Government: The Essential Problem

There is one essential logical contradiction at the heart of all philosophies holding up any kind of government, or social contract.

You can't be trusted with freedom, but we can be trusted with power.

It can be seen everywhere

"You can't be trusted with drugs, but we can be trusted with the ability to arrest you for non-violent crimes"

"You can't be trusted with your money, but we can be trusted with the power to print money"

"You can't be trusted with a gun, but we can be trusted with an entire standing army."

"You can't be trusted to pay for sex, but we can be trusted to force you not to."

There are always entirely opposite moral principles applied to the people in government then everyone else.  This is why government is never a valid solution. It recognizes a problem with human interaction (or supposed problem) then offers the problem to be solved by government, and institution that is made entirely of people.

See the problem?

And even more a institution of people who have a monopoly on physical violence and are given more power over other people then then everyone else. So can't it be said that any problem of freedom can only become worse when given to the hands of government?  Can't this claim be entirely empirically and historically verified?

Everyone wants to make an exception to their own rule.

The post-modern will claim "Nothing is certain" of course they are making an exception to their own rule considering that they are making a "certain" statement that "nothing is certain".

The Marxist will claim that "people simply want to maximize profits so capitalism will never work and the government has to redistribute goods" of course the exception that the Marxist is making, is the same one most of us make, we don't apply our principles of human nature to government. If people simply try to maximize profits then aren't the people in government going to try and do the same thing? Can't this claim be empirically and historically verifiable?

Principles of morality and human nature need to applied consistently, or it needs to be explained why exactly government has opposite moral rules and principles applied to it. Do people in government has an entirely different biologically make up with entirely different motivations?  It seems to me that if anything power will attract evil, not good.

If freedom has "failed" (which it hasn't), you cannot assume by default that power works (which is doesn't), any problem under freedom can only be magnified by the existence of power and authority.

Dynamics of Culture

As I have pointed out in previous blogs, I do not define culture as how people, dress, choose to communicate, and so forth. Surely these things are "culture" but often a problem we face in language is the ambiguousness of words. There is one aspect of culture that is simply a useful way to optimize social interactions.  This aspect of culture I have no complaints with.

However is there is also a dark side of culture. Which is the subjugation of the individual to the collective.

In other words the position that your needs, your wants, your desires are not important to those of the collective (culture). Like most things cultural this is not a position one necessarily accepts, but rather assumed.  It is a default. A prejudice. A bigotry.

However the problem with culture, is that if it is accepted prejudices are not recognized as prejudices but rather as virtues. This is the corrupting power of culture.

The only times cultures recognize prejudices and bigotries is in the examination of competing cultures. For example the American right in general rejects homosexuality, the American left recognizes this as a prejudices, however they accept the basic prejudice of patriotism.  Obviously patriotism is not recognized as a prejudice to Americans, but its more then clear to any competing culture.

This is what Richard Dawkins is implying when he says "We are all atheists, some of us just go one god further". The Christian culture openly believes Zeus to be ridiculas and silly, but the Christian god a valid belief, even though the metaphysical differences between the two are not significantly different.  One simply has more cultural relevance over the other.

Now something I hope we are beginning to understand is that when I speak about culture I am not talking about American culture or Islam culture, ext... I am talking about the concept of culture as a whole.

There are many different layer and levels of culture. You can be part of a republican culture and still be within the American culture, which is a part of spread thin world culture.

However the most potent culture is the family (I am forever indebted to the philosopher Stefan Molyneux for his brilliant analysis of the family). It is out most intimate relationship with authority. And from there is builds up.

When it comes down to it all relationships are either built of mutual self-respect, which is the essence of individualism, or manipulation and intimidation which is the essence of culture.

The purpose of manipulation and intimidation is to establish obligations that cannot be established by appealing to self interest (or by means of mutual self-respect). I believe that it can be seen that is a lack of self esteem that gives people power over us and conversely it is self esteem that is the opposite of culture. It is in the hatred of the love of the collective is born.

The most essential issue of integrity is whether or not be believe in things by cultural default or because its true. If you were born believing a prejudice was a virtue how would you know it? Only by rigorous self examination and everything that he hold highest can the sincere life become possible.

So perhaps the one bigotry that I would like to uncover that should help uncover all others, is that culture is not a virtue, but a disease. An anti-human concept ridden with guilt and manipulation rather then openness intimacy, curiosity, and everything that makes life beautiful and wonderful.

About 2 years ago I came up with a maxim that changed my life forever, and I believe it will do the same for you if you take it heart.

No collective abstraction can compensate for an individuals relationship with truth.

We must be willing to stand and look and the universe as a single human being.  It is not a matter of conformity vs non-conformity, but rather conformity vs living life honestly and sincerely.