Basically, should this industry be in the hands of the government or the people?
In almost every instance, the answer is the people. This is because people create competition, while governments are self-imposed monopolies. Furthermore, as time marches onward, the very few industries that the government is best for dwindle away.
Currently, the number of industries the government *does* manage is far greater than what they *ought to* manage.
This is because, through the process that I have explained in my two articles prior, society has moved from one phase of progress to the next.
The biggest changes in the production of wealth occur when the government moves away from an industry that the private sector gains the ability to manage properly. Thus, society progresses in leaps and bounds when all the prerequisites click into place that signal the government's time to move on.
It is technology that allows us to progress, and it is the reduction of government that signals progression.
It is technology that allows us to progress, and it is the reduction of government that signals progression.
The Phases of Progress:
- Dependency
- Expansion
- Freedom
A brief explanation of these:
In the Dependency phase, humans have so little an ability to produce that they are forced to rely on each other for survival. In this phase, the government must manage extractive industries, which is likely the only type of industry to exist.
In the Expansion phase, production capability has increased to the point where man is freed from men. People can now manage all extractive industries, as well as all manufacturing and services industries, which have appeared since this time. This society now has the ability to fight corruption, which is the process of political leaders extending the role of government into aspects of society where they serve only as a hinderance to progress. Corruption must be fought with the aid of a military however, which is better managed, even at this time, by a government. The government should exist to provide and use (where appropriate) a military, but nothing more.
In the Freedom phase, corruption has been annihilated and capitalism reigns across the globe. Nations disassemble, and governments resign their authority. The people manage all existing industries.
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Note that these phases oftentimes where a society could fully progress from one phase to the next, its government often prohibits it from doing so- and it lies somewhere in between. Currently, although nearly all of humanity has been outside the dependency phase for many thousands of years, there is not a society in the world with a government that acts accordingly. This is because of corruption, which must be fought by the people, through democracy, within one's own nation.
But where peaceful means of eliminating corruption become impossible, it is the role of other nations to intervene. That is the duty we have as people, and that is the role government must play until the industry of warfare, unique to all other industries, falls out of existence.
Corruption, it seems, is at the heart of the problems of our day. Where government should be shrinking it has grown, and where able militaries should be stamping out the oppressive and spreading the goods of capitalism, they sit idly in the name of peace. Should this pattern continue, this is the manner in which we will watch our world decay.
Yes, while government is often the cause of many problems in society today, there is a definite reason why it exists: to prevent corruption between people. The third "phase of progress" can never truly exist because corruption in man and conflicts between people is universal and will always exist.
ReplyDeleteConsidering that all men are equal, there must be a presiding authority to settle these conflicts between men. The Government then exists to fulfill this role of establishing justice. Therefore, the government needs to be more than just a simple military force as you state in the "expansion" phase. Laws and regulations are needed, as long as they are not absurd or too constricting. These laws are not the source of injustice as you state, but actually designed to protect the just from the unjust.
There is often the case of projects that benefit mankind in general. Private persons or companies cannot, and have no reasons to, do projects that provide people with amazing benefits. Take for example the Freeway system we have throughout America. No company in the world would ever build something like this, but the government did for benefit of it's citizens in general and so provided the amazing route of transportation we have now.
I'm not saying that the government is always altruistic. In most cases, individuals will always be better at managing at providing for their own lives. But there is a reason we have government today, and it is much more than just providing a military.
Adam, I agree that it's unlikely for any one person or company to take on the extensive project of an entire freeway system, but we do know that corporations build roads- like toll roads- and so I don't find it unreasonable to assume that without a government multiple companies would take care of the road construction industry. Indeed, it is better that multiple companies are a part of it, as this provides competition for these companies to do what they do better.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that we need laws for the reasons you describe, I just don't see why national law *must* be a matter of the government. Why not turn the industry over to the people and allow them to choose from multiple different private defense agencies rather than be forced to pay for "the police". Once again- this way competition could come into play, and competing "police forces" would have to offer better and cheaper services to stay in business, which is better for everyone.
The private sector manages nearly everything better than the government due to competition. National defense is an exception for a number of reasons, but seems to be one of a kind in today's world.