Tuesday, February 03, 2015

Control is in government’s nature

Control is in government’s nature

(My Clovis News Journal column for January 2, 2015)

If men are good, you don’t need government; if men are evil or ambivalent, you don’t dare have one.
— Robert LeFevre, libertarian businessman

One common argument for government is that people are evil, greedy, and cruel, so government is necessary to protect people from each other.
This seems to ignore the fact government is made up of those same people. How giving some of those evil, greedy, and cruel people authority over the rest is supposed to solve the problem has always mystified me, and asking how this is imagined to work goes unanswered. It's a justification devoid of reason.

Human qualities run the gamut. Humans are selfish and selfless. We are greedy and generous. We fight and we cooperate. We are cruel and we are loving. We like having leaders and we often fall for Rulers.

History shows the negatives tend to be much more additive than are the positives. It is easier to commit evil if you can spread the blame to a group, rather than doing it on your own.

I'm not saying groups can't do good things- they often do- but true evil on a monumental scale usually takes a political "movement". Leaders convince followers to do all sorts of things they'd never dare doing on their own. This can either mean reaching for greatness which otherwise would never have been accomplished, or it can mean participating in genocide or democide. Charismatic leaders can convince people to reject their own principles for "patriotism" and for "the common good". Since humans do have some negative qualities, the worst thing you can do is give them justifications for putting those qualities into practice.

Some of the negatives aren't really negative. Selfishness often causes people to do nice things, because it makes them feel good. There's nothing wrong with that. Greed inspires people to give customers what they want in order to gain more in the long run. At least it's how it works in the free market where truly harmful behavior has consequences.

It seems funny that those who distrust human nature the most are under the impression that giving those flawed humans power and authority over others, and shielding them from the consequences of their actions by allowing them to hide within a group, will make them turn from their negative nature and bring out the best in them. The very nature of political power selects for people who have a desire to control the lives of others- in other words, the very sort of person who should never be permitted to hold power.

Keep doing the same thing, expecting different results. I'm sure it will happen this time.

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Giving your attention to Washington state's most worthless parasites

About the liberty activists planning to go break some anti-gun "laws" in the state of Washington:

Go for it if that's what makes you happy, but think about this... by acting as though the "laws" have any legitimacy- especially enough legitimacy to motivate you to go into the hive- you just prop them up.

A better way to live- as I see it- is to simply ignore the fools who dream up "laws". Don't go protest, because that makes them think their opinions have weight. They only have weight if you give them weight. By protesting you make the law polluters feel important. You are giving them some of your life and energy. You are revolving around them and wasting time you could be spending on other things.

I know there are a lot of people who feel the need to do "political" things. I understand that desire to a point. I also hope your activism gets the result you want, and that no innocent people get hurt or killed.

But, seriously, do those clowns matter so much to you, personally, that you'll arrange your life around them? Why?

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"Former libertarian"?

Saying "former libertarian" is like saying "authentic replica". A "real counterfeit". A "genuine fake".

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