July 20, 2002
From the desk of Jane Galt:I just saw the most
I just saw the most extraordinary thing.
A Con Ed transformer blew downtown; there's no power south of 14th street. They're saying it's not a terrorist thing, though of course we're all a little jittery since they don't really know how it happened.
Anyway. One of the guys gave me a ride to Penn Station, since there are no trains running downtown. There are no traffic lights.
Now, it's common for anarcho-capitalists to argue that systems will spontaneously arise to deal with such voids in a stateless society. And I saw it happen.
The large arteries running uptown/downtown had completely blocked off traffic running East/West on some large streets; the sheer number of cars on big streets like Broadway meant that there was always a sufficient number of selfish drivers to prevent a space from opening up to let traffic flow East/West. And suddenly, people started appearing at the corners. These were not cops, but ordinary people who'd seen what was going on and jumped in to help. One guy I saw was carrying a starbucks and a bag from Virgin Records; clearly, he'd just decided to help out on the spur of the moment. Another guy was wearing his Navy uniform, but looked too old to be in active service; I presume he went and got it out of the closet to give him some authority. All of these people had started directing traffic, stopping the big arteries so traffic could flow on the side streets. People, presumably knowing that they had been acting like selfish bastards, obeyed them. And as we moved uptown, they got better, coordinating with the guy on the next corner with hand signals in order to let the traffic flow smoothly. It was absolutely extraordinary.
Now, I'm not a convert to anarcho-capitalism; I like traffic lights, and I'm well aware that one of the reasons there weren't more traffic cops out is that they'll be needed tonight to stop the looting; there are now no burglar alarms south of 14th street. Nonetheless, it was an extraordinary example of self-organizing phenomenon. We're a resilient country, we are.
Posted by Jane Galt at July 20, 2002 7:55 PM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound links"); ?>