Government’s contribution: Immoral violence

October 25th, 2009

Government’s contribution: Immoral violence
by Larken Rose

It’s inefficient, it’s corrupt, it’s horrendously expensive, and it’s bad at almost everything it does, not only failing to solve problems, but constantly making them worse, and making new problems at the same time. Yet so many people still insist that this thing called “government” is needed, even if only for a few particular tasks.

So what, exactly, does “government” add to society? What can it add? If we start with lots and lots of people, living on a big piece of dirt, what does “government” have to contribute to the equation? Well, it contributes no talent or skill, no knowledge or ingenuity–things which come only from individual human beings. “Government” is merely an organization of people, imagined to have the right to rule everyone else. It can’t have any abilities or productivity to offer that could not already be found in the people of whom it consists. Calling a group of people something different (i.e., “government”) can’t possibly add any talents or qualities that the people in the group didn’t already possess.

Every “law” and “program” administered by “government” is administered by people. Since organization, cooperation, ingenuity and creativity are all possible without “government”–since those all come from people–how could we possibly need “government” for anything? Since it’s just a group of people, how could there be anything which people could do as “government,” which those same people, with all the same talents and know-how, couldn’t do without it?

There is one thing, and only one thing, that “government” adds to society: immoral violence. Because people imagine it to have the RIGHT to rule, and the right to use force in situations where you and I would have no such right, all it does is add UNJUST VIOLENCE to society. (And how many people, looking around, say, “Ya know, what this country needs is more unjust violence!”)

Yes, some things are more convenient if you are allowed to ignore morality. For example, a supermarket would have an easier time if it could COERCE its customers to show up and pay whatever the store wants them to pay, instead of having to compete for voluntary customers. (The result, of course, would be really expensive, worthless products and services–which is what “government” specializes in.) It’s easier to get your way if everyone thinks you have the right to send men with guns to make everyone else behave the way you want. But is that ADDING something to society, or taking something away?

Every time someone initiates force against someone else, whether they do it on their own or in the name of “government,” they are SUBTRACTING something from society. They are REMOVING options and choices from people who should be free. They are LIMITING what people can do, what they can create, and what they can accomplish.

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