Our Anarchist Atheist Thanks Giving

Today we are thankful.  We are thankful for the farmers and ranchers that made this meal possible.  We are thankful for the laborers and their back breaking work.  They make a better life for themselves and for us.  We are thankful for the logistics companies that invest capital and plan routes in order to make sure that our food arrives unspoiled and undamaged.  We are thankful for the entrepreneurs that innovate new business strategies to improve the use of scarce resources.  We are thankful for the grocery store clerks that choose their low-income over living off the government dole.  We are thankful for the speculators and their role in futures markets; without them these seasonal food prices would be volatile and likely uneconomic for us; they risk their wealth so that we enjoy stable prices.

Today, we think of the boarder agents that stop goods from entering this country.  We beseech these employees of the state.  End your wicked ways and open the market to trade.  We think of the lawmakers placing embargoes and sanctions on countries.  You evil, evil men, stop your aggression and free the market.  We think of those of the armed forces who enforce the edicts of powerful men.  You naive, weak, morally bankrupt individuals, abandon your post, turn on your masters, regain your dignity.

But today, we are most thankful for ourselves.  We are thankful for Amy, for her culinary skills, her respect for her children, and her adherence to reason.  We are thankful for Eric, for his entrepreneurial investment in a degree that netted him a job serving others in ways most people are unable.  We count ourselves fortunate that illness is not a burden.  But we also recognize our investment of time to search out alternatives that are more fruitful, healthier, and more beneficial than those courses recommended by government whims and subsidy.

We are cognizant of our own successes and failings.  We pray hope that our friends and family come out from under the yoke of mysticism.  We want them to experience the freedom and joy of striving after self-interest.  When self-fulfillment, pleasure, and joy become goals, life is brighter, more enjoyable; it's far better than striving to live up to some other person's or sky tyrant's supposed ideals of what life ought to be.

This thanksgiving we are thankful.  We are thankful that in every aspect of life reason is our M.O.  We are thankful that we have taken ownership of our lives and made them our own.  We are thankful for the complexity of the market and the unimaginable benefits of the division of labor.  We are thankful for friends who refuse to fall victim to spurious economics and wishful thinking.  And we are thankful for each other.  Perhaps all this is best summarized with the quote

“Anarchy is all around us. Without it, our world would fall apart. All progress is due to it. All order extends from it. All blessed things that rise above the state of nature are owed to it. The human race thrives only because of the lack of control, not because of it. I’m saying that we need ever more absence of control to make the world a more beautiful place. It is a paradox that we must forever explain.”

 thus spake Jeffrey Tucker.