Why are you protesting, what do you hope to accomplish as a result, and what are you doing to ensure your means are properly directed toward your desired end?
As I write this post, the conflict between the government and the populace over the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police is escalating, but this isn't the first time such protests have happened. Unfortunately, it probably won't be the last, either. I hope this post can be timeless and thought-provoking despite the immediate cause that spurs me to write.
Most protesters are rightfully indignant at political injustice and the violations of individual rights at the hands of government officials, but they don't have a solution in mind. After all, we were all taught in school that government represents us and serves our interests despite the mountains of evidence to the contrary.
If my observations are correct, what pitfalls do we face? How do our demands for reform keep getting derailed? Why does change never mean "more liberty?" Perhaps our means are not actually suited to our ends at all. Or perhaps the ends we think we want are half-measures or dead ends.
Do you want to push the system to apply its laws consistently, and ensure its enforcers are held to the same standards as the rest of us? The status quo indicates that is not the intent of the system in the first place, and demanding occasional exceptions won't change the pattern overall.
The nature of government is to carve out exceptions for the political class. After all, everything they do starts with coercion rather than consent. We are born into their political system and told we must comply or die. That is inherently uncivilized, no matter how polished the veneer of civility.
Such a system cannot function if it applies the same standards to itself that it imposes upon the general populace.
Is the end goal pushing incumbents to resignation? "Vote the bums out"? An indictment, arrest, and trial? What about a new government program that promises wealth and prosperity via a new bureaucracy?
How well has that worked so far? The record of history is mixed at best. Changing the occupants of an office avoids asking whether the powers assumed by that office are legitimate in the first place. But that more fundamental question rarely sees political discourse. Reform? Sure. Perpetual reform efforts are always under way, it seems.
And the result has been a cancerous growth of the State every time as it consumes more and more of our lives.
Do you want a full revolution? Tar and feather them, run them out of town on a rail, bring out the guillotine!
But what is the usual result of such actions? Meet the new boss, same as (or worse than) the old boss. The people who want to spearhead such revolutions are often narcissistic authoritarian sociopaths from the same mold as the current political class, and their goal is personal aggrandizement, not quiet liberty. They want to be the new masters in place of the current ones. They want to fill the power vacuum they create.
The French Revolution led to Napoleon, a series of further revolutions, restoration of monarchy, and a massive waste of life and property as various would-be rulers squabbled over how they were going to impose their wills upon the populace at large. The Russian October Revolution against the Czars led to Stalinist authoritarianism and its accompanying genocides and poverty. And these are just the biggest and best-known such revolutions. And when such revolutions have failed, the power being opposed always grew, instead.
BURN IT ALL TO THE GROUND!
No. The mindless riots of senseless destruction are completely counterproductive, no matter how cathartic violence may feel in the moment. This response drives the wider population into the arms of the State as they seek the protection it claims to offer, despite the incident of governmental abuse that sparked unrest in the first place.
There may be a short-term benefit to targeting government buildings where the agencies responsible for oppression are housed, but even here, collateral damage must be avoided. As a case in point, even if we suppose the Oklahoma City bombing was a legitimate act of violent protest, the deaths of children in a daycare was inexcusable, and I have some deep suspicions about that event that prevent me from endorsing anything about it whatsoever.
The political process is what built the mess we see today. Civil disobedience is an effort to persuade the powers that be to loosen their grip. Revolutions seek to replace the powers that be with new versions of the same. Riots seek to out-do the powers that be in violent waste.
So what are we to do? Nothing? I know my outlook seems gloomy. None of the proffered courses of action work. So what is left? Apathy?
Hardly.
We do need to build a new society, but it must be done without begging for permission. Just do it. Look at the internet, cryptocurrencies, farmer's markets, black markets, illegal immigration, and all the other aspects of society that operate outside the government's regulatory oversight. That is where we see a truly vibrant frontier of progress, and we can work toward using such tools to build a peaceful and prosperous society within the rotting corpse of the old, like new growth around a rotten log in the forest.
We may need to prepare for violence, because the government is the root of all monopoly power, and it cannot tolerate competition, because it cannot compete when people have choice. However, any violence that cannot be avoided must be applied wisely. We must remember that collateral damage is their method, not ours. If we want the public to embrace our model, we must always ensure our model stands in stark contrast to that of the State.
We may need to play along with the State to some extent, but never excuse its abuses. We must starve the system of wealth and power however we can, but our greatest foe isn't an elected official or uniformed officer, it is the idea in the minds of our fellow people, inculcated through education and reinforced by the media every single day. The most important thing is to attack the idea and offer a replacement.
That replacement needn't be a new monolithic entity. In fact, it cannot be. People are unique. We have different goals and preferences. We need to strive for ten thousand alternatives, all better than the State, and none demanding state-like authority themselves.
This is a massive paradigm shift, and we may not see it in our lifetimes, but we can choose today to set aside the solutions that have not worked and try something new instead. So by all means, protest injustice, but aim for the long term goal of liberty, and don't be distracted by half-measures or false choice fallacies along the way. Strike the root, don't hack the branches.
Who knows? Maybe liberty is within our grasp if we are willing to let go of our lingering idolatry holding us to the present system. The real revolution can be won in minutes between your years when it cannot be won in decades by demonstrating in the streets.
Am I on to something, or way off track myself? Comment below, and let's try to work out some real answers to the questions we face.
