Today, I was confronted with a moral dilemma. It is a long story, one that was months in the making. But I suppose it had to come to this, if for no other reason than to decisively demarcate the transition from obedience and the rewards it brings to that of resistance and all of its little inconveniences.

The story begins several months ago, shortly after I had converted to anarcho-capitalism. I had come to the conclusion that the state could never be abolished through obedience to it. I came to realize that all struggles for freedom throughout history involved great sacrifice and that ours would be no different. That lesson being learned, I began to mentally prepare myself for the opposition I would face in my quest for freedom.

First, I had to think of just how I would begin to disobey the state in ways I had never done before. Clearly, a rational approach would be to stop doing the things that I otherwise would not do as a free individual rather than doing things that I normally would not. The goal as a non-violent anarchist resistor is not to get arrested but instead to live free, and hopefully, be ignored by the state apparatchik. If not, then the state’s aggressions should be broadcast far and wide so as to highlight its true nature.

With this in mind, I determined my first act of civil-disobedience would be to let my driver’s license expire instead of renewing it all while continuing to drive. For the record, my driver’s license expires in August of this year.

Around the same time I was plotting my resistance my next-door neighbor was planning to partake in a prestigious vintage automobile race known as La Carrera Panamericana. He purchased a 1964 Dodge Dart with the intention of completely rebuilding it and souping it up with racing parts. I had always wanted to rebuild an older vehicle but I never had the knowledge or the opportunity to do so. I asked at the beginning of his endeavor if he cared to show me the ropes and let me help him in any way I could. He agreed and for the last couple of months we have been spending roughly a couple of hours per day and about five days per week restoring this classic.

The significance of the racing event is that my neighbor has invited me to be a part of the support crew. The event takes place in Mexico and is a seven day race. The entire trip is scheduled to last nearly three weeks including travel to and fro our destinations. Being the travel hound that I am, and always looking for adventurous opportunities, I accepted the offer. The rub is that the race takes place this October, a full month after my license is set to expire.

I informed my neighbor of this problem as he is aware of my anarchist philosophy and my activist nature. Fortunately, he had already lined up another driver and it appeared my faculties would not be required. Unfortunately, I received two separate pieces of bad news today. First, this driver has shown himself to be a person of low integrity and has lost the favor of my neighbor. Secondly, we have just learned that the Mexican government does not allow U.S. citizens to bring in more than one vehicle registered under their name. That is to say each vehicle entered into the country must be registered to different people and all of those people have to be present. In this case, the tow truck would have to be registered to my neighbor and the race car would be registered in my name. The problem, however, is that I would have to be able to present a valid driver’s license.

So, now I am left having to decide whether to stick to my principles and let my driver’s license expire, or renew it so that I can help my neighbor and still be a valuable member of the team. Of course, my neighbor, whom I consider a friend, wants me to get the license. He’s even offered to pay for its renewal.

On utilitarian grounds I can justify renewing it by saying that it will help me move to New Hampshire more easily and that publicly destroying my driver’s license has more hype for disobedience than quiet expiration. But, on the other hand, I just cannot bring myself to go to DMV and voluntarily hand them money, while begging for permission to drive.

The fact is, if I cave now it will only make it more difficult in the future to stand strong and pass up on opportunities that will inevitably arise for me if and only if I possess a valid driver’s license. In all honesty, it is never going to be convenient to not have a driver’s license. Of course, this goes with all things disobedience. Going along to get along is easier than resistance, otherwise it wouldn’t be called resistance.

So, taking all of this into consideration leaves me unhappy either way. But I have always been one to gravitate towards the principled position over the pragmatic, and it would simply be out of my character to change that now. I believe I am going to have to inform my neighbor that I will not be renewing my driver’s license. I will also convey my understanding to him if he chooses not to take me on the trip. I am sure this is going to make matters more difficult for him, and although this is not my intention, the bright side is that it might help to serve as a testament to the ability of an individual to stand up to the state despite adversity.