Saturday, November 14, 2009

Statism is too overly complex to 'work'

Statism is too overly complex to 'work'

Some people have claimed to me that libertarianism, anarchism, or "individual sovereignty" (or whatever you prefer to call the philosophy of freedom, responsibility, and non-coercion) is "too simplistic". Normally this is the excuse pulled out when all others have failed. When they say this I immediately realize that they don't have a very good grasp of the way things really work.

Most of the time reality is much simpler than fantasy. The way our Solar System operates, with the orbits of the planets as they fall around the sun, all held together by gravity, is much simpler than the Greeks' ideas of "epicycles" and gods. This is where Occam's razor comes in. The simplest explanation is generally the truth.

The fact that you own yourself and all the products of your life is so much simpler than the labyrinth of states, "laws", and obligations that have been created out of thin air for the past several thousand years in order to justify government.

Even when there are more "parts" (more individuals compared to the number of states), the fact that just a few rules explain the motions and interactions of all those parts means that the system is simpler and closer to reality. Don't let the best evidence that freedom is right be used as a illusory weapon against you.