In political debates, the main focus centers around the question “what should government be?” And this is just as it should be! The problem is that in modern times this question comes within the context of several false paradigms and dichotomies.

Are you “left” or “right?” “”Liberal” or “conservative?” Are you for “big government” or “small government?”

It is the latter of these three examples which I will look at today.

Advocates of “big government” are typically those who want the government to do all sorts of things – from providing “free” health care and education to restricting the ownership and use of certain items to crafting regulations over vast areas of the economy. “Big government” advocates are typically associated with the “left” or the “progressive” movement.

Then we have the “small government” advocates. I’m quite familiar with their views and I have a fairly good understanding of what they mean when they say “small” government – because I used to be one! Typically, one who calls for “small” government wants government which is confined to a certain set of very specific tasks – police, fire departments, courts, etc. Maybe even the postal service! Generally the advocates of the “small” version of government want to keep government to “the basics”, but largely restrain it from intervening in the economy at large. “Small government” advocates are typically associated with the “right” or the “conservative” movement, as well as many who call themselves libertarians.

Lost in this talk about the size of government is the question of rights. When speaking of what government should or shouldn’t be, the very first thing that should be analyzed are the rights of the individuals living under said government. The sort of questions that should be asked are:

“Is this government formed based upon individual private property?” “Does the government violate the individual rights of the those living under it?” “Does the government defend the individual rights of those living under it?”

When examining governments in our modern times, the answers are generally:

No. Governments are currently based on fiat land grabs, not the legitimate acquisition of private property. Yes. Modern governments are coercive in nature; the consent of the citizens is not a factor in their formation or legislation. Sometimes. Governments often do in fact defend the property and lives of their citizens; by the same token they often neglect those duties as well.

The question of whether government is “big” or “small” completely neglects the important questions; it completely ignores the concept of individual rights. Dissecting the minutiae of which specific tasks we believe government should undertake doesn’t address the principles behind the concept of government.

Let’s take the example of a city-state, which Lions of Liberty contributor Shayne Wissler discussed way back in Episode 2 of the Lions of Liberty Podcast. In Wissler’s view, a city-state can be formed by any number of adjoining private property owners who decide to form an organization for the governance of their adjoining properties. A city-state could certainly be “small” – it could consist of simply two property owners, or even one! They could decide that they only want the government of their city-state to perform certain tasks – perhaps to simply enforce natural law – to protect the life, liberty and property of anyone within their collective property borders.

But what if the city-state is larger? What if 500 property owners agree to the exact same terms and conditions? Is it any better or worse simply due to the number of individuals involved in it? What about 10,000 property owners? 100,000? Is the principle any different if the group is small or large?

Let’s go back to the “small” city-state consisting of just two property owners. What if the two property owners mutually decide they want to “chip in” to share their medical expenses? What if neither of these property owners like guns, and decide “We don’t want anyone bringing guns on our property – let’s agree not to let them!” These are concepts more closely associated with “big” government – but what’s the problem if both individuals agree to it?

What if 100 individuals agree to chip in for medical care, or all agree not to allow guns on their property, and form a community which establishes such things? Presuming the property was legitimately acquired in the first place, there is no problem here either from a liberty standpoint.

The biggest problem with most people’s conception of government is that – for various reasons – they have different ideas of what sort of tasks they want their government to undertake and focus exclusively on the pros and cons of the government performing said tasks. They ignore rights, they ignore principles – and our modern governments are a reflection of that.

There is nothing per se wrong with “gun control” if the control is based on the wishes of property owners. The problem occurs when people call for gun control from a coercive government, and enforce restrictions upon those who have never consented to them in the first place. Insert any political hot topic of the day, and the same concepts apply.

Next time you’re in a political discussion and the talk turns to whether we should have “big government” or “small government”, consider inserting a radical idea into the debate: that it doesn’t matter whether government is “big” or “small.” What matters is if government is just and if government has consent (literal consent – not “social contract” nonsense or some other esoteric view of “consent”) of the governed.

Any political “debate” that isn’t centered around the issue of rights is no political debate at all. It’s a distraction, and one assured to result in the violation of the rights of those having the debate.

{Note: For an expanded look on Shayne Wissler’s view as discussed in this article, check out Chapter 3 of his book, For Individual Rights, “The Origin of Legitimate Government.”}

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