Anarcho-tyranny: Its Rise In The World And The Coming Fall!

Back in the 1990s, Samuel T. Francis, a paleoconservative writer, came up with the term “anarcho-tyranny.” What he meant was pretty simple: It’s when the government turns a blind eye to real criminals, letting chaos spread, but cracks down hard on regular folks just trying to follow the rules. The end result? The people causing trouble get a free pass, while the law-abiding ones feel the squeeze. Francis warned that this flips everything upside down, wrecks trust, and pulls apart the fabric that holds society together.

Lately, this idea’s caught on as crime climbs and governments seem pickier about which laws they actually enforce, especially in Western countries. Critics on the right love to point at places like San Francisco. There, shoplifting under $950 basically went unpunished for a while. Stores got hit with constant theft, and many just closed up shop.

Other cities, like Chicago and New York, saw progressive prosecutors dial back charges for violent crimes. After 2020, crime shot up. People noticed.

Over in the UK, folks see the same thing.

Police get slammed for going easy on knife crime or grooming gangs, but they’re quick to arrest people for so-called hate speech or for things they post online. In 2025, headlines focused on mass arrests over online comments during riots, while street violence seemed to go unchecked. Ireland and Canada share similar stories—fights over immigration and free speech are wrapped up in complaints about who the law really targets.

Why’s this happening? A lot of it traces back to shifts in how people think about justice. Since the 1960s, progressive reforms, “defund the police” pushes, and a new class of managers have placed greater emphasis on equity than on order. Urban decay and growing inequality make crime worse, while government red tape slows everything down. The left, meanwhile, brushes off “anarcho-tyranny” as just a scare tactic, saying it’s an excuse to crack down harder on already marginalized people.

But there’s pushback.

In California, voters got fed up and passed Proposition 36 in 2024, stiffening theft laws again. Tough-on-crime candidates started winning races in 2024 and 2025. In Britain, public anger over “two-tier” policing spilled into street protests and shaped politics.

People want justice that actually feels fair. If they keep pushing, you’ll see reforms—stronger law enforcement, less nitpicking over what people say or do in daily life. History’s full of moments when order made a comeback because the public demanded it. Maybe we’re watching the high point of anarcho-tyranny fade, as leaders finally start to listen.

In the end, the whole idea is a warning about governments going too far in either direction. The way forward? Bring back the true rule of law, protect everyone, punish real wrongdoers, and stop making life harder for people just living their lives.

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