Government is Force

"So why didn't you break his thumb like I told you? When you don't do what I tell you to do, you make me look bad."
--Gazzo (Rocky)

Rose Wilder Lane reminds us that government is force, pure and simple. It is interesting to ponder why this truth is not put forth in the earliest of class studies concerning government.

In a free society, limited government (i.e., a small amount of institutional force) is necessary in order to protect property rights. Specialists in the use of force are hired to help individuals protect their property, broadly construed to include life and wherewithal to produce as well as accumulated property, against assault.

Were this limited government not in place, then there would be anarchy. Under conditions of anarchy, individuals are less free because they must spend lots of time merely defending their property.

The Framers understood that, given the axiomatic human tendency to seek satisfaction using less effort, government would be seen by many as a mechanism for acquiring wealth without having to engage in productive work. The Constitution was therefore established to limit the powers of government so that people could not use government as tool for expropriation.

Today, the Constitution is broadly ignored as special interest groups (SIGs) of all shapes and sizes engage in the behavior that the Framers sought to prohibit--the use of government as a wealth appropriation tool.

It therefore follows that proponents of modern government are proponents of force. No different, really, from crime bosses that enlist strong armed muscle to do their dirty work.