My dad is in the police and I respect the job he does protecting the innocent from criminals who use violence against others to coerce them of their property but at the same time Im an anarcho-capitalist, am I an hypocrite?
Well, does he defend only natural rights, or does he also defend state claims?
btw, I think a descent cop on the force is a marginal improvement over one less descent cop on the force. Personally, I could never swear to uphold the (state’s) law.
Of course not. You can attempt to persuade him of the philosophy of liberty so that he can do good by displacing another liberty-hater that would otherwise fill his position and would use it to do evil on the State’s (and/or his own) behalf. Each government official who is converted to the philosophy of liberty is one less government official who will use his powers to deprive others of their natural rights, to the extent he or she is able in a manner consistent with the job description. Most jobs in the government can be occupied in this manner without hypocrisy, only a few jobs are so inherently evil (e.g. working as a CIA leg-breaker) that no person of any moral fiber can perform them. This dilution of State evil is a crucial component of how the State sells itself as a force for good.
Clayton -
Nope, it just means you value people more than ideologies. That is probably a good thing.
What you describe his job as is respectable. On the other hand, does his job not also involve coercing the innocent of their property? A common example might be enforcing state laws against drugs. As much as your dad may be the most well-intentioned, caring guy in the world, libertarian law would almost certainly see him as a criminal.
Sometimes people don’t understand that people can act collectively without being collectivist, or own collectively without being socialistic. For a “Libertarian Nuremberg” to take place, it may be likely that people agree to forgive such people as your father, at least in part.
That’s not the only thing he does at his job. If you’re an anarcho-capitalist, do you respect him when he coerces others and tries to take their property?
edit: My pony too slow.
Most people who haven’t worked in law enforcement don’t understand the amount of discretion you have in what kind of laws you end up enforcing. It is possible to be a city cop and not make ANY drug arrests (of course sometimes it is unavoidable and many times drugs aren’t found until they are taken into custody at the prison). I myself have witnessed other officers that are very pro-drug war destroy drugs they found on people they arrested for other charges because they just didn’t feel like filling out the paperwork or because it was getting close to the end of their shift and they didn’t want to have to take the drugs downtown and have to get them documented.
Maybe you could tell him about Law Enforcement Against Prohibition
They just told Brad Jardis he can’t represent them anymore for saying he would not arrest people for using marijuana for medicinal purposes.
You can see the story on freekeene.com
He only protects the innocent from criminals? He doesn’t harass peaceful people? Or do you just respect his desire to do good, no matter how misplaced it may be?
didn’t hear about that
Yeah, pretty upsetting to a lot of people. You can see the story on freekeene.com.
ive read that there are 16k to 18k murders in the us every year for several years…over 20k in the 70s i believe. i dont know how many assaults, rapes child abductions etc there are. someone isnt getting protected.
I understand what you are saying, but it sounds like you are ready to paint an all too rosy picture of American police brutality. It speaks to the fact that the monopoly security provider:
A.) doesn’t hold to any consistent theory of justice
B.) and even then, doesn’t provide the service they advertise at the time
The fact that police serve as “on the spot judges” is interesting in the context of a future free society. How often do police simply destroy the drugs and refrain from jailing a person versus how often they follow the status quo procedure or wink and say, “Hey Joe Dope-Fiend, I am with LEAP you are free to go.”? In your scenario, the cop is still destroying property of an innocent drug user. The fact that drugs might be considered bad or there may be other circumstances to make this person be considered as a criminal as well is irrelevant to the matter at hand.
As much as people might not realize a cop’s tendency to enforce laws at his whim, they also don’t realize the vast corruption of state forces. Moreover, civil legislation exacerbates social problems. The average cop needs at least a slap on the wrist. The overall well-intentioned populace is at the early stages of youth.
My pop was a pig. I became quite the anti-authoritarian scofflaw. “Rules create thieves”. I would like to teach one day now that I am somewhat matured, my greatest obstacle is money and the state. See even if my pop was a good pig he still was employed by a plunderer, the state. I have trouble with any school in any way funded by the state. I refuse to work for a subjugator. I refuse to condone subjugation. I have refused to long to go to the tyrants schools. I require the toiletry of a degree to move on. My pop worked hard for his family and is a decent and contemplative person. It makes me a little sad knowing that he had to hurt folks. I think the state deploys it’s despotic hands(pigs) in order to protect and serve the state, not the poor forgotten men that it is subjugating.
Being a pig is a tough job! It’s too bad honest folks are weeded out.
Something I’ll always remember about crime from him is that “it is usually only stupid people who are caught in crime”.
I admire firefighters, too bad they work for the state.
Random thoughts in no particular order.
from Wikipedia:
Hypocrisy is the act of persistently pretending to hold beliefs, opinions, virtues, feelings, qualities, or standards that one does not actually hold.
What are you pretending here? Nothing.
You might have contradictory feelings, but that is universal to humans.
Also, Papa’s job is indeed a mixture of good and bad, just like everything else. So what?
Family comes before abstract theoretical systems. Or do we want to be like Soviet Russia, that built museums to honor little kids who rat on their parents?
You can’t change Papa. Admire the good he does.
On the other hand don’t be blind the “problems” inherent in being a cop. If you are an anarcho- capitalist, you probably don’t want to be a cop yourself.
The cause we believe in here is best served by attracting people voluntarily to our way of thinking, where this is possible. Won’t get done by telling Papa he’s a lackey of the statist imperialist bla bla. Or by breaking up families.
By no means was I trying to downplay the problems of monopoly law enforcement and police brutality. I was just pointing out that in some law enforcement settings it is feasible to enact justice the majority of the time while on the job and simply skip over much of the injustice that you could engage in legally (and it really part of what you are “supposed” to be doing).
Does being a member of the group called “police” violate the NAP? No.
Can you perform the job functions of a poice officer as we know it without violating the NAP? I don’t believe so.
Do you violate the NAP by having a father who does? No.
Is it “good” to voluntarily associate with people who violate the NAP? I don’t believe so, but… Easier said than done!
Or like Oprah. (Had a kid from Iraq on her show that ratted out his pops to the coalition.)
If you aren’t a police officer personally, I don’t think that would qualify you as a hypocrite. I was in the military for four years, just needed a job!