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The lovely
Miss Puddy accompanied me to the latest Sherlock
Holmes movie last night. In the
movie a series of bombings supposedly by anarchist was terrorizing
Europe. This begs the question,
what is an anarchist?
Webster
defines anarchy as: a. absence of government, b. state of lawlessness due to
absence of government or c. utopian society who enjoy
complete freedom without government.
Therefore
the opposite of communism (the 100% control of society by government) is
anarchy (the 0% control of society by government). Jefferson envisioned a society where
freedom would flourish to be somewhere around 10% control of society by government. In his vision government would act as
a referee to arbitrate contracts in the courts and to provide for mutual
defense as well as to secure private property rights. This is an over simplification but it
is all about what is the correct amount of government that is appropriate for
freedom to exist.
Socialism
is probably somewhere around 50% to 90% government control of society. Obama care put us somewhere around 65%
government control of our society.
This past year alone tens of thousands of new laws were passed that
further controlled and restricted society by our government. Every time we pass a new law or a new
rule we relinquish a little more freedom while we march a little further down
the scale towards 100% government control. God gave Moses only 10 commandments to
live by. Jesus simplified these
to just one law with the golden rule.
Somehow government feels the need to expand these with hundreds of
thousands of laws.
The most
famous anarchist that immediately comes to mind is Guy Fawkes. Fawkes was captured in 1605 while
guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder that had been placed under the House of
Lords. The Gunpowder Plot called
for the assassination of King James in order to bring back a catholic monarch
in England. In the movie “V
for Vendetta” the main character wears a Guy Fawkes mask and overthrows
a future fictional totalitarian government in the UK that controls every
aspect of daily life. V tells the
people they can manage their own affairs without the help of such an all-controlling
government.
Remember,
remember the 5th of November
The
gunpowder treason and plot,
I know of
no reason why gunpowder treason
Should
ever be forgot.
Perhaps
anarchists (people who believe in 0% government control) are not that bad if
they can pull us back down the scale closer to Jefferson’s 10%
government. There are certainly a
number of forces pulling us in the opposite direction.
Upon a
little reflection there are several functions of government that could be
done by the private sector. Collection
of trash is already done privately in many parts of the country. Many water,
gas and other utilities are privatized.
In some states there are private toll roads. Why couldn’t insurance
investigators look into property crimes?
Even space travel is now being privatized. Money itself could easily be
privatized if legal tender laws were abolished. Private firms like GoldMoney.com that
use digital gold banking accounts could easily facilitate trade without the
use of government central banks.
The constitution itself even provides for letters of marqué that subcontract war itself to
privateers.
While
extremism is usually bad on both ends of the spectrum I find myself aligned
closer to the 10% government envisioned by Jefferson and therefore closer to
anarchy than the present administration’s 65% control of society which
is closer to communism. Maybe
anarchists aren’t all bad?
Governments
around the world that are strapped with gigantic debts are cutting back on
services. Perhaps we don’t
need such big governments after all.
Write down your suggestions where government functions can or should
be privatized away from government and moved back to the private sector and
send them to me. I will publish
the best ideas in a future article.
“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible
will make violent revolution inevitable.” - John F. Kennedy
“More
law, Less justice” - Cicero
“The
greater the number of laws and enactments, the more thieves and robbers there
will be.” Lao-tzu
“Men
fight for freedom, then they begin to accumulate
laws to take it away from themselves.” Unknown
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