The case for government: law, order, and economic stability

¶ … w/O Government

There are times when it is tempting -- on tax day, or when the wrong political party gets elected -- to wonder if it might be better not to have any government at all. It spends your money, gets in your way with laws and regulations and seems to have a special knack for being a nuisance at all the wrong times. But government is an essential component of any modern, dynamic nation. If one considers the examples of life without government in this world -- places like Somalia or Iraq come to mind -- the case for government becomes stronger. Essentially, there are three main problems that are solved by government -- law and order, economic stewardship and job creation. This paper will outline the role of government in each of these different areas, making the case that the world would not be better without government.

Crime

Without government, criminal activity is the norm in human society. We like to think of ourselves as better than that and we are -- because we invented government and implement it most places on the planet. The first problem relating to crime is that without government, a power vacuum exists. In that power vacuum, criminal groups struggle for control, with different people fighting each other to be leader. This was the case in Afghanistan when the Soviets left, as warlords fought each other for de facto political control, which ultimately was financed by trade in heroin and guns (CADS, 2006). A similar situation has occurred in the Tari region of Papua New Guinea. The traditional tribal government system has been eroded, replaced by lawlessness that has dramatically reduced the quality of life in the area (Walters, n.d.)

The provision of law and order provides incentive for people to work and save. Without protection, they stand to lose everything that they have accumulated to criminals. This orients people to both a fast money mentality and to criminal activity. The example in Afghanistan shows that without government, drugs become a major source of income for people in the area. Militia groups like the Taliban use drug smuggling as a means of financing their criminal activities and their cruel behavior to the people living in their regions (Nelson, 2010). Drug smuggling also became widespread in Tajikistan following that country's secession from the U.S.S.R., a period in which it also suffered from chronic lack of government control over much of the country, the same areas where the drug smugglers flourished (Rashid, 2000).

Without the rule of law provided by government, the definition and punishment of criminal activity is either arbitrary (as under the Taliban) or non-existent (as in the Tari District). This cripples any attempt at economic growth -- such growth can only be achieved by the most powerful criminal groups, who have the weaponry to keep the wealth that they earn. Everyday people do not have the luxury of keeping any of their wealth -- they could even find their food animals taken by criminals, providing not even security for the necessities of life, much less the accumulation of wealth.

Economy

Beyond security, the government plays a major role in the development of a functioning economy in other ways as well. Without government, trade would stop. Trading systems have always been dependent on government. In medieval times, traders would face great risks passing through ungoverned areas to move goods -- we can still see this today off the coast of Somalia, where there is no local government to speak of and no international legal system governing piracy (BBC, 2009). In addition, the modern trading system is predicating on national governments negotiating the terms of trade. Without these negotiations, trade becomes either ad hoc in nature, or it simply shuts down. A central government also facilitates internal trade as well, and sets the terms for this trade -- for example the Commerce Clause in the U.S. Constitution has been a critical tool in the flourishing of interstate trade (Gifford, 1995), and negotiations at the WTO have facilitated a rapid growth in international trade (Effland, et al. 2008). Without government, these legal infrastructures that promote trade would disappear, taking the vast majority of trade with them.

When the movement of goods and capital is shut down, production will follow. Consider the impact of trade in the size of any major economy. Some nations such as Hong Kong and Singapore are entirely dependent on trade. But even in the U.S., trade is a critical component of the American economy. Exports from the U.S. are worth $1.27 trillion annually, accounting for 8.7% of the total U.S. economy (CIA World Factbook, 2011), and the U.S. has the world's largest internal market. For most other nations, trade is even more important -- 30% of Canada's economy is based on trade, for example (Ibid). Without trade, both internal and external, production will be dramatically reduced because the size of the economy will be dramatically reduced. The economy will essentially revert to a subsistence economy.

Government also plays a role in the distribution of wealth. When governments were weak in medieval times, the rich held all the wealth and power to the detriment of the poor. As government improved, the distribution of wealth improved. Taxes were used to educate the masses, to provide critical transportation and communication infrastructure, and to facilitate the growth of key industries. By leveling the economic playing field, more people have been able to become wealthy, to the point where even a relatively poor American today lives a life that his or her great-grandparents would have considered to be luxurious. As we can see, government not only plays a critical role in the creation of wealth, but also its distribution, something that if done right will benefit all of society.

Freedom

It is argued that government restricts freedom. The freedom of movement is something that government constricts, for example through border and immigration policy. However, without government the inherent lawlessness of the world greatly restricted travel as well. Not only was it not safe to travel but there were few means. Transportation as we know it has been facilitated by government policy and investment. Another argument is that there would not be wars without government. While this may technically be true, this does not imply that there would be no conflict. The conflicts would simply be smaller, for example the mini-wars between drug gangs in Afghanistan or between rival religious factions in Iraq. Replacing war with this type of conflict hardly represents an improvement.

Conclusion

People may complain about high taxes, bad policies or even corruption, but ultimately government fills a significant role in human endeavor. As government quality has improved, the result of advances in government generated in the U.S., the UK, France and other major Western nations, so to has global security, internal security, world trade, wealth creation, wealth distribution, economic freedom and a whole host of other things that can only be considered positive. The world without government consists of places nobody would ever want to go, places that most people are trying to escape from -- lawless lands with no economy, no jobs, no opportunity, no hope, no security and at the end of the day, no freedom either. The only answer to promoting economic growth, creating jobs and controlling crime is a strong government. People may disagree on the type of government or how it should work, but without it, the good life as we know it would not exist.

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