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Why is Government "Evil?" (page 3) | |
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State courts and police The courts and police are universally hailed as necessary functions of government. And yet, for the greatest part of the history of civilization, they have been outside of the control of government. State courts and state police are relatively recent inventions. Doesn't a stable society depend on government enforcing its laws? Let's look at this issue carefully. I have said before that virtually all people agree on the ethical principles we are using. If that's the case, then we don't need the laws at all, as people already agree that we should prosecute murderers, thieves, extortionists, kidnappers, and so on. They will assemble in order to protect each other, and patronize courts that render fair judgments, as they have done for centuries before the monopolization of courts and police functions. So why do we need the government to monopolize these areas of society? We don't, but the government gains a great deal by doing so. What government gains is the freedom to impose new, evil laws on people. Laws that permit criminal actions when done by government (such as taxation, drafts, eminent domain, regulating or taking over whole areas of society) and laws that forbid victimless actions when done by individuals. The State's behavior is violence, and it calls its violence "law"; that of the individual, "crime."All current governments have taken over the courts and police in order to impose their will on society. If taking away our freedom to choose the way we want to live, as reasonable adult individuals, is evil, then government is evil. If all of this is obvious, why do so few people realize it? We have been indoctrinated to treat government actions as a "different kind" of action, and that murders, theft and kidnapping performed by government is somehow done in our name. Yet this is obviously untrue, as we have no control over government, or the laws, or on all the decisions bureaucrats make on a daily basis (and indeed the very notion is logistically absurd). Of course, you have the right to vote, but when was the last time you had a chance to vote on repealing a law or a social program? When was the last time you had a chance to vote to fire or prosecute a policeman or a soldier? Most people agree that government as a whole is inefficient, corrupt and divisive, and that politicians are liars and untrustworthy, but they believe in government because they believe government is a "necessary evil." But the very concept of a "necessary evil" is a contradiction. How can a system that employs murder, extortion, kidnapping and loss of freedom on a large scale be necessary for anything? Necessary for what? Generally, the answer to this question will be something like: "we need government to build roads, to run schools, to stop criminals." The first thing to remember here is that "government" does not build roads, run schools, or stop criminals. Individuals do. And they can do that regardless of who they work for. Private roads and bridges get built, private schools also run, and private security and police forces also stop criminals. The difference is that government is a monopoly, and as most of us know, monopolies are bad for consumers and bad for society. Wherever there's a monopoly, people have less choice, pay twice as much or more, get worse service, and stories of corruption abound. We observe the same things magnified in the case of government. The other problem is that "good deeds" do not magically turn the immoral into the moral. Roads and schools cannot "compensate" for murder and extortion. Destructive cults also use "good works" as their excuse for taking away their believers' freedom. Good works alone do not prove worth, especially if those good works are already done by someone else. If you are a murderer and try to justify your existence by saying that read to children at a hospital, I'd say that's not a very good justification. Go back, or Continue. |
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