Institutionalizing Aggression Among the Peaceful

"There will come a day when you will wish that you had done a little evil to do a greater good."
--Sybilla (Kingdom of Heaven)

Statists prefer to employ the strong arm of government to advance their interests, whether those interests involve material gain or psychic income obtained from furthering a social agenda. Most statists do not consider themselves violent sorts. Yet they are serve as principals of violence who contract with government agents to exert force on others for personal gain.

Statists face a cognitive dissonance problem. Although they view themselves as peaceful, they sanction acts of aggression against others.

To cope with the mental stress generated by this inconsistency, statists must interpret reality in a manner that provides psychological relief. Some statists might view some offensive force as necessary for the advancement of society. However, that explanation would keep their psyches on the hook for fostering violence. As such, it should be a minority justification among statists.

Statists are more likely to rationalize government as an instrument of peace rather than of aggression. Government is seen as an institution of benevolence. Or, alternatively, government is a defensive mechanism that engages in actions that protect people from harshness in the world. In either case, the strong arm of government is seen as furthering good.

To cope with the obvious counter that doing good for some might mean, for instance, taking property from others under threat of force, statists must once again construct explanations that keep mental stress to a minimum. One such argument is that actions such as paying taxes are 'voluntary' acts, not a shakedowns. Rather, people have implicitly agreed to paying taxes as part of a latent 'social contract' in force as a condition of living in 'civil' society.

Such rationalizations create one of the great paradoxes of social life. They serve to institutionalize aggression among people who view themselves as peaceful.