Hypothetical situation. Would you want to live in a society in which the only law or rule was from the individual?

Do you think that we live in this even if we dont see it that way?

Let's establish a few ground rules here. I assume you are not talking about "freedom" from the laws of physics. (Eternal youth and health, and so on.) I assume we are only talking about pure anarchism.

I've been reading an anarchist publication called The Match! for some time now. It makes a convincing case that, although an anarchist society would be very far from perfect, it would be better than any possible form of government.

The first question that arises when thinking about anarchism is what to do about people who harm others, either through mental illness or malice. (In a very small population of sane, co-operative individuals, perhaps this question would never come up.) If every individual is capable of self-defense, fine and good. But some destructive people are stronger than some non-destructive people. What to do? Either you accept the limitations of your society, or you create some form of government, even if it's just a big guy with a stick.

If all you have is protection from harmful people, I suppose you have a pure libertarian society. This is probably possible on a small scale, with only police and the military. But already you have the problem of who will protect others from abuses by the guardians of society themselves.

As society grows larger and more complex, it begins to seem as if more and more functions are better served by a public system rather than a private system. Maybe its better to have a nation-wide, co-ordinated systems of highways. Maybe there should be public hospitals. And so on. All of these functions can be debated.

So, would I want to live in a pure anarchist or libertarian society? Probably not, as I am entirely lacking in the self-sufficiency that is required to thrive in such a society. There is nothing of the survivalist in me, and any degree of Social Darwinism is going to ensure that I am extinct. My best hope seems to be a liberal, secular, representative, minimally repressive form of government, like any of those seen in the "Free World." A healthy mistrust of government of the part of citizens is a good thing, too.

Do we live in such a world now? I am afraid not. Despite claims that "You can do anything you set your mind to," the fact is that the physical universe, along with the other people in it, can easily destroy the best-laid plans of mice and people.