-Caveat Lector-
http://members.aol.com/vlntryst/wn106.html
excerpted from: Whole Number 106 - October 2000
Freedom or Government?
by Harry Hoiles
The other day we received a letter in wich the writer stated that in
his opinion the choice was between government and anarchy. He asked
what we proposed in place of government and we said that we proposed
freedom.
Government by its very nature must govern. To govern is to dictate.
All governments are dictatorships of one form or another. They may be
one-man dictatorships, constitutional dictatorships, dictatorships in
republican or democratic form, majority rule dictatorships,
dictatorships by bureau or what have you. But the fact remains that
to govern is to dictate.
The alternative to government is freedom. The individual who believes in freedom does
not seek to govern others. He merely wants to govern himself. He is perfectly willing
to let other people govern themselves also.
"Ah, but what about the criminals who would aggress against people who would be
helpless without the protection of government?" say those who are afraid of freedom.
In the first place, the criminals are a small proportion of the population. We do need
protection from criminals but we should recognize the size of the problem and not blow
it up out of all proportion as is done when we
organize our whole society around an agency (government) whose only [alleged]
legitimate function is to protect us from the small proportion of the population who
are criminals.
If criminals were more than a small proportion of the population, it would be
impossible to protect the rest of the population from them anyway. As big as the
government now is, it, or any agency its size, could not prote
ct innocent people from criminals if criminals represented a large proportion of the
population.
Most people by nature are not criminals. Most people do not seek to aggress against
others. People are not naturally thieves, murderers, rapists, etc. They are naturally
peaceful and harmless. This is the nature of things
as they are.
The nature of government is to govern, to dictate to everyone in its sphere of
influence. Since government dictates to everyone in its sphere of influence and since
most people are peaceful and harmless, most government a
ctions involve dictation to peaceful, harmless people. This is the nature of
government and this is the nature of people.
Is this what any thinking person wants?
Do we want dictatorship be it by a sole dictator, an oligarchy, a president, a
legislature, a government, a county commission, a city council, the school board in a
school district, or the majority in any political area?
Or do we want freedom?
That is the question of our age.
Either we want dictatorship, which we now have in every governing body constituting
our government, or we want freedom.
Freedom by its very nature is not government. It is self-control, no more no less.
Editor's note: This is only part of the story. For the balance of it, read the ensuing
editorial entitled: "Protection by Voluntary Means."
Protection By Voluntary Means
by Harry Hoiles
In the foregoing editorial we discussed the idea of freedom or government. We suggest
that you read that editorial before proceeding.
"But how about the criminals?" those who are afraid of freedom again ask.
In answering this let's make two observations.
First, as stated above, this is a much smaller problem than is generally recognized.
And it would be even smaller were it not for the fact that mankind has sanctioned
government power to such an extent that power in itsel
f has thus been sanctioned. By sanctioning government power, mankind has increased the
tacit acceptance of power as a means to an end. The criminal believes that the end
justifies the means. The increased acceptance of po
wer as a means to an end leads to increased criminality. This is a logical inevitable
development of mankind's acceptance of government power as a means to an end.
Second, power attracts criminals. The bigger government gets, the more power it has,
the more criminals are attracted to get in government and use this power for their
[own] benefit. This is the nature of things.
Therefore, the size of the criminal problem is increased in two ways by mankind's
acceptance of government. One, the sanction of government power increases the sanction
of power per se, and causes lack of recognition of a
buses of power. Two, the existence of government power attracts the criminal and makes
it possible for him to do much more harm than he could without this power.
Remove mankind's sanction of government power and the problem of criminality would be
greatly reduced.
Another factor which would cause this reduction is increasing individual
responsibility.
Government today, far from claiming only to protect the individual from criminals has
become a great factor in penalizing the productive and rewarding the non-productive.
As a result individual responsibility is on the wa
ne. "Let government do it," is the cry on all sides when a problem arises. The only
way government can "do it" is to take assets from those who have responsibly saved
these assets and distribute them in a way people who h
ave not saved them desire. This by its nature reduces responsibility and increases
irresponsibility. Since criminality is irresponsibility, the actions of government in
redistributing the wealth increases criminality.
A person who fears freedom then might say, "Granted government in three ways increases
criminality but, even so, there would still be criminals. How would I be protected
from them?
The answer is, by private protection agencies. Some of the largest organizations in
the world today are insurance companies which now provide protection in areas which
have not been usurped by government. Under freedom th
ese companies provide protection which works in these areas. Under freedom, these or
other companies could and would provide protection which would work much better than
the illusion of protection which we now have in the
areas usurped by government.
Freedom works when not outlawed by government. The history of these United States
proves that. It cannot work effectively in fields dominated by government. Who can
compete with government? Who can compete with dictatorsh
ip which is inherent in every government ever organized in human history?
The choice is not between government and anarchy.
The choice is between government and freedom. Or more accurately expressed:
The choice is between dictatorship and freedom.
[Editor's Note: These editorials probably first appeared in the
Colorado Springs Gazette- Telegraph, and were copied from A Voice For
Freedom, published by Register Division of Freedom Newspaper, Inc. on
September 1, 1962. Readers who question Mr. Hoiles' view of human
nature may wish to consult Murray Rothbard's comments in The
Voluntaryist in Whole No. 95 where he refutes the myth that
"Libertarians are utopians who believe that all people are good, and
that therefore state control is not necessary."]
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