Miley Cyrus and Anarchy in the Good Old USA

                            "So I put my hands up

They're playing my song,
The butterflies fly away
I'm noddin' my head like yeah
Movin' my hips like yeah
I got my hands up,
They're playin' my song
I know I'm gonna be OK
Yeah, it's a party in the USA
Yeah, it's a party in the USA."

~Miley Cyrus

"Party in the USA"

 What does Miley Cyrus have to do with Anarchism as a political philosophy? If you want to know the truth; absolutely nothing. For some reason I have had her song, “Party in the USA” in my head for a few weeks (thank you spotify!) and thought I would use it as a prop and technological muse to transition to a discussion about Anarchism and Anarchy in the USA. First of all, I want to say, I like Miley Cyrus.

I think she rocks and think she is immensely talented. I think she has taken a little walk on the wild side recently, but welcome to the jungle folks. Life is hard sometimes and I can relate to some of the things and unrealistic expectations people have placed on her.

In any event, I want to address something that one of my readers brought up yesterday. He said he was disappointed in me for using ploys to get readership for my blog. Another friend said he thinks Princeton has made me liberal and turned me into a bad person. I am not sure how to respond to these things. Yes, I did feel like a caged animal in that Southern Baptist school down in Texas.

Yes, I am blowing off some steam with these blogs and podcasts. Yes, I am trying to be an intellectual “shock jock,” to get readership and viewers to my blog, video’s and podcasts. Yes, I am trying to blow up big time on the American scene. Yes, I want to become a well-known provocateur and cultural iconoclast. You have got me there. I want to shock the world into thinking and probing the issues that face contemporary American society, and if using a little “shock and awe” to do so, then I will.

I am a Libertarian. If you have not gotten that so far, I can’t help you. I believe in freedom of speech and freedom of expression. I reject authoritarianism in any form and believe my main role in life is to point out that we are losing our freedom and have become slaves in many respects to an all-powerful state. I also want to demolish the idols that plague American conservatism and Evangelicalism.

I have no other goal but to cause utter chaos to the world of ideas through the use of social media and other forms of technology to make my points. From the ruins and ashes of this chaos, I am trying to shed light on important issues and am doing so, hopefully in an innovative and interesting way. I use irony, humor and play the devil’s advocate on many issues, like I did yesterday on the gay marriage issue.

Now, to get to the point about this specific blog post, I have thought through my political philosophy very carefully in recent years and have come to a staunch Libertarian position and want the least amount of government and ecclesial interference in my life. I am however, not an “Anarchist.” I do not believe in Anarchism, a political philosophy, ethos and reference point that advocates a stateless society where there is no government.

The Oxford English dictionary says that “anarchy” could mean the following things:

Absence of government; a state of lawlessness due to the absence or inefficiency of the supreme power; political disorder.

A theoretical social state in which there is no governing person or body of persons, but each individual has absolute liberty (without implication of disorder).

Absence or non-recognition of authority and order in any sphere.

Non-recognition of moral law; moral disorder.

Unsettledness or conflict of opinion.[1]

The great Prussian philosopher Immanuel Kant described “anarchy” as a “law and freedom without force,” and believed that anarchism was not a legitimate form of  government since for such a state or government to exist, it must use force to make its laws work. Kant says there are four potential forms of government;

1. Law and freedom without force (anarchy).
2. Law and force without freedom (despotism).
3. Force without freedom and law (barbarism).
4. Force with freedom and law (republic).[2]

Simply put, Anarchy is a state of disorder due to the absence of non-recognition of authority. Anarchists, vary on their views, but generally believe that having an organized state or government is a bad thing. There is a long history of Anarchism in America and won’t get into that. I just bring this up to make a point that some people don’t believe a state or government is necessary and that such a state that uses coercive and punitive power to enforce its rules and laws.

I am not an Anarchist. I have been accused of such, but am not. I believe in a limited and minimal state. I believe without some form of government, society will degenerate into chaos and violence. I am not advocating that. I am just advocating less government regulation, taxation and interference in my personal life, period.

Miley Cyrus has absolutely nothing to do with this discussion on Anarchism as a legitimate political philosophy and wish her nothing but the best in her party in the good old USA.

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[1] Anarchy. OED Online. December 2012. Oxford University Press. Accessed January 17, 2013.

[2] Kant, Immanuel (1798). "Grundzüge der Schilderung des Charakters der Menschengattung". In Anthropologie in pragmatischer Hinsicht. AA: VII, s.330.