A pitch for 'rational anarchy' By Warren Bluhm News-Chronicle Times like this, it seems like we could use a few more rational anarchists, not faith in the power of some government or grand poobah to save our way of life. It felt like a good time to reread "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress," the classic Robert A. Heinlein novel that escaped my attention until a mere six years ago, then blew me away. The fun thing is that it blew me away a second time; enough time had expired that I didn't really remember what came next while I was reading. What I did remember was how nifty a character Professor Bernardo de la Paz is. The story is about a core of disparate folks who plot and execute a revolution in 2076 on the moon, which has become a prison colony of Earth. Heinlein's moon colony has elements of the archetypical Wild West, where the harsh environment leads to a general consensus of how to behave toward each other, even though it is literally a lawless system. "Could say our customs are natural laws because (they) are the way people have to behave to stay alive," explains Manuel Garcia O'Kelly Davis, the narrator of our tale. Prof is the character who explains how Heinlein envisions such a system could work: rational anarchy. "A rational anarchist believes that concepts such as 'state' and 'society' and 'government' have no existence save as physically exemplified in the acts of self-responsible individuals," says the Prof. "He believes that it is impossible to shift blame, share blame, distribute blame - as blame, guilt, responsibility are matters taking place inside human beings singly and nowhere else. But being rational, he knows that not all individuals hold his evaluations, so he tries to live perfectly in an imperfect world - aware that his effort will be less than perfect yet undismayed by self-knowledge of self-failure." Wyoming Knott, our heroine, challenges the concept: "Too much power in the hands of individuals - surely you would not want, well, H-missiles for example - to be controlled by one irresponsible person?" "My point is that one person is responsible. Always," de la Paz replies. "If H-bombs exist - and they do - some man controls them. In terms of morals there is no such thing as 'state.' Just men. Individuals. Each responsible for his own acts." Might sound like gobbledygook to many folks, but it sounds like common sense to me. Commit a misdeed, and the devil didn't make me do it, the company didn't make me do it, not even the government made me do it - and I certainly cannot fall back on the old standby "I was just following orders," because only I am responsible for my actions. Moms have understood this concept for centuries: "I don't care if everyone's doing it - would you jump over a cliff if everyone was doing it?" Since reading the novel the first time, I have become aware of how much we have evolved into a society of cliff-jumpers. You name the issue or the incident, and there's someone assigning blame outside of themselves. It's the fault of the corporation I work for, the orders I was given, the advertising that I watched, the political party I don't belong to, the media, the liberals, the religious right, my parents, my ex-wife, the guy who cut me off on the highway. Think how much different it would be if we each accepted that the responsibility belongs with each of us as individuals, that maybe I shouldn't take certain actions because I might go "splat" at the bottom of the cliff and someone else might follow me down. Or, on the other side of the mountain, think how much different it would be if, upon perceiving a need, we each accepted responsibility for meeting that need instead of waiting for someone else to do it. No matter how much we might want, we can't control anyone's behavior but our own. But the key to pulling out of the morass may be to stop shifting blame and beginning to try "to live perfectly in an imperfect world," knowing perfection can't be achieved but it's a worthy goal. If you'd rather not aspire to "rational anarchy," try starting with a more familiar way of describing the philosophy: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Bluhm is editor of the Door County Advocate and former managing editor of The News-Chronicle. His column appears Tuesdays. Contact him via e-mail at [email protected] or call 920-743-3321