A Pragmatic Approach to Social Construct | By Austin Mulka

Anarchy and anarcho-capitalism are bigger than ever before, gaining a significant amount of popularity in various different movements. Under the guise of free markets and free people, the political ideals of anarchy have flourished. To its point, government forces citizens into a political structure even if they oppose, or do not see, the benefits thereof. Despite being an an-cap for most of my life, i’m taking a completely different approach to the idea of society–and here’s why: Upon learning about the internal process of human behavior, anarchy is a philosophy which I have mostly abandoned. Oddly enough, altercations on Facebook helped to change my understanding of human belief and human behavior.

When in conflict among people with whom I disagreed, it was helpful to dive into the root source of the problem and ask myself three questions:
1. What is their motivation?
2. What is their purpose?
3. What is their desired goal?

The purpose of the state (and politics) is to empower a group of people to achieve goals which can not be achieved on individual bases. There is conflict in politics because the individuals and groups involved differ in their motivations and goals.

I called myself an anarchist due to the absurdity of authoritative powers attempting to control others without understanding the motivation behind their actions. Learning more about the internal processes of motivation and behavior, however, has convinced me it is possible to assemble political systems of various assortments which are both voluntary and lead to desirable goals.

While the precise mechanisms of human motivation are still debated today, the general theory has remained consistent since Abraham Maslow presented his “Hierarchy of Needs.”

From this diagram, it is very easy to pinpoint the motivations of various political parties, political beliefs, and political philosophies. The justification of theft, in the form of taxation, comes from a very legitimate concern for the basic needs of society — national security, for instance.

The idea of monetizing basic needs through a socialist type system, undermines the prestige and feeling of accomplishment so vital to one’s moral character.
The idea of stealing money in order to pay for them, furthers any justification. Nonetheless, if we agree that self-actualization is a desirable goal, there is at least some argument to be made for using political processes to ensure physiological and safety-related necessities. These needs, however, may be met without damaging
Esteem or stealing from citizens.

In addition to needs-motivation, desired goals are largely responsible for predicting human behavior. Steven Reiss’ “16 traits that led to the belief of God” outlines these types of goals well.

His full list can be found here, but among the traits he points out are: Acceptance, or the need for approval; the need for Order; Honor, or the need to form connections to one’s tradition or group; Tranquility, which is the need to be safe; and Social Contact with friends and peers. It’s easy to see how such goals suggest a more communicant society than individualist anarchism can offer.

The simplest, most easily implemented, and desirable system to solve these needs, would be a type of democratic voluntarism. The way I imagine it, training programs would allow citizens the option of paying taxes or donating X hours a week to positions of their choice in order to promote pro-social activity. Not only is this logically compatible with the above conceptions of human behavior and motivation, but it has also been tested and is extremely successful in small scale examples such as voluntary firefighters. People are also very willing to volunteer their time without compensation, as can be seen in political campaigns, marches, and protests.

This “democratic voluntarism” would not only provide for basic needs, but also for psychological needs in a way that taxation does not. As taxation hinders psychological esteem by taking away the basic desire to provide for oneself and for others, giving people a non-monetary way to be involved in their society is much more desirable.

In addition to a greater feeling of community, such non-monetary giving allows people to gain job experience in a desired field, a feeling of accomplishment, and friendships with the people they volunteer with. It could even prove more efficient and powerful, as giving in a chosen way and for internally motivated reasons, will lead to volunteers going above and beyond in their work. This is a political system which replaces money as its primary concern with the psychological well-being and happiness of its people. A medium under which humanity prospers as units rather than as a collective.