There's No Government Like No Government (The Blogging of the Revolution Part 1)

Since my inbox did not exactly overflow with suggestions on how to begin the discussion of the brave new world, I will endeavor to start the wellspring myself by offering the most simple extreme: No government at all.

(Obviously, this image belongs to bethesda)

This is often inaccurately referred to as Anarchy, but it is subtly different, as any reader of V for Vendetta will tell you. Often in the U.S. anarchy implies lawlessness, violence and chaos. The original meaning of the word, and the way it is meant by most people who identify as anarchists, is a non-govermental system of volunteers who take up all the matters usually run by the state. There would still be fire stations and hospitals; but it does rely a great deal on human generosity and responsibility--coffers that are known to be quite paltry at times. But anarchy is an old idea. Let’s discuss the implications of having no government at all. No hierarchy, no government services, no nothing. Tomorrow, every governing body in the world, from the International Monetary Fund, to the People’s Republic of China, to The Coca-Cola executive board to the Santa Fe Park and Recreation office, all close up shop.  

The major difference you will realize right away is that your money is worthless. In the United States, and in most countries, our currency is Fiat money.

(Not that kind of Fiat)

Fiat means “by decree.” Money is only valuable because the government backs it up. As soon as the government is gone, money is just paper and nostalgia. From here a couple things can happen. People can go to precious metals--which also inherently have no values and will keep the rich at the top, or people will return to trading. The latter will happen in either case, actually, because there are not enough precious metals to go around and without a government the mining of precious metals will at least become thousands of times less efficient (think gold rush standards) or cease entirely. All industries will come to a standstill because laborers are not being paid anything meaningful anymore. Proprietors and paymasters would have to find an alternative store of value--and fast-- or let their organizations dissolve. Most will dissolve. The only networks with a fighting chance to stay active are volunteer networks; and many of those support causes and actions will be rendered irrelevant by the disbandment of government.

So you’ve made it through the first night. Eaten all the microwavable stuff in your freezer while the power is still on. Maybe you got lucky and survived the looting crowd of your local grocery with a couple boxes of cereal to show for it. Good for you. Now what? You need food. No economy means you need to either make your own or find something valuable that you can do in exchange for it. Many, many, many people will starve. Without a government to care, this is an unavoidable outcome. Agribusiness will dissolve too: it's no use for a group of a couple people to own thousands and thousands of acres of a single crop. If they’re smart they will set up some sort of sharecropping arrangement where they let people use their land for a cut of the food produced. Of course, ownership is a bit iffy after a governmental collapse, so they would need some muscle to enforce the arrangement--no small feat for a couple of acres, let alone 25,000. The best position to be in would be to have a small, self-sustained farm that is remote enough that people won’t care to take it over and successful enough to live off of its crops. These people will become the aristocracy of the new world once the masses are finished dying off.

As for the rest? Well not much else exists anymore. Anyone with a service job will be pretty much irrelevant and move into any sector they can (hint: probably agriculture). Little compounds of society will erupt and in those places some specialization will take place. Eventually society and economy will evolve again. Perhaps the same way it did before, perhaps completely differently. Millions of people will die. Probably billions. General health will be supremely diminished and average lifespan will plummet.

This is a possible route to the future, but I personally don't think it is the best. Lets keep brainstorming.

What did I miss? Post your conjectures in the comment below.