title: “Agorism” date: “2026-03-17” description: “A brief introduction to agorism, the political philosophy I identify with.” —

Agorism

Since we’re on the subject, I’d like to introduce you to my political ideology.

Despite what it may look like, I’m not an ancap. I’m an agorist. There are some similarities, but there are also many differences. Some anarcho-capitalists defend mega-corporations. Agorists don’t.

Agorism argues that the individual can already be free now. Even with the state and mega-corporations around us, we can live our lives by ignoring and bypassing the “system.”

The informal market, treated as illegal, is our standard way of doing business. I don’t need the state’s permission to buy a lettuce from a local farmer, get paid for my work, or say what I think.

As long as people are free and there is no violence, every transaction is valid. Every peaceful relationship between two free adults should remain free.

It’s important to notice that I put the state and mega-corporations together. That’s because there is an intimate, symbiotic relationship between them. This surveillance was welcomed by Microsoft, but not by Omarchy. It was welcomed by Google, but not by Tutanota. Why?

It isn’t in their interest for the individual to have power over himself. Free men can decide what they want. Slaves can’t. We are treated as slaves by governments and corporations. They take away our choices, sell our secrets, and treat us like numbers.

The freer we become, the less power they have over us, until eventually they have no power over us at all. I’m not saying we should abandon society. We’re not going to leave the market. We are going to occupy more and more of the space the state cannot control.

The gray market is what isn’t immoral but is treated as a crime by the government. Selling without an invoice, using a VPN, accepting crypto for goods and services, and saying what you think. None of these things should be punished, but the state goes after people for every one of them. Through technology and counter-economics, we break our chains and become free.

Individual freedom and security aren’t goals for some future revolution. They are a way of life right now. Every space we take creates another space beyond their reach. Governments think they can stop people from speaking, but they are only spreading the ideas further. Ideas never die, and they are the only things that can illuminate the darkness.

They can shut down social networks if they want, but we’ll have blogs, forums, bitchat, VPNs, Tor, Bitcoin, torrents, and countless other technologies that already exist, along with the ones we’ll create.

Agorism is cypherpunk, and it won’t die because of one more layer of state surveillance. It will only grow.