This irks the hell out of me.

but I remember this quote once to the effect that most Americans are either closet anarchists or overt fascists, but not a lot in-between!

Anarchism could actually work, IF (and here is the problem that infects ALL forms of Government/lack of government)

... It would work IF we didn't have Greed. Greed fucks every thing up. Those few bad apples fuck up the whole of society (eventually).

I wish I could surgically remove Greed from Human Kind.

As has been said before ... move far enough away from the middle and the left and right merge.

(except for the extermination camps) and came out on top. Those were the days!

They seek control to be the authority over a domain that is not thiers and to only have thier kind permitted there.racism.

And they are anti authoritarian. Anti controlling authoritarian or fascist.

There is a big difference
Between anarchists and the anti fed types that want to escape state authority so they can become another authoritarian.

Anarchists are against domination by a fascist and do not want to be fascist themselves.

Anarchism is a socio-political theory which opposes all systems of domination and oppression such as racism, ableism, sexism, anti-LGBTTQIA, ageism, sizeism, government, competition, capitalism, colonialism, imperialism and punitive justice, and promotes direct democracy, collaboration, interdependence, mutual aid, diversity, peace, transformative justice and equity. (Nocella et al. 2015: 7)

A thorough-going anarchism would thus offer a critique of anything and everything that smacks of hierarchy, domination, centralization, and unjustified authority.

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/anarchism/#ApplAnar

The farther a nation sinks into anarchy, the more attractive a "strong leader" looks to the average citizen, who just wants the violence to stop.

This is a proven historical fact. The American Revolution and its after math were an anomoly, not the norm. Most revolutions result in some kind of authoritarian government. Russia, Iraq, Iran, the proliferation of fascism and its correllaries in the 30's. Typically, the 'common person' of any region will value order over chaos, and where do you find more order than in an authoritarian state?