My last post mentioned the persistence of Medicare and other government programs, all of which are dysfunctional and should be eliminated. I raised the question: Why do they persist?
As I took my daily walk today, I saw two bee nests in trees. Last year I saw one. If all the bees in the neighborhood got together into one colony, a tree branch wouldn’t support the nest. Bees divide and swarm, producing new colonies. Wild animals do not all aggregate into one mass herd or society. They separate. In that way, they produce stable family and clan units. They diversify over space, not subject all to being wiped out by a foe or a natural disaster.
Human beings have divided themselves to some extent into separate societies. But humans have less sense than the animals when it comes to the size and scope of their societies. Human beings have two problems (at least). They use their reason and devise rationales for their social structures, and these are often false rationales that lead them into dysfunctional groupings. Secondly, they believe in conquering other societies and incorporating them into one large society that’s created by violence. Once this happens, the existing power structure refuses usually to allow any secession. The people then are trapped.
What do we have in this country? One large society of 300 million people with one large federal government that rules it. The 50 states vary somewhat but not enough to counteract the federal government’s coast to coast (and way beyond) rule.
A program like Medicare could be ended overnight by making it OPTIONAL and stopping the taxes that support it. This isn’t done because it’s too difficult politically, and it’s too difficult politically for a number of reasons, including the one I’m focusing on, which is that the society has produced one single powerful government that predominates. Neither the society nor this government accept secession or optionality or voluntaryism, and so dysfunctional government operations continue decade after decade.
We can’t get rid of these dysfunctions without subdividing into more societies and governments. Government won’t allow it. Americans don’t really want it yet. They either fear disunity or think this is weakness or that it will make matters worse or that one American state should be here and even extend its rule further. Some think that God has something to do with this oneness, as in “One nation, under God, indivisible…” This has been drummed into people. The bees, birds and animals know better than all to gather into one nation, indivisible, under the rule of a few masters. They have more sense than human beings.
3:23 pm on October 26, 2012
