituals (elections), priest class (politicians), enforcers (police), holy texts (constitutions), and tithes (taxes). But unlike religion, its dogma is enforced at gunpoint.
It teaches us that rulers are necessary, that coercion is order, and that disobedience is sin.
But disobedience to immorality is not sin. It is sanity. It is self-respect.
I reject the religion of the state because I reject the premise that anyone has the right to rule me. Not by birth. Not by ballot. Not by badge. Not by force.
"There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice."
V. Freedom Requires Responsibility
"Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it."
— George Bernard Shaw
Freedom is not about doing whatever one pleases. It is not chaos or recklessness. It is full ownership of one’s life, one’s choices, and one’s consequences.
True freedom cannot exist without moral responsibility. To live freely under Natural Law means to cause no harm, to respect boundaries, and to seek justice not through vengeance, but through restoration.
In an anarchist society, security, trade, education, and conflict resolution would all still exist—but they would be voluntary. Based on contract, not coercion. On consent, not threat.
The idea that we need a violent monopoly to organize society is not only false—it is cowardice. It is the fear of freedom masquerading as pragmatism.
VI. The Violence of Taxation
"Taking money from one group and giving it to another by force is not charity, it is robbery."
Taxation is theft.
That statement alone is enough to trigger indoctrinated minds. But the logic is simple:
If you do not pay your taxes, men with guns will come to your door. If you resist, you will be kidnapped or killed. That is not voluntary. That is extortion.
No euphemism changes this. No policy paper. No vote. No patriotic speech.
To fund schools and roads through theft does not make the theft moral.
The ends do not justify the means.
Because if they did, morality would collapse into power. And only the strongest would decide what is right.
"It is not because men have made laws that theft is wrong; it is because theft is wrong that men have made laws against it."
— Benjamin Constant
VII. I Am a Sovereign Being
"Every man has a property in his own person. This nobody has any right to but himself."
— John Locke
Sovereignty is not something granted by kings or courts or constitutions. It is a birthright. A condition of being.
To be sovereign means to own yourself. Fully. Without exception. To reject all claims of ownership made by others—whether kings, presidents, employers, or bureaucrats.
I do not belong to the state. I do not belong to the majority. I do not belong to any party, flag, or tribe.
I belong to myself.
And with that comes responsibility: to know the truth, to live by Natural Law, and to oppose all systems that would reduce man to subject, citizen, or slave.
"The most important kind of freedom is to be what you really are."
— Jim Morrison
VIII. The Awakening
"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will."
Anarchy is not chaos. It is not violence. It is not destruction.
It is awakening.
It is seeing that the emperor has no clothes. That the badge is not a shield from morality. That the constitution is not a sacred text. That law does not equal justice.
It is the realization that the world we were born into was built on fear, lies, and control—and that it can be rebuilt on truth, freedom, and peace.
It is the decision to live without masters.
To obey only truth.
To follow only what is right.
To consent to nothing but freedom.
This is why I am an anarchist. Not because I want to watch the world burn, but because I want to watch it heal. Because I believe in real justice, not man-made laws. Because I believe in freedom, not fear. Because I believe that the only true law is the one that governs the consequences of our choices. And because I do not need a ruler to tell me what is right. I already know.
Jason Perz
It’s exactly how i think great piece