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Why do you assume that the person whose money the government "steals" would have made any of that money in the absence of government? How would they buy and sel
by abenga 13y ago
Why do you assume that the person whose money the government "steals" would have made any of that money in the absence of government? How would they buy and sell goods or services without legal tender mandated by a government, enforce contracts arising therefrom without a legal system that is a part of government, that your borders would be secure without a military and police force (or service) paid for by government, that you'd move yourself, goods, services, and information without transport and communications infrastructure funded by government?
We may assume that in the absence of government, we'd have the same economic station as we do, forgetting that that wealth we do have is the result of the whole economic system we have now, including the government, imperfect as it may be. Without government, you'd get to keep all of your income (all the income that the marauding bandit with a bigger gun than you lets you keep) but it would be far, far lower than the amount of wealth you now possess.
You could argue that you don't need a "government" for any of these things, that communities could come together and provide them without the "government" stepping in. Of course any administrative mechanisms the community puts in place to manage these will very quickly begin to look very like the "government" we despise.
- snitko 13y agoLike it was said in some comment below, there is no shortage of ideas of how a society would work in the absence of government. Yet people mostly ignore them and ask the same questions again and again, not even willing to hear the answer. I recommend reading Murray Rothbard, David D. Friedman and Stefan Molyneux. And I would like to answer one of your questions specifically: "How would they enforce contracts arising therefrom without a legal system" by pointing you to an Bitcoin-related idea by a friend of mine: http://blog.oleganza.com/post/58240549599/contracts-without-trust-or-third-parties http://blog.oleganza.com/post/58240549599/contracts-without-...
- abenga 13y agoMy qualms are not about whether such a society working starting now, since they would be building upon a foundation (infrastructure, ideas to founders due to education from public institutions, a generally prosperous society, etc.) already laid by previous generations, with the help of (or despite hindrance by) government institutions. I do wonder though whether some projects of grand scale that work for the greater good at the detriment of or discomfort of a disadvantaged few, e.g. roads or railway lines cutting through people's property would work in such a society, really (even now with eminent domain and coercion at work, the NIMBY brigade manages to block a large numer of such projects). One may say that if you offered a high enough price people would agree to sell the land, but there are many reasons people would refuse to let go (sentimental reasons, ancestors' burial grounds, etc.). I'll be the first to admit I'm ignorant about these ideas, though.