This is my submission to the Market Anarchist Blog Carnival for February (March?) 2008 hosted at No Third Solution this time around. I hope the fellas accept this even though the deadline was yesterday. Almost let it go so my apologies for any remaining awkwardness. My tribute none the less.
Some say he was a penniless bard in from the desert on the edge of Vegas at the Fiesta Henderson. Others claim he was a lawyer down on his luck who struck up a conversation in the mall like food court, next to the Regal Cinemas as the gambling machines chirped and the wide screen monitors flashed the commercial world in its entirety. One wide spread rumor was that he was the former head of the McManigal-Tremblay Institute in Gold Hill Colorado. Whoever Neil was, he started to have an impact when he described what government was before. 
As the herd of consumers and families shuffled into the modern palaces with glittering electronic baubles of chance, groups of tourists from the still insulated Mid-West would be astounded at the old tales of the Occident and fabrications of the Inns of Court. This curious bard would whisper in mutually assured tones to the audience about the dangers of 'governmentis'. Some remembered a time when this was called 'statism' and those who preached or warned about it were simply nuts or rife with conspiracy. When he or she passed the hat at the end of the talk it was always full of an array of currencies, exchanges and encrypted memory sticks that people often swapped as trusted gold. People were happy to contribute this trickle of trinkets even in the face of the mind altering options.
Of course the financial meltdown of the 21st Century was the first and last lesson of Market Anarchy. The chaotic, craziness and violence was a result of the other structures collapsing, not the inherent nature of man in a power void. As decades passed, rational parties began associating, almost like high tech tribes and mulling over a future without someone so venal or oblivious as those who where so close to the button and thankfully never pushed it. But factions faded and a bold new reality was finally realized. People would still suffer and die in the end, but at least government wouldn't hasten it any more.
The reality wasn't a gold standard or equally antiquated vision. It became the quality and content of character and relationships that were voluntary, not authoritatively directed. Groups or individuals could agree upon exchange and its inherent value. A new literacy and knowledge amongst the survivors of the purges and petty factional forays were at first just pockets and hedges against those more prone to violence in their associations. 
Those who previously required historical models and context were always alarmed by the likes of Neil in the past. But now they were just left to foment at foundations and organizations that yearned for a reactionary tact to the past. As politicians had just become entertainers on the strip (The children of Chelsea Clinton and the Bush daughters often highlighted odd futuristic cabarets that were otherwise considered harmless) and the media was only specialized content for those who chose their own proclivities in such matters. Market mechanisms and organizations guaranteed that there was an outlet to this potentially violent tendency. It was in people's best interest to allow eggheads the latitude they needed to feed their odd malevolent egos.
Once the real governments collapsed, it was no certainty that it would not arise again. The prospect of martial law in cities like Boston and Philadelphia was too much for some. Grand notions of Liberty and Freedom once again thrived as clever and keen organizers established personal security firms, real insurance relationships and other unique mechanisms where once armies of white collar workers buzzed like bees organizing paper mache governmentis realities whose ultimate collapse still left an inertia of cultural malaise within the ever thriving bourgeoisie. A certain coolness became associated with these dealers of reason and most flocked to their schemes which offered the best prospect of security, freedom and prosperity.
The reverberation around the world after the fall of the final Empire wasn't as nearly bad as most thought. Even without the prospect of cataclysmic elimination by an emotionally crippled giant, most countries did not fight and war like they once did. Certainly pockets of discontent and resistance to each enclave of governmentis continued like they always had. Even the dissidents wanted their own form of control. But as real markets returned and materialized the exposure to the instant communication age made the values of peace and prosperity greater than ever imagined, with a conscience and eye towards environmental preservation and whatever control man still believed they had over real matters of the Universe. The first Asteroid observation center on the moon was dubbed Asimov. With a world of ever increasing billions there were always anomalous behavior that people disdained and condemned, but the ever present monopoly of the few over the many was over.
Even as Neil peeled out of the desert wondering if his random two week show on the streets of Vegas would be better received on London's Speaker's Corner, he wondered if mankind could actually keep it up. While waiting for a connection at the old Stewart Air Force base converted to commercial services even at the beginning of the 21st Century, he picked up tattered copy of a Marvel comic titled Captain America is Dead amongst the old brick barracks that stood as a reminder of the wars people were willing to wage in the name of abstract concepts. The nuclear powered wing stole away into the upper atmosphere as he flipped through it, glancing over, he noticed what only could be Iceland. Even though the climate changed as fossil fuels were all but eliminated, only but the poorest countries failed to make clean energy. He wondered how the need for freedom had propelled those curious former raiders. In a way he wished he had been an ax hurling, boat building believer in Valhalla. Where once vellum and blue tubes told these stories, he now wandered.
Hmm...this didn't seem to be as popular a rant as the others...
I'll keep looking for new brain-drippings from ECS.
Actually, looking at the traffic in the last week it was. Not much in terms of comments but avg. was about 2K uniques a day.