Government is force. It just is. Because if people agreed to do something or engage in a transaction voluntarily, they wouldn’t need government. In fact, everything that government does, from engaging in war to building a road, government has to use force. When government resolves a dispute between two parties, it is because the parties cannot agree, and government uses force to enforce their decision. No matter whether you call it “limited,” “big,” “socialistic,” “reasonable,” “good,” or anything else, government requires force to function. And if government didn’t have a monopoly on force, it would have little actual power.
So, for the purposes of this discussion, if you cannot accept that government is force, or if you do not have an open mind to consider that all government is force, please do not continue to read this post or comment, because I’m not interested in arguments for argument’s sake.
Political parties are the current driving force in government. In other words, whatever political party, or members of a political party, is in power, gets to decide exactly how government will operate — how and where government will apply force. In fact, if you observe the American civilization today, you will see that’s all that passes for government today: whoever can get the biggest numbers, the biggest support, or the most money goes to lawmakers to demand that certain laws be passed and force be used against others. That is, today, the US government. If you don’t have large numbers, you will be crushed, at least in the arena of government.
So, what chance is there for freedom in America, under the current system of government?
Sadly, I do not believe freedom has much of a chance of ever being seen in America again, at least under the current system of government and political process. I’ll, for now, avoid the discussion of how the country was set up, and the Constitution, as that’s another discussion. Instead, I’d like to see how freedom could again appears in America under the current government. What it would take is a large group of people coming together who wanted freedom. These people would have to elect people to represent them in government. Those elected representatives would have to remove laws that restrict freedom. In the process, those same elected officials would have to vote to reduce their own power, and reduce the power of a large (huge) number of bureaucrats.
The problem with that scenario is the large group of people. Today, a very substantial portion of the population of the country is directly or indirectly heavily dependent on government. This ranges from the obvious — people who have been receiving welfare for decades — to the not so obvious — government employees like the postal service and Amtrak. This can be seen today in the massive reactions by not just government employees, but by their neighbors and college students, in the recent case in Wisconsin. This was a huge group of people that was protesting because government was trying to increase freedom for one group — but this group saw it as a decrease in their own entitlements.
In addition, those who would have freedom not only have to battle those who would retain their livings from government from without (employees, friends, family); the battle also has to be won against those directly involved in government that have personal opinions that government is good — such as judges. There are a large number of court cases argued today in front of judges where taxpayers are on both sides — so no matter the decision, the taxpayers lose. But also, there are not many in the position of judge who have not been trained by the legal system that is supported by, and run by government. So there are few judges today that would ever rule in the favor of freedom and against government, simply because few judges are interested in upsetting the system that they have been a part of for so long.
The only real way to increase freedom today is to reduce government. There honestly is no other option. If government is construed to “grant” freedom, then government can, at a whim, take that freedom away. I can see numerous ways to increase freedom outside of the current government system. But I see few chances to change the current system into one that will increase freedom in any way. I do know the Republican Liberty Caucus thinks they can make that change. From what I have seen, the people in that group are focused on just what I’ve pointed out — using the current system, and the current system of politics, to reduce government in every way possible, resulting in an increase of freedom. It is quite a daunting task, and I do honestly hope they succeed. I’m just not sure I can see a system that has so many millions of people literally 100% dependent on it going away without a more massive, external force. Unfortunately, history tends to prove that I’m right.