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Pundits always forget that the number one reason for the state is to enforce the monopoly on violence. People want order rather than chaos This predates democ
by RcouF1uZ4gsC 2y ago
Pundits always forget that the number one reason for the state is to enforce the monopoly on violence.
People want order rather than chaos
This predates democracy by millennia.
Thus if there is widespread chaos and disorder, people usually want the state to step in and restore order using all its resources.
- kenjackson 2y agoThat's why police are generally for though. Or even the national guard. Outside of MPs, the military generally isn't trained to serve the people they are put in place to restrain -- hence a lot of issues overseas when military attempts to do this. Domestically they'd have FAR less slack for any mistakes.
- Izkata 2y agoThe National Guard is a branch of the military though, unlike the police.
- analog31 2y ago"Monopoly on violence" always sounds scary, but the alternative is what... A duopoly on violence? It's worth reading Njal's Saga from Iceland. They had a government with no monopoly on violence, and the saga is essentially about an endless blood feud. Short of eliminating violence altogether, restricting it to one institution, that is democratically controlled, may be the best that we can hope for. Only a single "owner" of violence has a chance of keeping it at bay.
- reducesuffering 2y agoThe crux of Hobbes' Leviathan since 1651
- drewcoo 2y ago> People want order rather than chaos No, people want safety. But it's easier to enforce "order," so there's a bit of a bait and switch.