Blog 42 Do We Really Need Governments?

Blog 42  Do We Really Need Governments? - Some Tricky Musings

Let's just start with some background by establishing that there are different forms of government.

In alphabetical order. Asterisk* indicates a form of government defined by Aristotle about 2500 years ago. Nothing new there.

Anarchy*, aristocracy*, autocracy*, democracy 1 (mob rule)*, democracy 2 (representative government), dictatorship, "kleptocracy", monarchy*. oligarchy*, plutocracy, tyranny.* Wow, is that all?

Anarchy means "no government". Aristotle thought of it as "mob rule" He called it "democracy." (Literally, in Greek, "rule by the common people").

Aristocracy - means "rule of the best." Two perverted forms of it are are Oligarchy, which means "rule of the few" and Plutocracy - rule of the rich"  from Plutus, Roman god of riches, (Now we're getting warm. )

Autocracy, Aristotle's "tyranny" (modern "dictatorship"). Means "myself-rule" a ruler who rules for his/her own benefit, by force, usually.

Democracy 2, representative government, of, by, and for the people - to quote Abe Lincoln.

Kleptocracy. modern rhetorical term based on the Greek word for thief. So government by thieves.

Monarchy - Rule by a king or queen. Can be autocratic or constitutional.

Note: At the present time, all these forms of government call themselves democratic.



Back to our question. Do we need governments?

Let's talk about modern "democracy".

We all know what the word means. It means rule by the people. So the theory is that the ultimate power lies with the people. But in a population of several million (or billion), different people have different views. So, in  practice elections are held, and a candidate with the most votes becomes the people's representative for a defined period.

However, in theory and, especially, in practice democracy works better in small states than in large ones.

So, fundamentally, what does a government do. Two main things, tax and spend.
In the process, money is taken from individuals and corporations, and spent to provide public goods and services, notably for people who can't provide for themselves. It's a kind of charity, but what else could you do? Keep 'em quiet, the Roman emperors said, and they won't revolt. It is a good thing. Really.

If you consider the return on investment, much of it is very good. Public health care keeps workers healthy, and reduces absenteeism in the work force. Education provides better workers, but, the flip side, also smarter voters. Roads, railways, canals, a justice system, benefit almost all classes.

Something else governments are spending large amounts of their tax money on today is paying the interest on government debt. Not much attention to paying down the debt itself, for some strange reason.

(So one way to get some of your taxes back is to save your money and buy your government's bonds.)

The fourth big expenditure - the military. Can't say much about the social value of that, but it does provide employment, and when the weapons are put to use, population reduction.

But - new point - governments all over the world are on the ropes. High debt levels mean higher taxes and/or lower public expenditure. So if you are against taxes, but not against privates banks creating all money, you can advocate that at least some of the big four expenditures be cut. If you could choose only one, which would it be? Health care, education,  transportation infrastructure, or military spending?

Why?

Think, now.

My choice would be debt repayment, just because I don't like interest payments. Debt reduction would be really hard on our banks, which have lent most of that money to governments. And some recent governments have tried paying it off  - by borrowing more money bank-created money. (????) Can't be done.
 But if governments were to resurrect their old sovereign practice of creating their own national interest-free money...

That, would be a real showdown between national states and banking corporations. On which side would you lay your bet - if you had any money left for betting, after your taxes and your mortgage payments?

Banks or governments?

 Couldn't we just maintain a beneficial balance between them?