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(1) Why use "democracy" when we want the destruction of industrial capitalism, the state, and all others forms of oppression? Well, why do just about all anarchists refer to their goal as "freedom" or "liberty"? Aren't these widely-used justifications for the existing state and economy? From the Statue of Liberty, to "freedom fries," to "the land of the free and the home of the brave", and so on ad infinitum. Shall we stop using liberty and freedom to describe anarchy?

(2) There is a long history of the struggle over the meaning of the term "democracy" which is part of the struggle over democracy. As one commenter writes, "Democracy is mob rule." That's what the founders of the USA believed anyway. The people are the mob, and representative democracy will screen out their wildness while preventing a new king or dictator from taking over. But the idea of democracy has also been loved by masses of people, the downtrodden and impoverished, meaning to them their empowerment and liberation. I will not give up the positive use of "democracy" so long as it has revolutionary implications for so many.

(3) Anyway, there really is no alternative. No matter how decentralized, libertarian, and individualistic an anarchist society would be, it would still be a society, with many people living and working cooperatively and collectively. We will have to make group decisions. How will this be done? It might be done by appointing some wise elite to run things, which is hardly anarchism (but may be what the "democracy is mob rule" person wants). Or we can decide through collective discussion, mutual exchanges of views, social experimentation, and, finally, come to some collective decision (note the process of creating a decision through free use of social intelligence is more important than the technical mechanisms of majority-rule-with -minority-rights or consensus-with-the-right-to-bloc-or-stand-aside). Is this "rule"? Only in the sense of self-rule. This is direct democracy.

(4) One commenter defends me by writing, "Wayne's old." Another defends me by writing, "it reminds me of my conversations with my mom when she was pressuring me to vote." (I do not advocate voting.) Call me old, like your mom, will you, you young whippersnappers! Well yes, somedays I do feel like an old anarchist. Especially when going through old debates about democracy, individualism, and revolution.