Ok not really. But, what if the government really just said fuck it and just left. But kept the military here to protect the borders. What would you think would happen in this kind of scenario?
I'm thinking it would be chaos at first. The smart people would find ways to protect their families and earn money. While the dumb ass' would end up looting and just get themselves killed real easily through greed. Kind of like Red Dead Redemption before the government tried taking over.
Riots would ensue and the rednecks would be the surviving subculture. They live off the land, don't care about hygiene, love guns, and reproduce like rabbits. They are America's future.
Anarchists around the nation would rise up in triumph, and then immediately start bitching about the lack of certain basic needs due to there being no governing structure to provide them.
Government is a naturally occurring phenomenon. If one gov walks out a new one would take it's place, or more realistically, several would and then they'd kill eachother until they can settle on border disputes. In America's case it'd break down into hundreds of feudal states/city states at first (assuming all levels of the government go away) and eventually they would unify out of practicality (trade and resource sharing) before forming their own governments and deciding where to go from there. You literally can't get rid of Government, just like you can't get rid of the police. Societies naturally create them in some form or another.
Personally i believe the only thing that facilitates the existence of government is the belief that you need special people to domesticate you. All the shitty things that people fear can happen do with governments. To Quote Weber and Doug North, a government is a monopoly of violence.
I would rise to power. I'd take the five-minute drive into America from my house and pick up all the pieces to create the fucking worst-run place imaginable.
Very minor chaos and riots would ensue but not last for long as the police and military would attempt to create stability long enough for a new government to form.
It would go to shit pretty quickly. Probably faster than in other countries due to the amount of firearms readily available and the fact that most Americans have a severe "Rambo" complex. Most of us would be all too eager to fuck each other up.
30-40% of the population would die of starvation, disease, etc. in about a year, 15% would be murdered, 20% would form communities in cities and such, and the rest would be nomadic; land pirates and such.
A bit of chaos. It wouldn't take too long until most of the states reunite together under a new government, out of practicability. I can imagine the southern states being a bit more reluctant to join up with the rest of the states however.
With no government who pays the military your logic is deeply flawed. What if President Obama revealed that not only is Tupac alive but that he and Obama are the same dude. It is also revealed that Andy Kaufman is Joe Lieberman.
" Personally i believe the only thing that facilitates the existence of government is the belief that you need special people to domesticate you. All the shitty things that people fear can happen do with governments. To Quote Weber and Doug North, a government is a monopoly of violence. "
True. It seems intellectually dubious to assume people who would do evil as part of a government would cease doing so without one.
@ch13696: America just like every other nation is filled with 95 percent of its population being morons. If it was for the other 5 percent, the masses would be slinging shit at one another. That is why there is government and religion. Tools to keep those too stupid and incompetent in check so life can go on. As you can see by this comment I am very elitist.
Heck, historically, there has ALWAYS been some type of government...even at tribal levels. It's human nature. Rules are needed, otherwise the world becomes REALLY Darwinian and I doubt most would enjoy that.
" I'm thinking it would be chaos at first. The smart people would find ways to protect their families and earn money. While the dumb ass' would end up looting and just get themselves killed real easily through greed. Kind of like Red Dead Redemption before the government tried taking over. "
people would freak out but at the same time things would for the most part keep going as usual. If there was chaos I know id be pissed because it would just prove many people to be hypocrites and I HATE BIG HYPOCRITES. Everyones hypocritical at some point, but Its very bothersome when someone is very hypocritical.
" Some corporations would take over and form a new government with their military might. "
Corporations exert their will through policy formation by capturing regulators or legislators, this is called "rent seeking". The government behaves as a market for buying access to regulatory instruments. The only difference is it's not a direct market model but an all pay auction model, which i would argue is more insidious.
It would be awesome from a bystander's perspective. The rednecks would clutch their rifles, board up their ranches, and prepare for the eventual onslaught of anarchists and thieves. No one would come, aside from the occasional neighbor looking to score some food. They'd kill a couple of their fellows, maybe even a couple anarchists looking for fun. The rest of the country would meanwhile start their move to Canada, across the sea, or even to Mexico. And America would officially be the big giant white trash stereotype that the rest of the world thinks of it as. Of course, I'm not a bystander, and I live in America. So maybe it wouldn't be all that awesome.
" @RJMacReady said: " Personally i believe the only thing that facilitates the existence of government is the belief that you need special people to domesticate you. All the shitty things that people fear can happen do with governments. To Quote Weber and Doug North, a government is a monopoly of violence. "
This
@MikeinSC said: True. It seems intellectually dubious to assume people who would do evil as part of a government would cease doing so without one. "
No government to protect them. Thats the only reason ppl that are part of the governments get away with anything is that they protect each other.
" Ok not really. But, what if the government really just said fuck it and just left. But kept the military here to protect the borders. What would you think would happen in this kind of scenario? "
Ideally, if people followed the golden rule of treat others how you would like to be treated, then people would just leave others to their business and everyone would get along. Anarachy doesn't necessarily mean chaos, you know. Plus, I feel that the people in government are able to get away with things because they are in power, and I have a fear of big government due to the more power it is allowed to take, the greater the chance that power will get abused at the cost of the citizens. If you can't tell, I think politicians are fucking scumbags :)
However, as pessimistic as I am, I think that humans are shitty in general and the stupid jackasses among us would take advantage of everything they wanted to or could think of, so the ideal place I talk about would probably be just a pipe dream.
1. Goverment is installed, 2. regulatory controlls are activated over individaul behavior 3. Firms exit the market and capture regulatory instruments 4. Profit.
1. Goverment is installed, 2. regulatory controlls are activated over individaul behavior 3. Firms exit the market and capture regulatory instruments4. Profit. "
" Some corporations would take over and form a new government with their military might. "
Corporations exert their will through policy formation by capturing regulators or legislators, this is called "rent seeking". The government behaves as a market for buying access to regulatory instruments. The only difference is it's not a direct market model but an all pay auction model, which i would argue is more insidious. "
I completely agree with you! I haven't met many other people who realize that regulation does nothing more but allow large oligopolies to continue to exist. Free market capitalism is the thing that oligopolies and monopolies fear the most I believe.
1. Goverment is installed, 2. regulatory controlls are activated over individaul behavior 3. Firms exit the market and capture regulatory instruments4. Profit. "
YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG. "
No way, every dollar invested in lobbying has a 2200 profit margin on average. If wrong is a return of 2200.00 usd for a 1 dollar initial investment then, well... what the hell is right ?
@RsistncE said:
I completely agree with you! I haven't met many other people who realize that regulation does nothing more but allow large oligopolies to continue to exist. Free market capitalism is the thing that oligopolies and monopolies fear the most I believe. "
Yeah, theres a fundamental paradox here that many advocates of government, regulation or redistributiom fail to recognize. If you create an exogenous institution that uses force to take from teh rich and give to the poor or make sure potentially destructive industry will not hurt the public you've just opened channels for it to take from teh poor and give to teh rich and sheild potentially destructive industry from consumer defection. You don't get to open Pandora's box and only get the ideal and good contents to come out. You Don't get one without the other. If you enable a superpowerfull entity to redistribute from teh poor to the rich your fundamentally enabling it to redistribute. The belief that a massive monopolistic institution that you cannot exit from is fundamentally a tool for the advancement of the good society or the "SPECIAL PEOPLE" exist that can effectively guide our decisions to optimal outcomes is not just nieve but suicidally masochistic.
Log in to comment