Government At Its Best
A rebuke to wannabee anarchists.
“Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one: for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a Government, which we might expect in a country without Government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built upon the ruins of the bowers of paradise. For were the impulses of conscience clear, uniform and irresistibly obeyed, man would need no other law-giver; but that not being the case, he finds it necessary to surrender up a part of his property to furnish means for the protection of the rest; and this he is induced to do by the same prudence which in every other case advises him, out of two evils to choose the least. Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government, it unanswerably follows that whatever form thereof appears most likely to ensure it to us, with the least expence and greatest benefit, is preferable to all others.”
Thomas Paine
Common Sense
“ Wherefore, security being the true design and end of government…”
If by security is meant to be secure within our own borders, then it is a failed state, for the very government that supposedly secures us, actually poses a threat, be it the police forces or foreign wars. We live under a warrior regime, regardless of the political party in ascendance; the business of the government is protection of the corporations that pollute every environment, and the promotion of war(s).
Where then is this vaunted security?