The key point is that "anarchy" only works among members of species that operate only as unorganized individuals. As they develop the ability or tendency to organize into cooperative groups that operate according to coordinated, joint strategies, everything changes. Then groups of individually weaker individuals can combine to overcome the strongest individual, unless that individual also organizes a group around him. From competition among individuals the species transitions into competition among groups.
Our brains certainly don't free us from natural law. They only allow us to develop tools to intensify the group rivalries. And, yes, the amount of work required to supervise government under a properly designed constitution is less than the amount of work needed to make "anarchy" "work". However, if either order deteriorates beyond a certain point, it overwhelms any supervision. Supervision has to be proactive. We blame the victims when they are the principals who have the duty to supervise their agents, and through dereliction, allow those agents to turn on them. A properly designed constitution, such as the U.S. Constitution, does /not/ give monopolistic power to government. It /divides/ power into numerous levels, states, counties, branches, houses, courts, departments, and officers, precisely to prevent excessive or unbalanced concentrations of power in the "same hands". Part of the supervision needed is to make sure they don't unite as a single faction against the people. On the other hand, the people are supposed to unite into supervisory groups: associations, parties, militia units, grand and trial juries, etc. They are not supposed to be unorganized. Part of the supervision needed is to make sure those supervising groups remain strong and united. Remember, the Founders expected militia to always be able to defeat the regular military. Having more power than the people is /not/ the definition of government. The Constitution defines it as just the /opposite/. That people have the mistaken belief that that is the definition then correcting that mistaken belief is part of doing their duty to supervise government. ma ni wrote: > Jon, > > I'm surprised that you intended your animal model to show that > anarchy "won't work". It obviously works well enough for the > species (and their social structure) to have survived for many > eons longer than modern humans. > > But actually, animal models are limited in their ability to show > us big brained humans a whole lot about freedom and ethics. If we > were to act on lessons from them, we would revert back to the > horrors of natural selection where real slavery and barbarism > reign. The mere fact that we are intelligent enough to realize > things like freedom and individuality and free trade means that > the old rules don't have to apply to us anymore. While it's true > that life is generally parasitic without a clue of "individual > rights", big brains and technology changes everything. And while > it's good that you occasionally remind us that we are still > animals and this is an ungrateful universe, we are not quite > under the same "instinctual destiny" as our dumber relatives. > > Your frequent emphasis on the amount of "duty" and "work" > required to control government makes one wonder whether the > effort required for anarchy to work would actually be less. > > But the most illogical part would seem to be your tendency to > blame the people for abusive government more than abusive > government. Since when do we blame the victims? > > I think a main point of anarchists is to demonstrate the inherent > folly in giving a large amount of monopolistic power to a large > group of organized people, in order to control the disorganized > people with little power, and then expecting the latter to > control the former. Speaking of math: since the definition of > "government" requires it to have more power and organization than > the people, then the people actually controlling it would seem to > be a false premise. > > -- ------------------------------------------------------------------- Constitution Society 2900 W Anderson Ln C-200-322, Austin, TX 78757 512/299-5001 www.constitution.org [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------------------------------------------------
