What About When the Government Does Good Things?

by Austin White

Consider the occasional scenario where the police actually do catch a bad guy or reacquire a person’s recently stolen property.

Libertarians are so used to discussing the evils of the State that we can often be left speechless when the government actually does something good. Statists quickly respond “See! Government isn’t evil!” New libertarians may be left questioning the philosophy of liberty, concluding that there may be holes in it.

These scenarios are not examples of government doing good, but simply examples of government acting less evil.

If A steals B’s TV, B is perfectly justified in using force against A to get the TV back. B may hire a private investigator to aid him in tracking down A and B may ask people to voluntarily contribute money to fund this operation. B may not, however, compel C to help pay for his cause – B may not tax C. B may not lock C up in a dungeon if C doesn’t agree to contribute. B may not kill C if C resists being locked in a dungeon.

Apply this logic to government and it is quickly revealed that even when the government does something good, it first must commit the evil act of taxation to fund the procedure. People who resist paying the taxes will be jailed and those who sufficiently resist being jailed will be killed.

On top of funding its activities with violent taxation, government prohibits private institutions from fully entering the security and justice markets.

Sure, we have private security agencies like the ones that patrol big parking lots, gated communities, and Disney Land – in fact, the majority of all security in America is private and funded with voluntary user fees - but they are entirely subordinate to the government monopoly on security and adjudication. Private producers of security in America are only permitted to act within the small boundaries that the State allows them to. Because of these imposed restrictions by the State, no private security firm is currently capable of providing truly adequate services or else they would be shut down.