Hello world!

[Skreimey]

Hello everyone.

 

My name is Sam Kreimeyer, and I was first introduced to Stefan Molyneux and his online publications back around 2008 through a close friend I had while studying mining engineering at CSM in Golden, Colorado. I have been a proponent of small government and considered myself a Libertarian since my high school years, and I made the transition to being an anarchist after meeting the friend I mentioned previously and educating myself on his (a)political viewpoint. Honestly, I had never previously known that such a thing as an anarcho-capitalist even existed (I espoused the common stereotype of anarchists as molotov throwing communists with a penchant for punk rock and a vaguely defined resentment of corporations). Reading more the works of Rothbard, Mises and Bastiat was what really gave me the impetus to evaluate my ethical views and distill them to the conclusion that an anarchistic society, or at least a voluntaristic government, are the only possible moral means of social organization.

Full disclosure: I am a medic in the US Army stationed at Ft. Bragg, NC. Essentially, I am one of the bad guys, but I hope you all won't see any of my comments or contributions as poisoned with insincerity. The story of how I came to be here is a long one, but the gist is that, despite being familiar with the legend of Faust, I made my own pact with the devil to predictable consequences.

I greatly admire the work being done at FDR, and I am very excited after a long absence from the listening community to see how much Stefan's work and ideas have progressed (especially when it comes to framing people's worldview in the context of childhood experience [i couldn't agree more on the importance!]). I hope I can contribute some useful thoughts here in the community, and I look forward to seeing what other like minded individuals have to say about their own experiences and ideas.

[Jeffrey Slater]

Welcome Sam,

I for one am glad to see people from the military showing up in the freedom / voluntarist movement.  Now that you see the government for what it is, you can start taking your life into your own hands and moving towards the peaceful, moral and free society that you talked about, even if only in very small ways.

Besides the friend who introduced you, is there anyone else in your circles who shares the ideas of voluntarism?  I'm sure they must be few and far between on a military base.

[VforVoluntary49]

 I  agree with ^ welcome to the board, and I don't think anyone will view you opinions as poisoned or disingenuous outright- I myself came perilously close to making the same pact, and I know what it can be like. Following the theme of the question above, are you able to discuss many/any of your views with your fellow enlistees, or do they generally respond in the typically expected fashion (or do you not even try, knowing what the outcome would be). Just wondering what the view is from the inside out

[Skreimey]

I appreciate the welcoming! I have just a couple anarchist friends, and they're all people I've met in Colorado. I would say that most of the guys here on post are politically apathetic or conservative (though rarely very serious about it). I have met one communist, though. I have found that Anarchy isn't something you can immediately introduce with most people (even outside the Army) without completely discrediting yourself in the eyes of others. I've been slowly feeling out the views of the other medics in my platoon, but there are only a few people whom seem like they might possibly be open to some of the ideas. I try to introduce anarchist perspectives subtley whenever I can; I've found that if people don't know an argument is from a voluntarist/anarchist perspective, they typically agree with it.

I don't think finding or recruiting anarchists in a place like Ft. Bragg is an intractible problem; however, most people here have little concern for philosophy, politics or much of anything outside of strip clubs and getting wasted. It might seem like soldiers would all be Neo-Cons chomping at the bit to kill Muslims (and there are a few), but most of us are here because we just didn't have anywhere else to go. You might think of the Army as the island of misfit toys. That's the regular Army, though. Special groups like Rangers and Special Forces are where you sometimes get true believers, and those guys are terrifying.

[Demitri]

Welcome Sam!

I'm ex-Navy myself. I was part of Special Projects (not to be confused with Special Forces), so there's not a whole lot I talk about when it comes to the military. When I was in, I had no clue my views were anarcistic, so when I talked with others that never even came up. I think you're on the right track to talk about the ideas and leave the hot terms out of it. I find it goes over much easier that way. I never had any issues worse than apathy when it comes to responses.

The term "voluntarism" is a new one for me. First heard that when I started listening to Stefan's podcasts. I seem to be behind on tons of terminology, but not on the philosophy itself. The ideas are ones I have had for most of my life. To answer the obvious question of why I joined the Navy if I have held these views for so long:
Three reasons:
1> I love travel and wanted to get off the continent
2> I wanted to learn electronics
3> I wanted to stop being a player

I rationalized my joining as not (personally) being the one to pick up a weapon and initiate violence. In hindsight, I would've taken all that back if given the opportunity. Live and learn.

Again, welcome! I look forward to your participation!
Cheers!
~Demitri

[Skreimey]

Thanks for the welcome Demitri!

I'm glad I'm not the only one on the board with a military background. I can relate to your motivations for joining. I was getting pretty far behind on repaying my student loans (which is part of a much longer story), and at the time I thought that I really needed a change of pace to get things back on track.. The allure of world travel and getting useful training were also big motivators. I'm glad that my job is more focused on saving lives rather than taking them, but I suppose making a contribution to the process isn't much better (though my unit is very unlikely to deploy anytime soon on anything but humanitarian missions).