The libertarian critique includes a general proposition that too often goes unnoted and unemphasized, even though it has great explanatory power: The major issues in conflict that bedevil a society are the product of past government actions, typically going back many years. An essay by Roderick Long makes this point. Government not only produces disputes, but they are the most serious such disputes. They are the largest, the broadest, the most violent, the most vituperative, the most emotional and the longest-lasting.

At the moment in our society, there is very great conflict over Obamacare. Government is directly responsible because of its meddling in health markets. This goes back 75-100 years to the AMA and licensing of doctors, pure food and drug laws, prohibition, and tax treatment of health care. It goes back to Medicare and Medicaid. The entire problem has been caused by government power applied where it should never have been applied. It follows that the problems that the government has caused in health care will never go away until the government repeals these laws.

The current U.S. problem with N. Korea, another major arena of conflict, is again the direct product of the U.S. government. The U.S. government involved itself in the Pacific rim countries as far back as the mid-nineteenth century. The first U.S. military action in Korea was in 1871. The current conflict goes back to U.S. and USSR occupation of Korea in 1945.

Of course, in both these cases, far greater detail can be presented; but such detail will not alter the fact that today’s conflicts are the products of previous government applications of power in these two spheres, domestic and foreign.

A wide range of economic concerns afflicts our society continually. There is perpetual conflict over many different economic issues, such as unemployment and the general economy. Unsatisfactory economic conditions are the direct consequence of applications of government power via policies that affect the economy for the worse.

Police brutality is causing conflict today, the “kneeling” controversy, but what is its source? Clearly, it’s again government, including policies of the national government. In this case, the mis-applications of government power are especially clear. They are even more directly evident than in the cases of Obamacare, N. Korea and economic issues, in all of which time, complex conditions and government propaganda obscure the government’s role in producing the conflicts.

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