Mark Small

First, we should define “anarchy”: “(1) Absence of government; lawlessness. (2) The political belief that there should be no government and that instead ordinary people should work together to improve society...” Black’s Law Dic., 10th ed., 2014, p. 104. 2/15

Sure: chaos (bad) can be anarchy - as in places devastated by war - but anarchy is a community that exists without need for a government. The seven castaways on “Gilligan’s Island” existed without a government (good). 3/15

Anarchy - the bad kind - is the goal of this iteration of the GOP. Sen Barry Goldwater, the “father” of this GOP, said as he accepted the 1964 GOP nomination for President: “Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. Moderation in the pursuit of just ice is no virtue.” 4/15

A man named Karl Hess wrote that speech, not Goldwater. I met Hess when he was artist-in-residence - he was a great welder - at the University of Illinois. He had dropped out of conservative politics and become an anarchist. He also was a tax resister. 5/15

Reagan cribbed a line from Eldridge Cleaver - of whom Reagan might have heard when Reagan was Governor of California. Cleaver was one of the early leaders of the Black Panther Party for self-defense. Reagan said government is not a solution but the problem. 6/15

The real problem can be seen in what trump does: fails to replace what he destroys. He’s had nearly four years to come up with an alternative to Obamacare. Or go to the days of Governor Reagan. California infrastructure was trashed in the name of saving money. 7/15

Hamilton County, north of Indy, has been solid GOP in one of USA’s most “solid” GOP states. Above the bench of the County Commissioners, in large gold letters, is what one may reasonably infer is some official’s philosophy: “‘That government is best which governs least.’” 8/15

Thoreau began “On Civil Disobedience” w/this quote, then added: “Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe - ‘That government is best which governs not at all;’ and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have.” 9/15