The Free Radical

Legitimate Government

I know. I know. It’s an oxymoron. Especially for people like me, there’s no such thing as legitimate government.

I’m an idealist… trying very hard to be more of a realist.

In the realm of government and politics, I’m an outright anarchist. I do not believe in the ENDURING need for government. But at the same time, realistically, I understand that we can’t have a peaceful anarchy tomorrow.

My adoption of (peaceful) anarchistic principles stems from the axiom that the only possible form of perfect control is self-control… or its corollary: control initiated at the behest of external force and motivation is inefficient, incomplete, inherently violent, and doomed to ultimate failure.

Self-control is a state of spiritual maturity— and it is exceedingly rare. Why is it so lacking in our modern society? Simply because it is not valued— or even considered— when external control issued through the use of violence is continually legitimized and perpetuated.

So coming back to government… I look upon the role of government as being loosely analogous to the role of a parent raising a child. Our society is undeniably infantile, and this is a failure of government.

In the West, our governments have never seriously taken on the goal of being a good parent or shepherd. Good parents raise, protect, and educate their children with the clear intent that the children will mature and grow into independent, self-reliant paragons of competency. In the true biological parent-child relationship this only makes sense because eventually the parents will be gone one day, and the children will necessarily have to fend for themselves.

With government however, we have a very different dynamic. Government never formulates the intent to genuinely foster self-reliance and competency among the masses because government never intends to step aside. Government never chooses a diminishing role for itself. On the contrary, it rather perpetuates greater and greater co-dependency. And this is a highly dysfunctional relationship, for which we are all reaping our ‘just’ rewards.

In order for government to claim any legitimacy, in my opinion, it MUST adopt a strict goal of its own eventual irrelevance and complete dissolution. If government is successful in fostering self-control among all the members of society, obviously it is no longer needed. And perhaps it never was.

Whenever I speak or write about the perceived need for government— or rather, the true lack of any need for government— I am invariably inundated with comments about people liking roads, and running water, and sewage facilities, and such. But then I remind them— or perhaps inform them for the first time— that the town where I live, Fairmont Hot Springs, wasn’t built by any government. No, not at all. My town was built by private developers. The water system, the roads, the power supply, the handling of sewage… was all taken care of by private investors and their subcontractors. Other than the filing of appropriate paperwork, there was no government involved at all. And I strongly suspect that the same holds true for most every other town.

It’s extremely important to remember that the things which government seemingly provides were once invariably initiated through private entities… and then governments subsequently took them over. It’s a racket.

Seems legit.

(Mr. Oxy Moron by Echolyn from their 1992 album Suffocating the Bloom)