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.
The best number of governments is exactly the same as the number of people alive. Neither more nor fewer. Each human has a right to govern himself, and no one else.
A hierarchy of governments-- national,. regional, and local-- isn't a substitute; it adds too much government to the mix. That kind of structure allows governments to gang up on individuals to crush their liberty.
Governing others is a form of collectivism. It's a bad idea and worse in practice. Whether you call it communism, socialism, or fascism (versions of the same thing), or a constitutional republic, the last thing you want to do is allow too much government to exist.
Government collectivism and liberty are mortal enemies; they can't coexist. Watch what is happening in formerly "Great" Britain if you don't believe me. First, the people were disarmed and now they are being arrested-- kidnapped by government-- for social media posts the British government doesn't like. This is where democracy leads. The people voted this into existence, and now they are paying the price.
The British subjects may be wishing they hadn't allowed the British state to violate their rights so completely. It's going to be harder now to regain liberty from too much government. I hope they manage.
Too much government can impose some truly awful ideas.
Too much government might impose diversity-- not the consensual, organic, bottom-up kind, but the coerced, destructive, top-down form. When you force people together it doesn't go well for society. It gives governments an excuse to crack down on the people who are reacting to the unlivable situation, though. This is probably why so many governments are forcing this policy on their populations.
The worst government idea of all is "equity"-- forcing equal outcomes, rather than respecting everyone's equal rights. It's one of the most brutal authoritarian plots communists have come up with so far.
Every human being alive has equal and identical rights. It doesn't depend on whether the regional government respects these rights; they exist regardless. If this fact is being suppressed, you have too much government.
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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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