Right on, Josh. And I love the dragon race metaphor for the free market.
What it comes down to, for me, is that even if you could trust MOST human beings to be good, moral, and tolerant (and tolerance is key - one thing governments do is protect minorities from the whims of the majority) MOST of the time, there will be a handful you can't trust. In a world without governments, individuals who follow a moral code will be at the mercy of those who don't; governments allow the majority, who want the moral code in place, to band together and enforce it. Markets can't operate without the basic assurances provided by governments.
I agree that it's bizarre your co-worker thinks unions could operate without governments, but it's also strange that he seems to approve of unions and other forms of collective organisation. After all, what are democratic governments but big, compulsory, nation-wide unions?
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-11-01 12:37 am (UTC)What it comes down to, for me, is that even if you could trust MOST human beings to be good, moral, and tolerant (and tolerance is key - one thing governments do is protect minorities from the whims of the majority) MOST of the time, there will be a handful you can't trust. In a world without governments, individuals who follow a moral code will be at the mercy of those who don't; governments allow the majority, who want the moral code in place, to band together and enforce it. Markets can't operate without the basic assurances provided by governments.
I agree that it's bizarre your co-worker thinks unions could operate without governments, but it's also strange that he seems to approve of unions and other forms of collective organisation. After all, what are democratic governments but big, compulsory, nation-wide unions?