Politics = Exploitation

"Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. " John Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton

Government power is no exception. It is much more 'absolute' than private power.

Government legislates (socializes) the size and extent of The Commons. Human nature seeks to exploit that Commons which leads to The Tragedy. It follows that limiting government also limits the tragedy.

Administering laws, rules, regulations, limitations and mandates add to the cost of living. So do monitoring and policing activities to ensure compliance and obedience.

The opposite of 'socializing' is privatizing.

Since laws steal choices and make you obey other people's choices it makes sense to minimize the number of laws in order to maximize your choices. A free market offers you more choices while government offers fewer.

If BIG government is so beneficial to society why did the Soviet Union implode? Why do people who chose socialism in Venezuela now live in misery when it has immense oil resources? Why did communist China turn to capitalists to escape from misery and become a very rich country? Why is the US in decline and besieged by problems? Why does insolvency threaten all levels of government?

The opposite of BIG is small. These Two Countries Are Great Examples Of Why Small Governments Work.

There are places where government is both small and voluntary. They exist even in Canada. Unlike Canada's single payer government health care, this gets no attention from our press. A local service district (LSD) is a unit of local governance in the Canadian province. These provide and finance (through local taxation) limited services such as water supply, fire protection, street lighting, animal control, planning and development services, garbage disposal, in some cases sewerage, and cost-sharing with other areas. Officials are elected. The 'Mayor' might be a fisherman who performs his duties for no pay. So it is with the Treasurer. When the water supply system needs repair or attention assigned people fix it voluntarily. Other tasks or functions are performed by contract with other entities. How much more 'libertarian' can it get?

Volunteerism:

People who join Neighborhood Watch groups essentially offer themselves as unpaid extensions (eyes) of government police powers.

Volunteer firefighters are unpaid employees of a local fire department.

Sports teams for children need not be functions of government schools. They can be organized, managed, coached, umpired and otherwise operated by volunteers.

Voluntary action was much more common and accepted before BigGovernment evolved from small government. Examples are endless: Red Cross: Boy Scouts; Salvation Army; Community festivals and celebrations. Click here for more examples.

The next big market wave will be products that replace and compete with government services.

Cryptocurrencies are young and still have many issues. But they have heralded the coming upset in the financial system, which is the rock upon which the government builds its power.

Private towns and communities are growing more popular as the public loses trust in traditional cities to deliver basics like clean water and safe streets.

Businesses are springing up solving all the problems that government has not.

The citizen-government relationship is not consensual. We are at the government’s mercy, whether we like it or not. But there is always another business we can patronize or work for. The customer’s ability to withdraw support is a major motivator of good behavior. People need to be able to exit relationships in which they do not see the value. This is usually difficult with government.

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People tend to resist impositions they oppose.

Legal means of escape - Avoidance:

To legally avoid getting socialized into The Commons for exploitation is another way to reduce your costs. Ways include; voting with your feet to less costly governments; outsourcing to less costly governments; buying politicians to write exclusions, deductions, exemptions to regulations for you; buying politicians to get contracts or favors that compensate for costs; and other more innovative options.

 Here are some examples.
 Here are some in England.

Illegal means of escape - Evasion:

Beyond avoiding unwanted costs is ignoring them. 'Sactuary' cities towns and states are being formed for political resistance to immigration laws and 2nd Amendment restrictions.

The ‘black market’ is actually an illegal free market. Examples include selling drugs, sex, untaxed cigarettes - but the list goes on. The black market was very necessary in the old Soviet Union where government control did its work enthusiastically to the detriment of people. Soviet born, Victor Orlov, will tell you the black market can mean the difference between surviving or not.

Puerto Ricans naturally distrust their government... And that’s why nobody here cares what the government says. (see here)

What is decreed illegal for people can be legal for government.

• Prohibition made the alcohol business a crime and created a black market for alcohol before government exploited that industry for taxes.
• Gambling was decreed a crime until government found it profitable.
• State governments are starting to legalize (and tax) production and trade of marijuana.
• It is illegal for people to print money yet the government does it at will. Can some clever bureaucrat devise a way to tax forgery?
• Deceptive accounting is a crime for all but government institutions.
• Illegal surveillance of Americans by the ‘security’ apparatus has been growing.
• Much of what the CIA does violates foreign laws.

Looting is illegal everywhere outside of government. Civil disobedience has again come to the USA. Looting has been adopted by We, the People. Looting is not libertarian but libertarians may need to take action. Here is another place where following the law can be harmful to health.

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