[to be updated as necessary].Posted 07/13/ 05

The Nature of All Governments, and Why They Must Fail

1] Recognize that the essence of all governments everywhere, is violent coercion.

Therefore, absolutely everything governments "achieve", down to the smallest, most innocent and innocuous sounding local ordinance, is "achieved" either by the threat, or actual use of, violence against others.Violence is the core, most basic ingredient of all governments, everywhere , in fact their one defining, unique characteristic.

2] Because violence, or the threat of it, is at the core of its essence, governments can never achieve their ends / objectives,[ outside of the very short term] simply because the essence of individual action is necessarily based on the exact opposite principle - personal gain through trade, i.e. freely exchanging something you have with another individual who wants it, for something you want more that they have but wish to give up for what they want more - which is what you have.

That is, free, mutually beneficial exchange via free choice, NOT the exact opposite principle - the threat of, or actual violent coercion to get what one needs.

In other words, the only real way to improve your own life is through free, mutually beneficial, none- violent exchange with others, where both sides freely choose to cooperate for their own personal gain as they see it.

So whether you approve or disapprove of violent coercion by governments [or private individuals] is irrelevant, in the end [long term] it won't get you what you want in the real world. This is why government action _never_ works but always produces the opposite of the intended consequences - it is all coercive in nature and people inevitably, instinctively learn to avoid the coercion.

Looking at the Evidence

Even if you disagree with my explanation as to why government "solutions" can never work, I would think that you still would have to agree that the evidence is overwhelming that it always fails, in every area it has become involved, health care, the environment,the drug war, national security, education, and on and on.

Reality Therapy

1] Realize that even if you understand the two previous points, most won't, ever, and will continue to live in complete denial of those points, or they will at best continue to fantasize about being able to limit governments to "only" those functions they personally approve of - meaning governments are pretty much here to stay, until people are somehow able to evolve beyond the need for governments- if that is actually possible [it might not be].

A "Natural" Phenomenon

This means that although governments are an artificial, human construct, you should treat them as a natural, ever- enduring phenomena, just like the sun, wind, rain, stone, metal, fire, etc., each of which has its own distinct properties and nature.

True Nature

And just like any other natural phenomena, in order to effectively deal with it [government], one must first understand its true nature . For example, we know that rain water is wet and so in order to protect ourselves from that quality, if we go out when its raining, most of the time we are going to want to wear protective clothing, such as a raincoat, and maybe carry an umbrella and wear water-proof shoes.

If we understand that the true nature of all governments is violent coercion, and that you cannot change the intrinsic nature of it no more than you can make fire less hot, or rain less wet, then you / we can take steps to, most of the time, successfully avoid its violence, by wearing the anti- government equivalent of a "raincoat", an " umbrella" and "water-proof shoes."

Dealing With Government's Violence and the "Art of Fighting by Not Fighting"

In the martial arts, there are two main methods of dealing with violent attacks.

First of all, martial arts all teach that a person never initiates violence [unlike governments], you are trained to react to it.

Martial arts in essence consist of training to see the threat of violence _before_ it happens, [ enhanced awareness] and then, because you have anticipated its likelihood and are ready for it, to react automatically in certain rehearsed ways to that violence once initiated, making ones reaction appear instantaneous to an onlooker who was unaware of the threat in the first place, when , for the most part the observed speed of the reaction is actually a function of preparation and anticipation of what was about to occur.

Two Schools of Thought

First of all, obviously it is far better to anticipate violence and to somehow get out of the way ahead of time, however, once violence is initiated against a person, as I said, there are two main schools of thought as to ending it. The first is the "hard" school, which is based on the idea of violent reisistance to overcome attacks, the second the "soft" school, which to me is represented and encompassed by the philosophy of the "Art of Fighting by Not Fighting" [page link].

What To Do - 12 Suggestions

If you would like to read my own harebrained suggestions for how to live a freer life, given the intrinsic core nature of all governments everywhere, by the appication of the concept of "fighting by not fighting" governments, click here and send a blank email to the address which automatically pops up in your email program, for your instant reply!

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