Anarchy: But seriously, folks

My latest at the Center for a Stateless Society. Teaser:

You there! Yeah, you, the one who just told me I'm not serious and that a stateless society couldn't possibly work -- turn on your television and take note of the next few political stories you see. For the sake of argument, I'm going to throw out some examples of what's likely coming through the tube at the moment:

• In New York, the State Senate is deadlocked into two bodies of 31 senators each. Each body claims to be the real Senate and refuses to acknowledge the other. Each body is one short of a quorum to legally pass bills. Last week, a Senator from one faction wandered across the other faction's floor territory looking for a soda machine. The other faction declared the existence of a quorum and hurriedly passed 100 bills while he tried to hunt up his cold beverage. No dice -- the lower house of the legislature declined to recognize bills passed by the Cola Quorum.
  
  
• In California, the state is issuing IOUs instead of checks to cover tax refunds, payments to vendors, etc. After the electorate rejected several tax increase proposals, the legislature deadlocked on a budget. The main activity on the floor of the legislature seems, at this point, to be referring to the public as "terrorists" for refusing to hand more of their earnings over to the politicians so that said politicians don't have to make "tough decisions," i.e. spend only within their extremely substantial means.
  
  
• In South Carolina, the biggest political issue of the moment seems to be whether or not the governor should resign because he has a mistress in Argentina.
  
  
• In Alaska, the governor has resigned. Why? Who knows? It appears to have something to do with dead fish and basketball and Jesus, but until her speech is re-released with English subtitles it's anybody's guess.

Now, two things:

First, get "serious." Go back over those stories above and then try to tell me, with a straight face, that the state "works." Admit it: 90% of what the state does looks like a deleted early pilot of "Different Strokes" -- same cast, only with Joan Crawford as the adoptive mother.