Can Security Persist in a Police State?

We can go where we want to
A place they will never find
And we can act if we come from out of this world
Leave the real one far behind
--Men Without Hats

These pictures of Boston during last week's lockdown after the Marathon bombing provide a sense of what happens when we trade freedom for security. We are more safe when we stay inside while gun-toting agents patrol the streets the around us. But such a police state leaves us less free.

The same is true economically. People can become more economically secure when resources are taken from some for the benefit of others. But enhancing economic security compromises freedom.

It is questionable whether security obtained at the expense of freedom can persist in the long run. When people are less free, actions to improve and innovate are restrained. Productivity, defined as the amount of output per unit of input, under such conditions is unlikely to advance. As population grows, the amount of wealth per capita is likely to decline at some point, leaving fewer economic resources to spread around in the name of social or economic security.

With less resources to spread around, security is likely decline over time--even in a police state.