“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson
I have been facing the world’s worst case of writer’s block for quite some time now. Anyone who knows me, reads this blog or runs across this new post will probably figure that out pretty quickly. My first post on the blog since stumbling across the solution to my problem was the one redefining myself; but even so, I’ve found it insurmountably hard to write. I guess I need to keep reminding myself of this fact;
I have stopped being honest with myself. Time to tell myself the truth.
I was a libertarian for 20 years because of the idea that individuals doing the ‘right thing’ voluntarily was the best solution. Some systems require support whether we want to contribute or not though. If the answer is not then force has to be applied. Force has to be applied, otherwise human nature will dictate that no one will pay for the systems, since most people will only do what they are required to do. I have no answer for “what if people won’t pay?” other than to state “I will shoot you myself”. I don’t rely on the state anymore than I am required to; and yet the state does many things which are of use, one of them paying me for my disability. I would ask “why did I have to spend three years fighting for something which I clearly need?” you might ask “what makes you think you deserve it?” I deserve it, because I paid for 20 years on a contract that the government should honor.
I have never been an anarchist, which is (as my redefining post pointed out) what libertarians really are. I find anarchists to be some of the most delusional (and generally harmless) people around. Humans have always adhered to some form of tribal authority and work best in groups aligned on a common goal. An individual can survive but it cannot thrive without the group and it’s ‘greater than the sum of its parts’ compiled results. To suggest that we can simply do away with governments and tribal authority and replace it with nothing is to ignore reality; and the solutions offered by anarchists as a replacement don’t look any better to me than current government solutions, really any different than tribal leadership. So government exists and will continue to exist, and force will occasionally have to be applied to individuals who simply want to not have to pay for services that they will eventually use.
Studies have been conducted that show that people do not contribute to charity at a level that would make services available that are needed, necessary and require funding. Have shown that the wealthy on average contribute a far smaller percentage of their wealth than the poor and middle class do. That the wealthy feel they are entitled to the privileges of wealth, even if they are granted unfair advantage at the outset of a game designed to test just this attribute of being well off.
Every time I write on a subject that expounds on scientific findings that I’ve read, I am challenged personally by people who disagree with the findings; as if the workings of science answer to what I or they might think or believe; as if the actual path of past evolution could be altered just because we want it to be different. It remains a fact that people (in general) will avoid doing work that they think others will do given time, or if not doing it doesn’t impact them immediately. Consequently young people don’t buy health or life insurance, and bridle at being told they must invest in their future. The average person dies without ever expressing their wishes in a will, because making those plans is an admission that they will actually die someday.
So maybe that is the point of this post. What I want has nothing to do with what is, what exists and its nature. That the most I can hope for is to be able to carve out a little space for myself, preferably one not backing onto a high traffic area of the house, where I can be pestered every 5 minutes like I’m the house information system (where are my keys? Where is my phone? Is there milk in the fridge?) a place where I can find the peace to write.
