When people who believe in government face the possibility of life without it- even hypothetically- they imagine all sorts of things they fear to lose. Never mind that if something is wanted or needed, someone will provide it. Affordably, because if you can't attract customers you haven't accomplished anything at all; you will go broke. Even charity would thrive again after being displaced and marginalized by "welfare" for so long.
The fearful never see the things they don't even realize they are being cheated out of. Things prevented from being realized by too much central control. Their imagination only leans toward doom and gloom scenarios, never toward positive possibilities.
Faced with the concrete fact of government failure over thousands of years of recorded history, they demand to know exactly how liberty would solve every single problem they can imagine, down to the smallest detail, before giving it consideration. If their faith in government weren't so dogmatic they would recognize government could never live up to the certainty they demand of a free society. But they won't, because it is. And, because overcoming inertia is too uncomfortable.
When people start putting their fears into words, usually prefaced by "what if", I see it as an opportunity to think. I can think of many different ways each of these supposed deal-killers might be solved without violating any person or property. There's no guarantee the solution which would rise to the top would be among those I think of. Humans are very innovative when not bound by artificial constraints. The solutions found would probably be better than anything I can come up with. The solutions I can think of don't even have to be one of the options tried.
The existence of possible solutions should be enough to calm fears, but it never is, because there is always uncertainty. Uncertainty in something innovative and new is scarier than tragic certainties in the familiar. At least for most people.
It wouldn't be an issue if the fearful would not try to stop the rest of us. I have no desire to force liberty on anyone, but I resent when fear leads them to try to obstruct the liberty of myself and others. It's a case of "lead, follow, or get out of the way", where they refuse all those options and instead pull guns on us and say "No, you are staying where you are because I'm scared". It's a situation that can't last.
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The fearful never see the things they don't even realize they are being cheated out of. Things prevented from being realized by too much central control. Their imagination only leans toward doom and gloom scenarios, never toward positive possibilities.
Faced with the concrete fact of government failure over thousands of years of recorded history, they demand to know exactly how liberty would solve every single problem they can imagine, down to the smallest detail, before giving it consideration. If their faith in government weren't so dogmatic they would recognize government could never live up to the certainty they demand of a free society. But they won't, because it is. And, because overcoming inertia is too uncomfortable.
When people start putting their fears into words, usually prefaced by "what if", I see it as an opportunity to think. I can think of many different ways each of these supposed deal-killers might be solved without violating any person or property. There's no guarantee the solution which would rise to the top would be among those I think of. Humans are very innovative when not bound by artificial constraints. The solutions found would probably be better than anything I can come up with. The solutions I can think of don't even have to be one of the options tried.
The existence of possible solutions should be enough to calm fears, but it never is, because there is always uncertainty. Uncertainty in something innovative and new is scarier than tragic certainties in the familiar. At least for most people.
It wouldn't be an issue if the fearful would not try to stop the rest of us. I have no desire to force liberty on anyone, but I resent when fear leads them to try to obstruct the liberty of myself and others. It's a case of "lead, follow, or get out of the way", where they refuse all those options and instead pull guns on us and say "No, you are staying where you are because I'm scared". It's a situation that can't last.