Mind Traps Blocking a Voluntary, Moral Society (4): Human Nature

In this next installment of clearing conceptual obstacles to a free society, we will explore the category of assumptions about what humans are like and how that relates to our ability to self-organize harmoniously. A predictable and limited set of reactions to the notion of a truly voluntary civilization have kept us from deeply imagining it. That’s just what the would-be controllers want.

Mind-trap #13: Don’t we need government to organize society?

It’s human nature to organize into groups and some people just want to follow, so we need government.

The evidence is overwhelming that humans want to join together and that doing so requires organization. The key that we are trained to overlook is, “Is it voluntary?” Voluntary organizational structures — even hierarchical ones like many clubs, organizations, businesses and associations — can be very effective, productive and enjoyable … if you are free to leave it if you don’t like how it works! This is 180 degrees different from any authoritarian state — from communist or socialist to fascist or democratic. These all share in common the fact that many are being coerced into or prevented from behaviors by a few who have rights that not everyone has. There is an assumed “social contract” that is in fact not a contract at all because people were never offered the opportunity to sign on…or not.

Mind-trap #14: Aren’t people too selfish for a free society?

People are just naturally too selfish to take care of each other without authoritarian control to make them do it, so we must “balance” individual freedom with state-controlled care.

If most people currently want the state, because they think it will better take care of people, then that shows that there must be a majority of people who want others to be cared for. Since governments have always ultimately failed miserably at caring for people, we would be better off leaving the money in people’s own wallets and letting them express themselves by taking care of others. When this has been tried, people have more money and demonstrate that they take better care of others than the rulers ever have.

Decision Making

Mind-trap #15: Don’t we just need to find Enlightened Rulers?

Of course, our society is in trouble, but it is just because the Republicans won’t let the Democrats fix it (or vice versa).

Politicians from both parties are bribed with campaign “contributions” from the big corporations and banks. If their behavior diverges from service to the elite, contributions dry up and bank loans for their projects are withdrawn. So-called representatives are taken out of the game. Supreme Court decisions like Citizens United and McCutcheon only make it more blatant that politicians haven’t “represented” the people in a long time. The two party system gives the illusion of choice and hope that peace and prosperity are just an election away. Except it never goes that direction in the long run, because not only are politicians mostly people drawn to holding power over others without creating real value, but the whole system of majority rule just authorizes some to rule over others. It is a system fully rooted in violence and theft and that is a lethal threat and a moral outrage. We have had this system long enough now that only those with a vested interest and blinders on could argue that it has or will ever actually work.

Yes, the politicians’ popularity and effectiveness are very low, but all we need is to get really good “enlightened leaders” in the right positions.

No matter how bright or compassionate a politician is, at best they are ignorant of the fact that they are using “aggregated power” (the myth that some should have rights that others don’t have because they have substantial votes or money behind their preferences) to steal from their constituency and to promote their own agenda through coercion. Even the “best and brightest” among them is destined to fail in their promises to bring peace and prosperity, hope and change, because they are dominating others with the “gun behind their back” right from the get-go. Lord Acton said “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” But even before that, the desire for power over others is corruption itself. It carries the seeds of tyranny in its very soil.

Mind-trap #16: Wouldn’t “anarchy” be chaos and violence?

If we didn’t have people “governing” us, it would be “anarchy.” So there would be chaos and blood in the streets — violence and rule by the strongest. It would set civilization back centuries.

We have been indoctrinated since elementary school to equate anarchy with violence and to depend on “the state” to protect us from it. This was intentional on the part of those who would want to control us. Anarchy simply means “no rulers.” Rulers have always been the major source of death and destruction, so why would we want them? To break out of this mind trap, we must push through this myth to see that all of the functions that government is supposed to provide — security, education, welfare, conflict resolution, roads, communication, healthcare…and on and on…are in disastrous shape now and would be much better created by independent, free people — if they had the money that is vacuumed out of their lives by the taxation, inflation, regulation and corruption of government itself.

Without government, a few wealthy people would take over, control and withhold the “commons” — resources such as water, soil and roads.

They already did — because of government! With government, this is exactly what is happening. Monopolies only exist for long if promoted and protected by an authoritarian force with their own monopolies on money and force. In the free market, when prices get too high, it invites smaller competition. If service is poor, customers go elsewhere. If businesses are corrupt, it gets exposed and individuals are prosecuted.

Mind-trap #17: Isn’t it better to “dance with the devil I know, rather than one I don’t?”

Sure we are not totally free while under a state-controlled system, but I would rather go with “the devil I know” than risk what would happen with “the devil we don’t.”

Why settle for any domination, especially by what you refer to as a devil?

So how does it really feel to vote for a “devil.” When our hard earned wages are taken and given to subsidize multi-national corporations and their toxic pharmaceuticals, GMO agricultural take-overs, elites in the military industrial complex to wage their wars of resource theft, murdering of innocents and harvesting of new foreign “tax-bases”…how does that really feel inside to see these things done in your name?

Even if you could express a preference in how tax dollars are spent, isn’t that what you would already have if your money wasn’t taken from you? The most tragic thing might be that the state has killed hundreds of millions of people and continues to right now. But most shocking, perhaps, is to realize that they get their power from us. We give it to them by believing in this lethal myth that some should exert authority over others “for the good of the group.” So our beliefs are the root of the greatest horror threatening civilization and our planet. The good news is that that means we can wake up to this fact, reclaim our own minds, speak to our friends and say, “No more!”

Mind-trap #18: Isn’t it unrealistic to expect that people are enlightened and good enough to rule themselves?

No one I have spoken with wants to be violated against their will, but many have said they should be able to coerce others because most people want to be led, or the masses are not educated or intelligent enough to govern themselves. This is the ultimate arrogance that has us on the brink of self-extinction. Arrogance to me is “ignorance with attitude.” The literal meaning of “arrogance” is “unwilling to ask the questions.” Interestingly, though many are not called to leadership, I have met no one who wants leadership imposed on them. Leaders inspire voluntary teamwork. Tyrants have to threaten or buy their type of “following.”

Voluntary organizational systems are indispensable for many community functions, but that is critically different from statist hierarchies which are always based on coercion under threats of violence.

Mind-trap #19: Isn’t going for complete freedom just going too far and asking too much — just “black or white” thinking?

We have been trained since childhood to think that ethics are relative — that morals are a matter of opinion or culture. It’s a deadly lie from which we need to liberate ourselves. Beating children (or anyone else), stoning adulterers, cutting off the hands of petty thieves, caging people for growing or smoking natural plants…none of this is OK because of some idea called “culture.” These are all cruel and tyrannical violations of human beings. There are arguable subtleties about how to justly access and care for commons like the moving air, fresh water, and fisheries etc., but morality around the obvious violations involved in murder, assault, rape, theft, fraud and counterfeit need to be seen as universally wrong — all over the world, and throughout the cosmos.