Ongoing flirtations with anarchism, the Green Party, and the outlaw

In a couple of hours I'm going in for an interview to work as a Voter Registration Canvasser. This is really exciting. Canvassing usually involves asking people for money for whatever campaign your working on. Not an easy job. And up until about a week ago, I was sure that voting was useless in this mock-democracy. I came close to packing my backpack for St Paul and braving the streets with the rebels who refuse to watch the Rich White Oligarchs (thank you, Daily Show) run our country. I was ready to boycott the November's general election, until I met Howie Hawkins, watched a few Kat Swift and Nader videos, and remembered that I'm a registered Green Party member. I'm proudly voting Green this year (more on Howie Hawkins later!). Nader reminded me that historically, 3rd parties have been around alongside radical social movements, helping to push ideas like abolition, women's suffrage, and a slew of other progressive victories that the status quo wasn't too keen on.

I became familiar the ins and outs of anarchism while I was still living in Ithaca, in great part due to innumerable chats with a really savvy co-worker who lent me his copy of “Abolish Restaurants” (yes, we were working in a restaurant.) For those of my readers (that's YOU!) who maybe don't feel like they have a grasp of the term anarchism, I can share those ideas which spoke to me. Anarchy is not total chaos and lawlessness, but rather focus on collective decision making and breaking down hierarchical power structures, those that brought us slavery, corporate farming, the defunct prison system, child labor, and sweat shops, among other capitalist methods of production that favor profits over people. It seems to me that the anarchist hates the system (of oppression) due to his/her(/what-ever-you-identify-as) love and respect of life in all it's forms. Anarchists are the new hippies. When not in the dumpster rescuing wasted food to share with the hungry, I've spotted them tending their gardens, fixing bikes, making-out, and the list of ways that we can defy the accepted norm of unquestioning consumption and cherish life continues. With their zeal for solidarity and uncontrollable urge to get in the face of the powers that be, anarchist are an necessary part of today's social justice movement. And I wish I could get them to vote for the Green Party! and come to Geneva on September 7th to stand up in solidarity with farm workers.

Why should we vote?
-Your might let you leave work early to exericse your civic duty!
-You don't have to vote for one of the two parties. It's a media circus, the general election, all about the money. We know that Democrats and Republicans alike get money from oil companies, the Cubans in Miami, the makers of high-fructose corn syrup, and the devil. But, you don't have to vote for a main stream party. If you weren't going to vote anyway, voting for a third party is not taking a vote away from Obama and giving it to McCain. The numbers tell them, that X number of us favor alternative energy, stopping the war in Iraq, etc.
-Our democracy is totally defunct and if people tried voting, maybe it would be a little more representative. I'm not sure how to abolish the electoral college and institute a parliamentarian system. I don't know how to get the electoral majority of the American people to pick a President that is for clean energy, peace, single-payer health care, education and freedom of speech and assembly But not voting isn't achieving anything.

In the next couple of hours, I'll need to think a little more about how I'm going to convince non-voters and low-income citizens why they should vote since the arguements for why we shouldn't are pretty convincing.

Some may say that 3rd party efforts are futile, but ask Ralph Nader, and he'll convince you that they can help achieve victories for Peace and Freedom. Maybe it has to get better EVEN WORSE before it can get better? I'm not sure. But that Howie Hawkins (www.howiehawkins.com), what a dreamboat. He's for fair trade, collective action, popular power, single payer health care, more money for schools, reduction of the military-industrial complex. All that and against the war! This guy wants what I want! Maybe he'll come to Geneva on Sunday, too! I can't make my anarchists friends vote, since it is against their stated principles. But if they did, they could vote or Howie and it could stay our little secret.

One more idea that's been pulsing through my veins has been the Outlaw, who I find to be even sexier that the anarchist. Why sexy? It may be their "I do what I want" attitude. Or it could be the way they fearlessly get in the face of the system, stealing and cheating, because why not mess with the powers that be, since they are exploiting people, animals and the environment all
around the world. When I think of outlaws, I think of pirates, kinda like those described in the book Pirate Utopias, even though the book is a bit of a snooze. I'm thinking of those dudes and dudettes that terrorize whaling boats. I'm thinking bike pirates, that run red lights and stop signs (ok, I just want to be a pirate). I want to do soe more research on both historical and modern outlaws. Different than just criminals, these are folk that decide to live OUTside the LAW because they find the laws to be unjust an oppressive, kinda like Robin Hood.

Going back to the comment that outlaws are sexier than anarchists, maybe that's too absolute of a statement. The point is that I am very attracted to folks that challenge me to resist the excepted norms. Because who is it that decides how we should live? I decide how I should live. And you should be able to decide how you want to live. So take some spraypaint, throw it through a McDs window and then zoom away really quick on your home-made bike and go vote! And if you meet a pirate, ask if they want a hug!