Whatever your issue is with any private individual or organisation, I guarantee that I can give you at least two examples where a government has done something much worse. Governments throughout history have committed all the evils man is capable of committing. If there is a literal Devil running around in the world, it has to be government in its various forms.
Murder – Government did it better than anyone else. See the Holocaust, the Soviet Union, the Khmer rouge, etc.
Theft – Government did it better than anyone else; see Red October, the Maoist revolution in China etc.
Rape – It is estimated that Allied troops (mostly Soviet troops, partly due to how German soldiers behaved during their invasion of the USSR) raped at least 1.4million women during the invasion of Germany. The Soviet government, in particular, knew this was going on and did nothing.
Sloth – This is exactly why we produce such mediocre matriculants. The tenured, unionised teachers don’t have to work hard because SADTU is allied to the ruling party. Government schools can’t fail financially even if the school’s contribution is nearly zero or even negative. Any government programme can only fail if one of two things happen:
1) Politicians decide to stop spending money on the program.
2) The entire economy collapses as a result of government diverting resources from productive areas of the economy to politicians’ ill-conceived pet projects.
War – Duh!
Of course, it’s no great surprise to me that governments have been able to commit all these crimes and more. What is government, after all, if not the use of violence to compel ordinary people to do what they would not otherwise do? Once you realise this, then it is no great leap to surmise that terror is a necessary tool for any government.
For the first time in history, technological progress enabled by a limited loosening of government control has allowed us to speak directly with each other no matter where we are in the world. This means we don’t have to allow governments to act as intermediaries between us; we can just talk to one another, decide the best course of action and figure out how to get it done without resorting to violence.
I am not saying that eliminating governments would eliminate all worldly evils, otherwise Somalia would be a paradise on Earth right now. I am saying that whatever need is being met by the existence of government, find people who recognise the importance of meeting that need and collaborate with these like-minded people in meeting that need without having to do evil deeds in the process. If something can’t be done without evil, it ought not be done at all. Anything less than that is the tolerance of evil.
So, if you are interested in being a good human being (I appreciate that not everyone wants to be good), live your life by love for all mankind – not just the ones that have the same skin colour as you, not just the ones that share the same religion as you, not just the ones who have as much as you or less; love everybody. That means that not matter how hard life gets for you; theft is not acceptable, murder is not acceptable and any violent act against your fellow man is immoral.
Love means that we choose not to control the actions or property of our neighbours. We allow them to exercise the freedoms we expect to be able to exercise ourselves: the golden rule (do unto others as you would have them do unto you) if you will.
This means that the moral case for government immediately disappears. Not only that, its very existence is immoral even though there are good things that governments do. The moral task that it has become necessary to undertake is the replacement of all necessary government functions with non-violent alternatives.
Technology already allows this to happen, but the problem is that governments won’t go down without a fight. They already indoctrinate millions of young people into believing that civilisation is not possible without government.
I hope good people everywhere will see the need to patiently educate our fellow human beings, if they succumb to evil, we are all lost.
Klaus Muller
I would be interested in you opinion re. dialogue amongst young Israelis & Palestinians, without interference of polititians & religious so called spokes persons
Mpiyakhe Dhlamini
That’s the solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict isn’t it, but it’s not possible to set this up if Palestinians are themselves oppressed either by Hamas or the PLO. We’ll see what happens.
Harald Sitta
Provocative and therefore good! Quote:” The stae can do only two things : waging war and devaluating the own currency” Austrian management guru Peter f. Drucker
Paining
People revolted against the Kings, Queens, Nobility and Clergy and replaced their oppression with governments run by politicians. Now we are back to square one. Politician treated like royalty and therefore acting like royalty. Wrong! They are servants of the public. What real value do they add? Do we really need them? A solid constitution overseen by wise members of society and the different arms of a democratic government, employing professionals working according to the mandate of the constitution. Politicians belong in the entertainment industry and the can get their rush by fans who are prepared to pay to listen to what they say.
Paul Ellis
Politicians are completely addicted to having power over their fellow human beings and that is what drives them, it is their drug. They show no interest whatsoever in the people they claim to represent. Dump them and become your own authority by only ever using your conscious, rational mind and never default to mysticism. You will out compete them easily and destroy their power base. They are too lazy to fight back.