From: drewmc@NeXTwork.Rose-Hulman.Edu (Matthew C. Drew)
Subject: Re: May the best man win
Reply-To: drewmc@NeXTwork.Rose-Hulman.Edu (Matthew C. Drew)
Organization: Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 1992 18:25:27 GMT

In article <1992Apr15.093408.6379@CS.ORST.EDU> williaj@mist.CS.ORST.EDU  
(Jeffrey Paul Williams) writes:
> 
> 
> 
> 
> VOTE "NO" FOR PRESIDENT!!!!!!!
> 
> 
> Or be like the real overlords we claim to be and vote for yourself.
> 
> 
> PS: Not a statement in support of anarchy.

What is wrong with a little anarchy now and again?

    Anarchy is a viable social arrangement which has its roots in 
capitalism and the liberal tradition.  The liberal tradition -- the 
conception of self-ownership -- developed governments which were supposed 
to protect as much as possible the natural rights of citizens.  There is 
always the reservation against abolishing ALL government because of the 
common misconception that government is a 'necessary evil': certain 
functions of government, such as the courts and police, cannot be provided 
in the absence of a government.  An Anarchist, being essentially a radical 
capitalist, believes that all services the government now provides 
(including police and courts) can be provided better and cheaper through 
competition.
    The claim that justice could not be served without government 
appointed and supported courts can be shown to be fallacious by examining 
the success of arbitration firms throughout the years.  Arbitration is 
merely two parties agreeing that a third will decide their dispute without 
resorting to a court.  Arbitration is used in a myriad of situations, from 
baseball players' salaries to labor/management disputes.  Obviously, if 
there were a belief that the arbiters were not fair, then they would not 
continue to be used.  Since, for the arbitration firm to remain in 
business, its decisions must be perceived as fair to both parties, it 
should be plain that consistently better judgements will be reached there 
than in a court of law, where the judge is responsible to no one.  (He is 
in fact more likely to side with government against the individual because 
of who is paying his salary and who can remove him from office; thus 
showing a distinct bias for one side, making justice harder to reach).
    Police protection which is not monopolized by the state will provide 
as much protection for each citizen as he wants and is willing to pay for. 
In the current system, some people already are resorting to private 
protection services because they do not feel the government provided 
service meets their needs.  There is no more telling argument against a 
public police force than that people are supporting it with their tax 
dollars and not receiving a level of protection with which they are 
comfortable.
    Not many people would argue that secondary government services 
(education, mail, etc.) wouldn't be improved by privatization.  I would 
argue that ALL "government" services would be improved by privatization.  
And at the same time services are provided cheaper and better, the liberal 
tradition will reach its apex.  While government exists, it holds the 
threat of force over the heads of its citizens: remove that threat, and 
people will achieve true liberty.  The expansion of liberty, along with 
the removal of the threat of force which government represents, seems a 
convincing argument for the anarchist position.



Note: Many of the arguments above were drawn from Murray N. Rothbard's 
essay, "Society without a State."
--
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| Matthew C. Drew                        drewmc@nextwork.rose-hulman.edu |
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|  "I heartily accept the motto, 'That government is best which governs  |
|  least;' and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and      |
|  systematically.  Carried out, it amounts to this, which I also        |
|  believe -- That government is best which governs not at all."         |
|                                -- Henry David Thoreau                  |
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