Anarchy is, at least to my mind, a truly noble ideal. True and full liberty is a beautiful notion. However, I fear that a majority of people will be ever determined to subject the world to states. This is because of dual currents in what are at least human traditions, and maybe even human nature. These are collectivism, and a desire to control.
Many of us anarchists are almost obsessively individualistic. For myself, I can honestly say that, as much as I’ve wanted to at times, trying to fit myself into some group has always been very uncomfortable. It appears, however, that many if not most people not only identify themselves with group(s), but that this is, in fact, their primary identity in their own minds. The nation, race, religion, business, club, family, political group, whatever, for most people is a big part of how they define themselves. Thus, an attack on one of these groups is taken as an attack on themselves. For those who identify as Americans, the idea that the American state, its defining Constitution, and all that should be discarded, is asking them to give up not just government services, but a part of their very selves. There is a pride in being a part of something greater, and we want to take that from them. Even if they realize, to some degree, that they have thrown in with a devil, he is their devil.
Of course, groups can and will form even in an anarchy. However, there is also a desire, inherent to humanity, for control. They not only want to control others, to keep themselves safe and in pleasant environments and such things, but even, I think, want to be controlled themselves. A desire for control is born out of fear, because the world is a big and scary place, and it is very easy to feel that the winds of chance could turn against you at any time. Choices, always made with incomplete information, can turn on the chooser. And if a person makes choices for themselves, who else can they blame? How can they count on a safety net? When the world is well-controlled and unfair, people have legitimacy for their claims that others are responsible for their failures, even if they probably would have failed without such interference.
Under a state, the world is more predictable. I believe that any study you might do on the matter will reveal that most people will prefer regular, predictable abuse to occasional, unpredictable problems. Rather like a recent article referenced on Lew Rockwell indicates, people who have an intersection with no lights and signs are safer there, but feel less safe. People would rather feel safe than be safe, and always prefer the devil they know.
Whence do you derive your hope for a liberated future? I don’t think arguments that there will be greater prosperity without the state will hold if what people truly value is embodied by the state. And understand, they will not feel safe until everyone is controlled with them. This idea that “they can have government, so long as they don’t impose it on me” is silly. It is the nature, the essence, of government, that it imposes itself, and most strongly when you try to defy it.