From: Charles Hixson (charleshixsn@earthlink.net)
Date: Thu Nov 07 2002 - 16:21:23 MST
On Thursday 07 November 2002 13:25, Technotranscendence wrote:
> ...
> But more seriously, do you think the rest of what the police do -- from
> handing out tickets for people without up to date car registrations to
> busting people for smoking pot and beyond -- is thereby all good and
> fine? One point that Bruce L. Benson brought up in his _The Enterprise
> of Law: Justice without the State_ -- aside from the fact that one can
> have security without police -- is that it's usually far easier to
> enforce bad laws than good ones. E.g., it's much harder to track down
> the guy who stole your car stereo than it is to hassle pot smokers (and
> growers). (We also see the money in law enforcement flowing that way.
> The surveillance aircraft and the like are used to go after vice crimes
> and not real crimes. That's where the big dollars go.)
>
> Cheers!
>
> Dan
> http://uweb.superlink.net/neptune/
>
> "You wanna get high?" -- Towelie from "South Park"
The problem appears to be the centralization of control. When a power is
controlled by a small group, the group tends to act in such a way as to make
itself more important. This is necessary to ensure that they will continue
to exist. Also, as it becomes more powerful, it becomes more attractive to
those whose main goal is less the accomplishment of the legitimate goal of
the entity (presuming it was created to accomplish some task), and more
toward increasing power for it's own sake. Given this, those in charge will
take care that the task for which it was created is never completed, as this
would eliminate their justification for controlling whatever the power is.
Now I'm not really talking about the beat police here, as they don't make
policy. But I am talking about the police chiefs, mayors, prison guards
unions, legislators, etc. And, of course, the policeman's union, as opposed
to the individual police. And then there are the individual police who are
also all in favor of their own share of control of power...
So the problem becomes: How to create a social structure where either there
are no centralizations of power, or where those who control the centralized
power can have no effect on it's continued existence. This isn't an easy
job, but it's what is required for a stable libertarian society. (You may
achieve a libertarian society without this, but it won't be stable.)
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