Government is /not/ always a "criminal protection racket". Sometimes the enemies are real and not of its making. Yes, sometimes officials do create enemies, real or imagined, but if the enemies they create are real, those have to be defended against even if the conflict could have been avoided.
As for "duty", that is simply what is collectively rational for survival and mutual protection of rights. It is not arrogant to recognize brutal reality. If you don't do your duty to protect the rights of others, the rights of everyone, including you, will be lost. The only way to protect rights against organized enemies is to organize to defend them, and that requires mutual sacrifice. When an armed criminal gang comes battering down your door, who are you going to call for help? Never mind whether they are street thugs or government officials. Are you then going to try to hire bodyguards? And if no one is willing to protect you at a price you can afford, then what? And if the bodyguards turn on you and try to kill you, who do you turn to next? Friends? Neighbors? And why should they come to your rescue if you have not been willing to come to theirs? Hide in the woods, hoping the bad guys won't find you? How are you going to make a living there, since there is little game or fish left and farming will draw attention to yourself. If even if you did, suppose too many others try to do the same, and suddenly the woods aren't a very good hiding place for anyone. Government can be honest, efficient, and legitimate. There have been many periods of such government in the past, in many places. Perhaps they didn't maintain that state of virtue, but in almost every case the failure came not from the excesses of officials but the failures of people to control them when they began to get out of line. That means you. If you aren't working very hard every day to supervise government, then you become an accomplice in its abuses. That is the ancient law of agency: the principal is responsible for the misdeeds of his agents if he fails to correct them. If you are not doing your part to prevent abuses then you are even worse than the abusers, because you could have stopped them and didn't. -- Jon ------------------------------------------------------------------- Constitution Society 2900 W Anderson Ln C-200-322, Austin, TX 78757 512/299-5001 www.constitution.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------------------------------------------------
