Government as a corporation

[Daly]

The other day my girlfriend and I were talking about what the transition would be like from our current government run economy to an economy without a government.  She is very curious about what life would be like without a government but has serious doubts of anarchism ever becoming a reality.  I began asking her questions about these doubts and she brought up a good point which is that too many people fear life without a government to ever make the leap.  I frequently run into this wall when talking to others which seems to be this underlying fear that people have of chaos ensuing without a government.  This brought me to thinking of a new way of easing people into the idea of life without a government and I wanted to hear your thoughts on it.  What if we lessened the power of the government to that of a corporation?  Consider the government to be a one stop shop for a variety of services.  Then everybody who fears life without a government can voluntarily choose to receive the benefits that our government currently provides and they will continue to pay taxes as usual except now it is voluntary.  Others, like myself, will no longer be forced to pay taxes but instead can pay only for services that they feel will benefit them.  I realize that this situation is really getting rid of government all together and just labeling a corporation as the government but I also feel like it would provide those disbelievers with some comfort during a transition.  Any thoughts?

[carlip]

Well considering that corporations as we know them can buy government, I'm not sure that's a very good approach. A good deal of young people have a Marxist view in which corporations are bad, which could set them even further from our view.

 

As far as a one stop shop for a variety of services, well that's already the idea, if you can afford it.

 

It's a tough spot for us to be placed in. We took off our blindfold and can now see the wall coming. I don't blame people for being worried about the end of government. I think the best thing we can do is just let it all go. Anything our dear leaders try will be like trying to plug the hull of the titanic with a biscuit.

[ribuck]

... too many people fear life without a government to ever make the leap ... What if we lessened the power of the government to that of a corporation?

 

That reminds me of a dream I had a few months ago. In my dream, the freedom movement in the UK suddenly swelled (as a result of some current events) and I was swept into power as Prime Minister. Of course I started to dismantle the state. At first it went well, but before I could eliminate the state completely, there was a welling-up of fear of life without government.

 

So I packaged up the remaining pieces of the state into a DRO called "The Firm". Those who wanted to, joined The Firm and lived their statist lives to their heart's content. Everyone else lived voluntaryist lives. It worked out really well in the dream!

[Pepin]

The government is very much like the negative conception of a corporation, yet with an involuntary aspect. For many liberals, they tend to project onto government onto the business sector.

 

When dealing with the "people will run wild" assertion/feeling, I would approach it in different ways depending on the person.

 

Me: Is there a rational behind this claim, or is it a gut feeling

Them: It is both. My reasoning would be that since the government provides law enforcement, courts, and other essential services that when these services collapse, people will act on their immoral nature.

M: When you say act on their immoral nature, what do you mean?

T: Many people are likely to steal. Whenever there is a crisis, there are always people who break into shops and take as much as they can. There are likely to be more murders because without a investigation team ready to swoop in, the probability of getting caught is rather small.

 

There would be many routes to go here, and it would depend on the person's values. If for instance someone accepted that taxation is theft and were knowledgeable of the level of democide, it would be quite effective to ask if they are accounting for that in their assessment. If they already accept that and it seems like this is more of a technical "in transition" type question, bringing it up might annoy the person, and it ought to be addressed far differently. 

 

M: The latest statistics I've seen is that 2.75 trillion is being stolen from people every year within US borders with unfunded liabilities of around 70 trillion which unborn people will be forced to pay. This money and debt is being used to fund wars which results in the death, imprisonment, and displacement of an incalculable amount of innocent people. There is one calculation that 250 million have been murdered by their own government alone. When comparing the private to public crime statistics, the differences are rather hard to grasp. I say all of this just to make sure we are on the same page, that in the absence of a state, private people will not only commit roughly the same amount of crimes as the government does, but will far surpass it?

 

My advice would be to help them clarify their position, and bring their claim into the real world.

[FreedomPhilosophy]

Please take a look at my program called Empire Law and the links below it on YouTube. I think I have answered a lot of the issues.

[FreeThought150]

The government essentially IS a corporation. The only thing that separates the government from "private" corporations is the following:

- a monopoly of the use of violent force

- revenue is generated through violent force instead of the sale of products or services, or through the assumption of debt levels that no organization would ever be allowed to take on if they could not make their own rules and ignore them

- "customers" do not have a choice what services they wish to "purchase"

- collusion and other unethical business practice is not illegal for the government

 

There might be more but that's the brief, short version.