The general spread of the light of science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God. -Thomas Jefferson [1]
The concept of government is somewhat like the concept of God – most people believe it to be a thing which by its very nature ought not to be doubted, but very few people rationally examine its conceptual foundations. Yet, by its nature, government is far more dangerous than God – for while God steadfastly refuses to be seen and insists (we are told) that his or her existence be revealed by “faith,” government is omnipresent, generally more than willing to demonstrate its power, and tends to deal harshly with those who doubt its authority or legitimacy.
Twenty-five hundred years ago, the Greek philosopher Plato tells us, Socrates wandered about Athens asking annoying questions, inventing the Socratic Method, and generally demonstrating that very few people possess and actual knowledge of why they believe the things that they believe: That they have no idea of the principles on which their beliefs are based. Plato’s general objective was to demonstrate that he was the smartest man in
One cannot, of course, disbelieve in the existence of government as one can of gods. However, in parallel fashion, one can question its moral authority over one’s life.
Frederick Bastiat pointed out that “The nature of law is to maintain justice. This is so much the case that, in the minds of the people, law and justice are one and the same thing. There is in all of us a strong disposition to believe that anything lawful is also legitimate. This belief is so widespread that many persons have erroneously held that things are ‘just’ because law makes them so.”[2] Yet, as Socrates pointed out on the subject of gods, different governments approve and disapprove of different things – therefore things cannot be just merely because government approves of them.
In many ways, governments are an enchanted creation like “the great and terrible wizard” in the uniquely American fairly tale of The Wizard of Oz.[3] In the land of Oz, a “yellow-brick” road of gold leads to the resplendent capital Emerald City, where “The streets were lined with beautiful houses all built of green marble and studded everywhere with sparkling emeralds”[4] – much like the river of money that flows to our own capital, where the denizens therein use it in part to create and maintain monuments to the concept of the wonderfulness of government.
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