Tuesday, June 5, 2012

TANSTALG

I suspect that there is a minimum level of restrictions and prohibitions that emerge as a function of human social behavior. This level will be maintained regardless of the status of the "official" government, though there can always be more of these controls than necessary.

When I imagine putting a thousand people on a tropical island, I don't expect those people to form some sort of coconut-fueled libertopia, even if they are all libertarians. The first thing that will happen, is that they will figure out who's in charge.

The same thing happens in basically all societies. "Government" is not so much a thing as a process, and it will happen whenever people get together. Governing each other seems to be a typical, natural, unavoidable behavior of domesticated primates.

So, what will govern - a constitutional state that at least pays lip service to human rights, or a privately owned entity that doesn't?

A society consisting of nothing but sovereign rugged individualists who interact peacefully via free contracting is a nice idea but, like communism, it isn't realistic given how humans actually behave.

There Ain't No Such Thing As Limited Government.


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