rlr (11/09/82)
Why is there a society at all? Society evolved as a method for protecting
its members and for preventing the taking away of the things its members have
gathered. The more complex the social organization (number of people, types of
things gathered), the more complex the methods of protection (and the greater
the need for such protection).
The notion is that if you want society to protect you and the things you have,
you must "pay a price" to society, be it in taxes or personal servitude. Of
course, many societies developed into extortionist dictatorships, where the
protection offered was to allow you to live ("Thanx!") in exchange for your
first-born son (who was given to the army) or daughter (who was also given to
the army, but in a different sense). or your possessions--grain, animals, house
(again given to the army).
Thus many ancient (and modern) societies were nothing more than protection
rackets when it came to the "common people" (and to the "less-than-common
people" who were vanquished and conquered by the army). In a very literal
sense, the common people's purpose in life was to serve society.
What, then, was society's purpose? To serve the "non-common" people: those
who *had things*. That's why there was an army: to protect those people
(and their things)---and perhaps to get them some new things. Taxes were paid
by "haves" (as well as "have-nots") to pay for this army. But, as we all
know, a system that grows and grows in power eventually sheds its original
purpose and gains a new one---to perpetuate itself. If this process is
stopped soon enough, it will start up again with new players (read your
history). In such cases, empires and kingdoms topple if and when enough of
the "haves" get together and start the process all over again. On the other
hand, if the process is not stopped, because the "haves" fail to get together
(the "have-nots" usually are not powerful enough to do anything of real
consequence), the empire grows into a huge dinosaur, and collapses of its
own weight.
How does all this apply to us and to this debate on "involuntary servitude"?
1) You and I are probably "haves" and not "have-nots". Thus we have something
to lose if someone (a burglar, a Russian, an extraterrestrial) tries to take
something from us. We can choose to be libertarians or anarchists and say:
"The hell with governments and armies. I'll defend myself." Which only works
well if everyone else plays the same game: if they're all individual anarchists
or libertarians out there, you stand a fighting chance; if they've banded
together to form an army, you're in trouble when they attack your house.
So, we pay taxes for a standing army and police force, and we serve in an
army *if* we see an immediate threat to our loved ones and possessions. But
if you choose not to go off and fight, then why should the police protect
your house, and why should the army prevent an enemy from running a tank over
your house? That's the point of view espoused by society's elders: membership
in society is like a business transaction---if you don't fulfill your part of
the bargain, the deal's off!
2) Maybe we're at the stage I described above where the system exists only to
perpetuate itself. Let's not forget (ahem) that we're a democracy, and our
society was put together at the request of the people, right? If the military
only exists as part of an ecosystem (eco- as in economics) called a military-
industrial complex, if the police only exist to give out tickets so that they
and the town/state they represent can have money to pay their own salaries,
then these facets of our society are not doing their job!!!! And since this
is a democracy, we can tell these people to cut it out right now or we'll...
do something!!!!
Can't we?