The Serpent

"When we call to the attention of the minarchist that his setup places a venomous serpent atop society, he is apt to reply that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. But please note, dear minarchist, that if you did not put the snake in place to begin with you would have much less, if any, need for such onerous vigilance, a task that we know many will fail to carry out." - Robert Higgs

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A minarchist is a believer in the need for a minimal night watchman state for the security of society. I don't recall the source off-hand, but it has been said that a minarchist believes too much government is a bad thing, so therefore government should only have a total monopoly in a handful of the most important things in society. This clearly demonstrates the fundamental flaw in such a position.

I once adhered to this belief myself, but have since learned the nature of centralized political authority, the perverse incentives economic and psychological that assail those who gain such power even if their intent is virtuous, and how rarely the virtuous seek such power. I can no longer support this belief. Politics is not the means whereby wise men rein in the excesses of society bent on self-destruction, but rather whereby base men seek gain at the expense of others.

Yes, there are real problems which governments claim to address, but these claims ring hollow under serious examination. We need decentralized solutions and voluntary choice, not dictates and coercion. Until that is realized, there will be no real solution to poverty, health care, education, crime, or any of the other matters used to gin up support for the political class and their usurpations.

The mistakes or malice of people in power can only bring harm to all under their power. Since people in power will always suffer from the lack of actionable information and their own biases, the only result can be chaos even if they are people of magical virtue, and such do not tend to win in the game of politics anyway.