Government Laws Are Not Contracts
Despite what you were taught in school, governance is ugly; in all forms, and at all times. Don't believe me? Attend a meeting of a local governing entity. You will find the council — omnipotent by vote, omniscient by delusion — seated before you at the table. All night long, they'll bicker and battle all the while proposing and dissecting plans and schemes with shouts and pounding shoes; Khrushchev moments indeed. And it doesn't matter the span or purpose of the governing entity. This ugly reality holds equally true for the fist-fighting Taiwanese legislator as for the insult-hurling band booster. Power corrupts at all levels. FULL ARTICLE
Comments (6)
Joe Stoutenburg
I agree with the major principles in Jim's article. I will however debate the following statements:
"
Some will claim that the Constitution is our written contract, binding rule of law, and restrictive covenant, yet its perversion would seem to imply that contract governments, whether constitutional public or anarcho-libertarian private, are bound to fail.
But, not so fast. For the private supplier of governance, the entrepreneur across the street offering a similar service is enough of a threat to keep private governing bodies in line.
"
There is nothing in principle stopping a private entity from changing from a benevolent market player into a violent tyrant. The only difference between government and an entrepreneurial organization is that the former uses violence to achieve is aims while the later insists on peaceful exchange.
To illustrate, consider a region with several protection agencies voluntarily providing protection. Over time, one of them is able to provide better protection less expensively. This agency gains more business causing some agencies to go out of business.
So far, nothing is offensive here. The market is at work.
After some more time, people become complacent and dishonest men gain control of the dominant protection agency. (Dishonest men have a thing for seeking power.) They subtly start to invade property rights and use barely noticeable forms of aggression to further solidfy their power.
If done skillfully enough, an organization that began as a peaceful entrepreneurship may transform into just what our government is now. It may still call itself a company, but in essence it will be a government.
I heard Thomas Jefferson quoted recently to say that he expected violent opposition against government to occur about every twenty years. I believe that it is this type of scenario that he feared.
Call the agency other than government, yet it doesn't change the nature that concentrated power corrupts. If ever we make progress to roll back the massive power of governments, let's not fool ourselves into feeling safe just because we call institutions by another name.
Published: March 8, 2007 12:51 PM
banker
The IRS certainly thinks that Americans are born into a "contract". Or more accurately, Congress and the entire Federal government apparatus believes American citizens are born property of the state. Bearing witness to this is the draft laws, employment laws, and the asanine tax laws. I mean, how logical is it that I pay federal taxes when i live no where near the US (in Japan).
Published: March 8, 2007 5:12 PM
RS Weir
Mr.Fedako is inconsistent in his open embrace of the legitimacy of governments zoning "laws". Zoning is theft and is anethema to secure, absolute property rights.
Published: March 8, 2007 6:01 PM
Doug M
Mr. Fedako states that “Zoning codes are supposed to provide hard, fast rules akin to a written contract between community members.” This is not and never has been the case. Legally, zoning codes are a form of police power. The local zoning board, typically five to ten community residents, has the right to change any part of the zoning code, or rewrite the whole thing, whenever they choose. The zoning code does not protect any property owner.
A more effective means of preserving fields and woods adjacent to a property is to encourage the property owner to donate or sell a conservation easement. There are several land conservation trusts that purchase these using funds from private donations.
Published: March 8, 2007 6:18 PM
billwald
Would a "Libertarian" local government or home owner's assoc be a soliution? Not if party meetings are any indication.
Published: March 8, 2007 9:46 PM
Joe Stoutenburg
I would argue further from the title of the article that government laws are as much a contract as any other agreement. The real issue is with what impunity the government can break their contracts.
If you homeowner's association had as many guns as the government, they might decide to break their contracts just as easily.
Published: March 9, 2007 8:50 AM