Oxymoronic, that! I'm wondering whether anarchy has the same negative connotation in the rest of the world as it does here. Given the Jeffersonian idea that the government that governs least governs best, it seems odd that anarchy, as Rodney Dangerfield used to say, don't get no respect!

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anarchy, as Rodney Dangerfield used to say, don't get no respect!

I'll say. They are virtually invisible in American school history texts, despite the fact that in their heyday they killed a lot of national leaders including one American President. Of course, it's a philosophy that carries the seeds of it's own destruction -- I remember reading somewhere that Anarchist brigades actually captured some towns in the Spanish Civil War, but, being anarchists, refused to organize a common defense and quickly lost them again -- but that's also worthy of study.

Can anarchy even exist? Is it just a theoretical construct?

Asa - I think human beings are too competitive for anarchy to exist. Someone will always take the lead.