“Well, of course we need a monopoly of force over our citizens. They aren’t going to look out for each other, that would be crazy! If they don’t have money, they can’t afford protection, and no one cares about the poor, simple as that.”
That reminds me of the common sentiment that people are evil and hence we supposedly need a government to keep each other in line. The resoning goes that since people are evil (either all of them, or at least most), giving some of them power - either based on votes (democracy) or on heredity (monarchy) - is somehow a good either idea [I must have been pretty damn sleepy when I wrote this]. I don’t get this reasoning at all, which makes its popularity all the more baffling to me.
The point is, they believe that since most people are evil, government will consist only of good people who want to help and/or keep evil away from those few good people…wait…I think it’s the other way round, but they don’t see it. They were being fed this bullshit since first grade.
Good question. Statism should be held to the same standard, and have to answer the same “what if…” and “how would…” questions. The people of Detroit don’t have protection today, and that is (supposedly) a public service in a statist system.