Too much government is a problem. I'm not talking about too many governments, but too much. Global government-- one government-- is the worst possible scenario. The fewer governments, the worse the problem generally becomes. Political power-- the power to govern, murder, steal, imprison, and enslave-- gets more dangerous the more concentrated and centralized it is.
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ReplyDeleteAn excellent article.
“Each human has a right to govern himself, and no one else.”
And also an individual, and social, responsibility to do so; as you have noted many times. These two things are the heads and tales of the same coin and together define true liberty. Unfortunately, the majority of the human race, while vigorously demanding their rights are usually actively and simultaneously trying to shirk their personal responsibilities over the management of their lives. Thus anarchy is not a chaotic lack of ‘governance’ but only the negation of rulership by people over other than themselves.
“The progress from an absolute to limited monarch, from a limited monarch to a democracy, is a progress toward a true respect for the individual. Even the Chinese philosopher was wise enough to regard the individual as the basis of the empire. Is a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government? Is it not possible to take a step further towards recognizing and organizing the rights of man? There will never be a really free and enlightened State, until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly.”
----Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience” [1849]
In an early draft of the column, I emphasized-- again-- that liberty is freedom tempered with responsibility. I wish every column could be completely stand-alone, independent of anything else I've written. I haven't found a way to do that without every column being many times longer, or hyperlinked like crazy (which the newspaper doesn't do). I'm hoping those who read this will have also read past columns, or will read future columns, to get all the things I don't have room to repeat in every column.
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