On the Arizona Massacre

It's been almost 4 days since the shootings in Arizona and the dust is finally beginning to settle.  It appears that the shooter had no political motives nor was he affiliated with the Tea Party or any other right wing group.  In fact, he had an obsession with Congresswoman Giffords that dated back to 2007.

Yet I can't shake the possibility that the shooter was influenced by politics.  I read some information about his background- he has quite a record.  He was anti-social, but still caused disruptions in class to the point where he was asked to leave Pima Community College in Arizona.  He published some internet ramblings which railed against the idea of government in general.  Quite honestly, he sounded alot like a member of the Weathermen, a radical leftist student group in the 1970's.  As evidenced by this recent case, the call for smaller government within the right wing factions of the Republican Party has seemed to give a safe haven to anarchist sentiments.

After seeing the recent trend in anti-government positions, I started thinking about whether a state is necessary.  A couple days ago, I watched The Weather Underground, a 2002 documentary about the aforementioned Weathermen.  Then, I viewed a Biography piece on the Unabomber AKA Ted Kaczynski.  Finally, the shooting of Congresswoman Gifford was darkly inspired by a radical anarchist.

Why do we need a state?  First, a state provides a sense of order and stability.  Yet anarchists claim that the good life can only be accessed without constraining institutions and structures.  However, a state definitely provides something we value in order and stability.  Without governing institutions, political philosopher argues that life will be "short, brutish, and nasty".  I think I agree with him.  In the real world , there have been cases where no state leads to chaos, death, poverty, and destruction.  One does not need to look further than Somalia or Sierra Leone for examples of how a lack of political authority can be correlated with a poor quality of life.