In terms of values, I have much more in common with conservatives than liberals, and do not mind being called a conservative.

When subjects like the draft and drug laws come up, is when I find myself alone in the middle of the room, with the conservatives having slid their chairs over to the other wall. Then I guess I'm a libertarian. In my more radical moods I can even make a case for democracy being too oppressive, which I suppose makes me an anarchist. Sorry if I'm too fast to follow. I generally find my positions perfectly consistent.

Just taking the draft as an example, there are many conservatives, including some of my favorite talk show hosts, who fully support a military draft. Many on the left support a similar concept, with the exception being some form of forced "social service" instead of a stint in the military. With the exception of the goals, the violation of individual rights is the same.

Any nation that cannot raise a volunteer army in time of real need does not deserve to survive.

There is a single sentence, said in one form or another by those with many political backgrounds, that has resulted in 95 percent of the human misery on this planet:

This one thing is so important, that it is worth violating someone's individual rights.

Almost everyone has that "one thing" in mind--maybe more than one. A war. The poor and starving. The sick. The elderly. A "national emergency." Patriotism. Racial purity. The environment. A religious cause. A vision from the Venusians. The list is endless.

Notice that this is not the common thug, who simply wants your stuff and takes it. This is the person of Higher Virtues, who is robbing or killing you for a Greater Good. The thugs are a lot easier to deal with.

As for advocates of a "decentralized economy," I figure about five years of running a subsistence farm and having to build every damn thing you use would cure them quite nicely. The professorial types who advocate this crap usually live about as far from a subsistence economy as you can get, wallowing in the hammock of a university environment.

It is worth noting that throughout history, a vast majority of subsistence farmers and inhabitants of "decentralized economies" have fled such places like the plague when opportunities in cities and industrialized societies became available. Of course, what do they know compared to college professors?