Government is a limited tool. I could almost stop with just those five words and have said as much as any writer would normally with pages of words. But I need to at least explain some to be clear.
I'm an individualist which makes me largely a libertarian but at the same time requires me to appreciate a legitimate role for government in civilization. Without enough government oppressive thugs and inconsiderate fools come to dominate everyone's lives. And a world dominated by oppressors and/or full of hazards created by fools is definitely not a world that most individuals are likely to thrive in. I think this is pretty much self-evident reasoning.
Where things become less clear is the point at which there is too much government. In other words, at what point does government become the oppressive thugs and inconsiderate fools? Here lies the debate of our age. There is a growing trend for more and more people around the world to conclude their government has moved beyond the point of keeping the thugs at bay and the fools under control, and has actually become the thugs and the fools that need stopped. At this point anarchy almost seems preferable since at least in anarchy there are no laws prohibiting resistance.
The problem for the individualist is that there is no right choice between an oppressive/foolish government and anarchy. Both severely limit and otherwise attack the dignity of the individual.
The only right choice is less government but not the end of government. Government must be used for what it is for and nothing else, and that means that not only must government's physical size be limited but its very definition must be minimized.
And there should be no fretting about this. Humankind have long recognized that government always inevitably disappoints us whenever we have expected more of it than just the bare minimal task of keeping a bare semblance of order and safety. Martin Luther wrote in his time about this disappointment with the following lines in a hymn,
"The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.
That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;"
Most big things, even those smaller than vanquishing evil in the world should never be trusted into the hands of government. Keeping criminals and inconsiderate fools from ruining life for the rest of us is the only big thing government is meant for. And for that task it is the right tool for the right job, but no other.
I'm an individualist which makes me largely a libertarian but at the same time requires me to appreciate a legitimate role for government in civilization. Without enough government oppressive thugs and inconsiderate fools come to dominate everyone's lives. And a world dominated by oppressors and/or full of hazards created by fools is definitely not a world that most individuals are likely to thrive in. I think this is pretty much self-evident reasoning.
Where things become less clear is the point at which there is too much government. In other words, at what point does government become the oppressive thugs and inconsiderate fools? Here lies the debate of our age. There is a growing trend for more and more people around the world to conclude their government has moved beyond the point of keeping the thugs at bay and the fools under control, and has actually become the thugs and the fools that need stopped. At this point anarchy almost seems preferable since at least in anarchy there are no laws prohibiting resistance.
The problem for the individualist is that there is no right choice between an oppressive/foolish government and anarchy. Both severely limit and otherwise attack the dignity of the individual.
The only right choice is less government but not the end of government. Government must be used for what it is for and nothing else, and that means that not only must government's physical size be limited but its very definition must be minimized.
And there should be no fretting about this. Humankind have long recognized that government always inevitably disappoints us whenever we have expected more of it than just the bare minimal task of keeping a bare semblance of order and safety. Martin Luther wrote in his time about this disappointment with the following lines in a hymn,
"The Prince of Darkness grim, we tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.
That word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;"
Most big things, even those smaller than vanquishing evil in the world should never be trusted into the hands of government. Keeping criminals and inconsiderate fools from ruining life for the rest of us is the only big thing government is meant for. And for that task it is the right tool for the right job, but no other.
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