If We Get Rid of Government, Will Something More Evil Arise? Pt 1

My son asked me this question, so I tried to answer as briefly as I could. So much for brevity.

You asked one of the ultimate questions about a stateless society. I'm impressed that you didn't go to the more mundane fears that come up when someone brings up the possibility of running society without top-down government; Who would make the roads? Who would take care of the poor? Who would force kids to go to school? What if a foreign army attacks us? Who will protect us from big rich greedy corporations? How could there ever be big cool projects like the International Space Station? What about old people who didn't save for their retirement? How would our property be protected from criminals? What about people without health insurance? Who would run the court system? What about the criminally insane or complete sociopaths?

The easy answer to all those questions is "these things are done by working and caring people, and they will be done with or without government to supposedly organize us". But, more details answers are at websites like The Anarchist Alternative and Libertarianism. My favorite come-back to those questions is, "so, you are assuming that these problems are already being solved as best they can by today's government"?

So kudos to you for asking a most intelligent question. The answer needs a bit of introduction, because you can approach the argument from various logical angles. Most break-room blather probably doesn't care much for the rules of logic, so I'd suggest avoiding that venue for asking questions or giving opinions.

Here's my introduction:
About 6 years ago, I stopped sending out e-mails every day to whoever I thought might be interested in the philosophy of freedom; how to make a better world for our kids and grandkids. I finally realized that people have their life attitude set pretty much in stone by the time they are in their early twenties. Despite all the fantasy stories in movies and books where some evil Scrooge has a life-altering event, that type of personality change is very rare. If someone is not asking skeptical questions about the state-run society already, no amount of e-mails from me are gonna get that person to become curious. People don't usually change their personality or basic attitude toward life because of what happens to them or what facts are presented to them. People only change if they already have an inner skepticism and curiosity.

Curiosity and skepticism are qualities that you are born with, but our culture does its best to trample down child-like curiosity which demands "why"? And "says who"? Parents kill children's curiosity every time they say, "because I said so" or "because God made it that way". In school, kids are taught to memorized the "correct" answers. They are taught What to think, not How to think. Memorization is rewarded, not creativity.

It is not in our culture's best interest to have lots of skeptical questions flying around, demanding proof of society's dictated moral laws; "Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society". "Honor your father and mother". "The policeman is your friend". "We can agree to disagree". "Follow the chain of command". "Politicians are servants of the people". "Voting is a duty and a privilege". "Everyone has a right to their opinion". "We all have an evil side to us". "Government is a necessary evil". "Everything happens for a reason". "There's a thin line between love and hate". "If God did not exist, we would have to invent him". "Many have died so that we can be free". "Ethics are different in different cultures and countries". "Respect your elders".

Some of our cultural dictates are wearing thin; "Children should be seen and not heard". "A woman's place is in the home". "Spare the rod, spoil the child". "Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord". "Without religion, there can be no morality". "Slaves, obey your masters".

So there is hope. We can change the world for our great-grandchildren and their families. But, it's like steering an ocean liner. You can reef on the steering wheel and it seems like you're getting nowhere. But the change will happen - very slowly. So, we do the right thing. Not for us, but for the future. We point out the made-up answers and dare to call them "ridiculous".

The biggest thing we can do to make the future world a little happier for our kids and grandkids is to teach them to question everything. The more hard-wired the "truth" seems, the more it needs to be questioned with a careful and skeptical eye. We spend too much time feeding facts to our kids, and not enough time encouraging them to say, "why is that like that?" What causes that"? "Who discovered that fact, and how did they figure that out?"

And, another good point to teach our kids (and remind ourselves and our friends) is that "emotions are important, but emotions are not arguments". Another good starting point is to keep in mind what the 9/11 Truthers, UFOlogists, and Psychic Believers never acknowledge: Evidence is not Proof. One or two strange and suspicious pieces of evidence do not prove anything. Evidence has to be rigorous, and must be high in quantity and quality. Evidence has to be examined and accumulated before it can be said to support "proof". Proof is based on evidence, but that evidence has to be "Good and Plenty".

One more thing that makes for idiotic arguments in the break room; people don't define their words. So, they end up arguing past each other. They are talking about two different things. Any talk about religion or politics is subject to this pitfall. If we talk politics or religion, let's define "god" or "spirit". Let's define "government" or "representative". Let's define "good" and "evil".

So, to sum up part one of my answer to your simple question:

1. I no longer think I can change the world by presenting people with the facts of the matter as I see them.

2. There is a tendency for cultures to resist questions about teachings that are handed down from generation to generation.

3. We are born with curiosity, and we can make the world better by sheltering our children from the social pressure to muffle their inner curiosity, and by reawakening our own curiosity. Curiosity means "no made-up answers like religion and politics gives us".

4. We can and do affect cultural change, but it is very very slow. It's a multi-generational project. The "majority" is never where creative new ideas come from. Cultural and scientific revolutions always are started by very small but dedicated minorities.

5. We can't find the truth of anything by thinking with our emotions. Very few people recognize that their thinking is blocked by emotional baggage from the years of repetitive lessons our culture slams into our brains as we grow up. (In stories and movies, we always know who the bad and good guys are; in real life it's not so easy to recognize good and evil. But it's ideas that count, not who is the villain of the week.)