
Of course, for more practical and general purposes, autarchism can be rendered completely useless. We all need a government. Without laws and authority figures, for example, we would never feel safe. A general state of autarchism would only function safely if all people in the world were inherently good, honest and benevolent. But since this is not the case, to advocate for general autarchism is not only complete nonsense, but a terrible irresponsibility.
Autarchism shares similarities to a lot of other political and ideological schools of thought, like libertarianism, anarchism and anti-statism, to name just a few. Nevertheless, all of these ideologies shares the pragmatic resolution that the state is the mother of all evils, and, as such, should be extinguished vehemently. But this highly depends on where you live. If you live in a wealthy country, with a highly functional and competent government – like Switzerland, for example – you have nothing to complain about. At least, if compared to someone who lives in a terribly corrupt and impoverished socialist country, like Venezuela. Who would exchange a very good and decent life, that has quality and abundance in all sorts of things, for the opportunity of a life somewhere else, with a higher degree of autonomy? Literally, almost no one. But if you live in an impoverished country, with an authoritarian government, of course, the answer probably would be very different. But being almost an idealistic principle, autarchism is almost impractical in real life, since it advocates the right of each and every individual to be its own supreme master, with no state rules to demand for any interference. And – like I wrote some lines above – this would function correctly and satisfactorily only if all human beings were inherently good and genuinely generous.
But as an idealistic goal – and specially, a more personal autonomy principle – autarchism deserves some merits in the life of an individual that knows how to apply its quorum. It is all a question of perception, intelligence and sensibility. But, conclusively, human beings are still far more harmless than governments. Then, it is completely comprehensible the constant meritorious and objective notion of ideologies who have in their agenda the outwardly extinction and repulsion of the state.
Wagner