When I was old enough to form my own political opinions, I’m ashamed to admit that I opted for simplicity out of laziness. I thought that the role of government was to protect us from foreign invaders and from domestic violence, and that was it. Everything else (economic decisions, moral decisions) should be left to the people. In a world of the quanta, I was firmly sticking to Aristotelian physics. Why? Because it had the beauty of simplicity.
However, as Emerson put it, “truth is beautiful, without doubt; but so are lies.”
For me, its time to reform my opinions of political philosophy. I’ll be starting with the nature and role of government, and see where that takes me. I’ll be doing this without a map (isn’t that the point), so any contributions are welcome.
Firstly, I believe that government (as opposed to anarchy) is a good thing.
While I believe that the idea of governance is divinely-inspired, I don’t believe that specific individuals that govern do so because of divine appointment. In other words, instead of the divine right of kings, I believe that it is more like Hobbes’ social contract – an agreement to give up total freedom in order to protect ourselves should something happen (sounds suspiciously like insurance, now that I think about it).
But I have to stop here, because I’ve already started to overlook some unchallenged premises. Underlying the very principles of government is a fundamental acceptance of Mill’s pragmatism. In order to secure the greatest safety for the greatest number of people, some liberties would be given up under laws (by “liberty” here, I mean the ability to act as you want with no consequences other than those naturally occurring) and some people (the lawbreakers) would have to suffer more than the rest. The liberties of everyone would be given up for safety, and the sacrifice of some would be greater than that of others.
If that makes you uncomfortable, then I completely understand; however, you’ll have to tell me if you know of another way of avoiding anarchy.
So, in trite summary, government is a nationwide insurance program in which we pay a price (namely, complete liberty) in order to receive protection from disaster.
Fair enough. Now, what is the government supposed to protect us from? (This is where party divisions begin. Good times…)