While watching Glenn Beck the other night I noticed something that needs to be addressed. When people hear of services being cut by government, most people assume that the service will disappear completely. While this could happen, one must also remember that if the service is demanded, there will always be someone to supply it.
When people hear the ideas behind Anarcho-Capitalism, those that cannot imagine what a free market society truly is conjure up images of people running in the streets committing insanely violent acts against others. While this is far from what would really happen under a shift towards freedom, these ideas need to be combated if we are ever to see success in rolling back the size and scope of government.
A lot of people fear that all these “great” services provided by government will disappear. For instance, if people were to cease paying taxes, would public education disappear? Short answer. Yes. Public education would disappear. But would education disappear? No. Private schools would flourish. People would simply pay to send their children to private schools instead of paying the government to provide a school. Standards in education would probably increase and the cost would most likely decrease since people will not have to subsidize the free riders that currently exist.
Can anyone really imagine a society where none of the services that we need would be provided without the government thieving money from us to make it happen?
The notion that the fire department would disappear and that police would be non-existent is foolish. Remember, the first fire department in human history was privately operated free of government. So clearly people can coordinate such things without being extorted by their congressman or local central planner.
In today’s world of out of control government growth, the advocates against Big Government need to embrace the ideal of a truly free and voluntary society. Government will always seek more power, no matter what reforms you put in place. When we advocate for a voluntary society, and push the dialogue towards freedom and away from semi-checked statism, we will only then start to achieve victories. Until the tone of the dialogue changes, we are in trouble from the next brand of central planners that come to power under the disguise of the Republican Party.
This post originally appeared at LibertyMovementHQ.com.
