Do We Need Government? Case Study: Trick-or-Treating
One of the arguments I hear from my Statist friends goes something like, "People are bad and government keeps them in check." The critique of the voluntaryist position then turns into, "Why do you hate regulation? What do you want to decrease human wellbeing?"
Voluntaryists are not against regulation.
Voluntaryists are against illogical systems which don't work effectively for their stated purpose. They are for effective regulation which is moral and peaceful. They are against regulation which ultimately comes down to a monopoly use of violence in a geographic region, often against peaceful people. Whenever a non-natural monopoly is in place, and it is enforced via threats of violence, corruption is sure to follow along with the attraction of power-hungry psychopaths.
So let's look at an example of regulation that actually does work:
Your neighborhood kids on Halloween collecting candy from (mostly) random strangers.
If we truly believe government regulations (i.e. those backed by a centralized power with a monopoly on the use of force) bring about the very best outcome as far as protecting the innocent and ensuring wellbeing isn't diminished, why oh why do we not have federally-approved Halloween candy inspectors going through everyones' homes on October 31st, inspecting the candy they plan to hand out?
Think of the children!
If we truly think government regulations work best, how could we possibly leave it up to (supposedly evil) individuals not to poison our children we love so much? There is no government regulation here. No one checking up to see if that candy bar you're giving out is past the expiration date or has peanuts in it or too much sugar for the hyperactive kid with ADD. Nothing. Zero regulation by government.
Surely the body count each year must be in the hundreds, if not thousands! There must be an epidemic of poisonings or razor-blade-infused candy apples, right?
You know how many cases have been documented?
Zero.
According to Wikipedia:
No cases of strangers killing or permanently injuring children this way have been proven.
The stories you hear around Halloween about candy-related deaths on the mainstream fake news?
Folklorists, scholars, and law enforcement experts say that these stories have been "thoroughly debunked".
You may not like Snopes, but at least appreciate the content on this one. Or check out Mental Floss' article describing A Brief History of Sick People Tampering With Halloween Candy (basically, it doesn't happen).
So how is this possible? How can a completely unregulated event involving millions of people each year have no serious, ongoing problems?
The Answer: Effective Regulation
Voluntaryists are not against regulation. They simply want effective regulation. Good ideas don't require force. Human beings respond to the social pressure of their peers. Most neighborhoods are made up of people among the same socio-economic status. The reason kids aren't poisoned every year (or any year, for that matter) is because people are, on the average and as a whole, good. No one needs to come with threats of force so that parents and neighbors trick-or-treat a certain way or hand out specific candy while avoiding others or politely declining involvement by leaving their porch light off. These things happen automatically and spontaneously as an emergent property of our social species.
People intrinsically know (even the small percentage of sickos out there), that neighborhoods would not tolerate anyone abusing their children via poisonous candy. The parents and neighbors police themselves and so far it has worked flawlessly. Not a single documented, verified case of abuse. That's pretty amazing, but for voluntaryists, it's not really all that surprising. It's one of many confirmations that removing government force and regulation would actually increase human wellbeing. Individuals would take personal responsibility for the things they value and wish to protect. Neighborhoods would self-regulate and come up with their own community standards and social norms.
Human wellbeing would increase.
We are a species that thrives when given autonomy, liberty, and freedom. Our creativity goes up along with our wellbeing. People aren't inherently bad, we just need the effective regulation of our peer groups through social norms. We need false regulation via the threat of violence to get out of the way. The peaceful parenting movement is growing as we better understand human brains and how they function. Violence and threats of violence simply do not work effectively over the long term.
Let's move beyond the imaginary borders of nation states built through war and conquest. Governments do not have your best interests in mind because their monopoly on violent force attracts the worst of our society. We know this to be true. It's time we get the courage to stop believing the myths and lies about how much we need government. It's time we look to examples like trick-or-treating and realize the truth. Effective regulation does not requiring government force.
The reason I feel passionately about anarchy and voluntaryism is because I wouldn't want even one child to be poisoned on Halloween. I wouldn't trust government to effectively regulate something so important. Millions of individuals working together are needed to regulate that event, which is exactly what happens each and every year.
Next time you think we need a government service, ask yourself if it we could make it work like trick-or-treating.
Thank you for sharing these ideas far and wide. It all starts with education.
gov keeps them in check lol ! man that's a good one
It baffles my mind how otherwise rational people point to government as the solution.
the indoctrination can be strong
Good point. How do you apply this practice when raising your kids? I don't think the idea that time outs and "controlled violence" is the best way to correct bad behavior. It's just hard to find what works when you are trying to lead by example, and every corrective experience you ever had as a kid was delivered by pain and limitations.
I should do another post on peaceful parenting. It's challenging to break out of the molds which were cast for us by our parents. Finding appropriate ways to deal with destructive, juvenile behavior is very difficult. We don't have it all figured out, and we still struggle often with not yelling (especially when one child is hurting another one). I've read some good books, but I'd also love to see more practical trainings and examples we can all follow.
I remember seeing that post, I will go back and read it. We have been trying: Your Self-confident Baby by Magda Gerber http://amzn.to/2jKEhKM it has been very helpful.
I've been meaning to pick up some more parenting books. Thanks for the reminder!