As I’ve expressed before, the current societies of Nation States is governed by power hungry individuals that rule by force. Whether it’s a democracy, kingdom, dictatorship, fascism, or hybrid – they all rule by force. Ruling by force is simply immoral, and it’s a type of slavery.
There are other school of thoughts for governance, and I’m in the camp that people should make decisions based on voluntary actions. This school of thought is called Voluntaryism and it is the most moral school of thought for governance.
If you need a refresher on how governments currently rule by force, I recommend you watch George Ought to Help.
Government is not good for society
When I speak out against the government (in it’s current model of rule by force) the most common response is that government makes decisions for the common good of it’s people. In my article on why markets are better than policy I explain why they are not good decision makers.
The million dollar question is who’s view of society are they implementing? In America, because we are a democracy, the standard response would be the will of the people. But let’s dig down into that a little bit. In presidential election years, voter turnout has been around 55% and in non-presidential years the turnout has been around 38% [source]. So we are implementing laws for the society based on less than half of the voting population.
When we dig down a bit further we realize that we are a representative democracy, so we are actually implementing the views of people who are elected. That is 1 president, 100 senators, 435 congressmen, and 9 supreme court judges. So for a country of 300+ million people, we don’t even have 550 people representing the views of the populous. Wow! This is immoral. I have nearly that many friends on Facebook.
It is impossible for a government (or any government) to have the collective knowledge of what society actually wants and the ability to implement it. Government can’t be operate for the good of society in this situation.
Slavery and government
The similarities between slavery and government are uncanny. I challenge y’all to imagine society in the 1700′s when slavery was pervasive, considered acceptable, and the norm. Many individuals were born into slavery and could not imagine life as a free man. Slave owners could argue that slaves agreed to a social contract and by accepting food, shelter, and other necessities like how the government today argues we agree to a social contract.
Some slaveowners would grant freedom to their slaves – but those slaves had to purchase their freedom. People of that time would argue that slaves were better off as property because of the benefits they received. They would also argue that society was better off by having slaves. But what they couldn’t argue was that owning individuals was moral – that it was the right thing to do.
Governance by force is not moral. It forces individuals to do things that they would not do on their free will. It requires people to purchase and support things against their core beliefs. If people do not agree to fund certain services – they will be imprisoned.
Proponents of government will argue that society is better off because of the decisions that governments make. Hell, they may be right – but that doesn’t mean their actions are moral. It also doesn’t mean we should accept it and promote it. Freedom and liberty are built on a foundation of morality – to follow the golden rule which is essentially the non-agression principle.
Voluntaryism is moral
When you sacrifice your beliefs for the “good of society” you allow immoral actions to happen. Slavery could only exist because the majority allowed it and didn’t recognize the immorality of owning people. Ruling by force is the same situation.
To have the best representation of what the people want, leave it to individual actions and society will ultimately become what collectively the people want. A society built on voluntary agreements is the framework we should strive to implement.
I encourage you to support building a society based on morals – and that foundation starts with voluntary actions. Do not force your beliefs upon others, and do not accept others forcing their beliefs upon you. A voluntary society is mutually beneficial to all parties involved.
April 9, 2012 at 2:40 pm
Your optimism is admiral, Eric–but are there any examples of this Voluntaryism in practice?
I’m definitely a proponent of Thoreu’s “That government is best which governs least” philosophy, but this Voluntaryism idea you’re referring to in lieu of government doesn’t seem to be plausible at any kind of scale.
It’s literally in our DNA to strive to be the best: someone always ends up being at the top (this is why true Marxism is implausible). Some of us spend our lives fighting this innate hunger, and others embrace our animalistic sides and become warlords (as an extreme example).
Also, how would this government philosophy be implemented across a population of 350+ million people–especially with indivisible expenses?
April 9, 2012 at 2:51 pm
Disney World is an example of Voluntaryism – they have their own private roads, security, court system, and other services traditionally provided by the government.
The whole point of Voluntaryism is that it keeps governance to a local level – where it is most effective, and people don’t have to move thousands of miles to improve their lives.
We don’t eliminate our natural DNA of striving to be the best – that becomes even more pervasive in an Voluntary society as all individuals and companies must compete for business. We aren’t eliminating hierarchy – we are only eliminating slavery and ruling by force.
This isn’t a structure that needs to be implemented across a population – it happens naturally. Any service that you have now that is not provided by the government is an example of Voluntaryism. The only thing that people need is education to realize being ruled by force is immoral. Once people recognize that, it’s a gradual shift away from government as we know it today.
Hell, we could have it tomorrow if the federal government made taxes voluntary rather than compulsory. It doesn’t mean we have to remove the government – only government by force.
April 9, 2012 at 11:45 pm
[...] like you can not get someone to like you by punching them in the stomach. People cooperate, it is voluntarism. It is the organic growth of communities, towns and cities. All Government does when it tries to [...]