Commentary: Tolerating government is not a virtue!

By Kent McManigal

July 17, 2014 - Tolerance is sold to us as some sort of virtue when it’s nothing of the sort. It’s simply putting up with something, or someone, you hate. I don’t want or need any government, but how much could I tolerate?

I could tolerate a government that coordinates the construction and maintenance of roads, but not one that hires enforcers to patrol those roads, collecting money for government in the process.

I could tolerate a government that provides courts to intervene for victims facing their violators, but not one that makes up laws that run counter to natural law, and pretends government can be the victim.

I could tolerate a government that trains volunteers to defend from invaders; not one that sends invaders to other places around the world.

I could tolerate a government that offers services and products in competition with the free market; not one that enforces its own monopolies in defense, postal services, justice, or “protection”.

I could tolerate a government that draws lines on a map it calls “borders,” designed to prevent other liberty-destroying governments from expanding their territory farther; not one that enforces those borders against travelers and migrants going in either direction.

I could tolerate a government that doesn’t penalize anyone for choosing to opt out of any of its programs or services, at any time, for any reason; not one that forces people to pay for and use things they don’t want and can’t afford.

I could tolerate a government that coordinates, not one that enforces.

I could tolerate a government that billed me for services I voluntarily agreed to pay for, not one that taxes anyone for things they don’t consent to - including any of the things on this list I could otherwise tolerate.

I could tolerate that sort of government, but I still wouldn’t support it. Mainly because I don’t need it, and I know you don’t either.

Sure, once government has socialized some product or service it becomes difficult for most people to admit this isn’t the only way it can be done. People stop being able to imagine better ways. Often, they deny any other way is even a possibility. This is flawed thinking; not reality.

One thing I could never tolerate is a government that metastasizes into a State. A State invariably becomes, by definition, all the things above that I couldn’t tolerate. Tolerance can only be stretched so thin before it breaks.

All States, without exception, will eventually collapse because they all grow beyond those things that can be tolerated or sustained, becoming top-heavy, fragile constructs.

Stop being dependent now, to avoid the pain if the inevitable collapse happens in your lifetime.