Agrarian Voluntaryism
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Agrarian Voluntaryism
an end to the wars
I’ve written before about the waning of libertarianism among Gen Z. This project attempts to survey the full spectrum of the young political landscape (as much as is possible) but it is not proportionate. Free market philosophies seem far less appealing to a generation whose adolescence is characterized by a series of market failures. However, homesteading has remained an integral part of the American ideological space. In this interview we see an intermingling of back to the land philosophies with a generationally unique climate dread and techno-pessimism.
AmericanLiberty
age 19
Lousiana, USA
Instagram
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How would you describe your politics or ideology?
Anarchist, mostly with agrarian sympathies
Who are your biggest influences?
Buddha, Thoreau, Whitman, Locke, Socrates
What was your ideology before entering these spaces?
Or how have your views evolved since you started participating?
American Fox News Conservative
When did you first learn about or start visiting online political communities?
Probably around 2014
What changes do you think we are likely to see in the next 10 years?
Maybe marijuana legalization. A majority minority America, less internet privacy, more war
What changes do you think we are likely to see in the next 40 years?
UBI, automated economy, America and Uk’s decline as world powers, Russo-Sino rise
What changes do you want to see in the next 10 years?
Marijuana legalization, agrarian movements, anti-war protests and an end to the wars
What changes do you want to see in the next 40 years?
Agrarian communes across the country, better foreign policy that maintains US hegemony
What tools, technologies or tactics are most important to achieve this?
Better agrarian propaganda, more cooperation with Western Allies, importing of young men
Is there an individual tool or object that is most important to achieve this?
propaganda
What are the most common jobs in this future society?
farming on communes, those not in combines probably work office and dipole jobs
Where do most people live?
Mostly where they do now, with increase in the Western US
What modes of transportation do people use?
Feet, trains, hyper loop, cars
How are goods and food produced?
Farming and manufacturing jobs in the US-Chinese puppet state
How do these goods and food reach consumers?
As they do now, maybe cheaper
How much leisure time do people have?
A small amount both within and outside the communes. People constantly work
What do they do during this leisure time?
Sleep, sex, eat
What kind of energy does this society use?
Either agrarian (no energy) or wind
Where is this society located?
Worldwide, mostly western US
Who are *you* in this society?
Probably an elder in one of the communes
What items do you have in your future home?
Books, a bookshelf, lounge chair, alcohol, alcohol cabinet
Where are most people in this society from?
Anyone who wishes to join, so probably edgy European Americans
How are laws created?
Oligarchic rule, one assembly selected by commune experts, another by lottery biannually
Does this society run up against any natural limits?
Land space, climatbility, need for river
What language do people speak?
Whatever they need to get along in the commune
What are the biggest religious or spiritual organizations, if any?
Probably buddhism, maybe some old school christianity
What are the most popular artists, writers, filmmakers, etc? What do they make?
All fiction creators
What state is nature in compared to today?
Worse
Agrarian Voluntaryism
It's interesting to think about whether gen z's perspective is a response to the circumstances of modern existence or a response to the dominant narratives concerning modern existence. Is the substance of the points they're making more because things are bad or because people are saying that things are bad? I wonder if the impact of the information age has been to sharpen our perspective of the world or to put a sort of veneer between our eyes and the world that results in a distortion of our ability to see the world (in other words, normally it's 'perceive, analyze, then conclude' but perhaps it's increasingly 'view results of others analysis, perceive thing they're analyzing, analyze, conclude'). Whatever the unique characteristics of this period of skepticism and change are, I think gen z will forever be a reflection of it. Similar to how you can analyze the layers of a mountain and gain insights into the period of time when a given layer was at the top; it's a reflection of the conditions it existed in when it was the new layer.
Your survey work is highly interesting. But I always get the impression that internet politicization processes are so determined by technocratic-literalist views of how politics work – an optimized mix of ideas just put into practice – that these people will just sift through anything they find *as pure theory*, come up with their own idea cocktail and make it their attitude. Politics seem to be reduced to a mix’n’match of ideas. Don’t you think?