A couple of months ago, I took a test to find out my political inclination and ideology. Since I’ve been teaching Policy at university, I came across that test and thought it’d be fun. It was quite detailed and took a while. In the end, I found out that I’m an anarchist.
Since I assumed that I’m mostly social democratic and a bit liberal, I was surprised. But it completely made sense. I do believe that the current system doesn’t work well for humanity (and everyone else on this planet), just look at over-consumption, deprivation and climate change. I mean we’re ruining our living space just to have… more. For what? To get more? Add in gender inequality, racism and all the other isms giving privilege to some and disempowering others. Really, why does anyone have to be a billionaire? Why not stick to millionaire and distribute the rest among those who have very little? (Not that I have an exact plan for how to do that but then I’m neither a millionaire nor a billionaire.)
Don’t worry – I’m not interested in throwing Molotov cocktails (although I’m slightly fascinated by them) or committing any other violent destruction. I believe I might be a pacifist anarchist… or maybe an anarcho-pacifist? Violence is so energy-consuming – I’m not a big fan. Indeed, I have no idea how to overthrow the current system other than talking about its shortcomings and completely rethinking the social organisation and rules.
What do I believe in?
Obviously, I believe in happiness. For me, that is connected to relaxation, fun & play and nurturing connections as well as abundance. Abundance gets us out of the scarcity mindset in which we have to defend our resources and access to resources (think about what Trump is doing). If there’s an abundance, we can share and be generous. It eliminates the need for competition and we can be happy for each other and let others inspire us instead of jealously dragging their achievements into negativity. I also believe that this would eradicate the need to disadvantage people based on their gender, ethnicity, beliefs, sexuality and bodily ableness. It also eradicates the need to over-consume and destroy our living space. If there’s enough, why stock endlessly more?
Sounds like rainbows and butterflies sprinkled with some unicorns? Why? What do you have to do more than be happy, relax and see the abundance?
Just saying…