Thursday, August 11, 2016

"We have to have some kind of government..."

Yes, someone just said those words to me.

I wish I had been able to take the time to dig deeper into why he thought this was so, but my daughter was waiting in the car.

Is it because "we" have always had some kind of government, and he can't imagine life without it?

Is it because he believes that without government, society would collapse?

Is it because he believes there are things he (or others) requires which can only be provided by government?

Is it because of the "sunk cost fallacy"? Does he feel we have put too much time and effort into building governments to just give up on them now?

Is it because he feels he has paid into things like "social security" and "medicaid" and doesn't want to end them just before he begins to get something back?

I can think of a lot of things along those lines which might cause a person to believe they "need" government, but I don't know which (if any) applies in his case.

Is there some other reason a person would hold such an illogical belief?

I wish I had been able to talk to him to see exactly why he believes this.

You need to govern yourself. You need to defend yourself and your property from those who refuse to govern themselves. I hope you'll also defend others from violators when you have the opportunity. There are some projects too big or expensive for most people to do them alone, so cooperation is necessary. But none of that requires establishing an institution based upon theft and aggression.

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