Allegiance for Protection: Anatomy of a Citizen
To have a state, or government, there needs to be a body politic. To have a body politic, there needs to be citizens. To have citizens, there needs to be a guarantee that people will receive protection in exchange for pledging allegiance to "the state" (each of the hyperlinks above is a citation for the legal definition of the corresponding term.)
Given that the individuals acting under the alleged auspices of "the state" openly admit that they have no obligation to protect individual citizens, how could individual citizens owe them allegiance? Furthermore, even if this claim wasn't made, hasn't it been empirically demonstrated? What happens to any individual who refuses to comply with even the most mundane or trivial of "legal rules"? They are subjected to theft. Tail light out? Selling untaxed cigarettes? That'll be two hundred dollars. What happens if they resist the theft? Violence is used against them. What happens if they defend themselves? Their life gets taken from them. "Statute", "code" and "regulation" are therefore euphemisms for "comply or die", and the men and women supposedly tasked with the "protection" of "citizens" are likewise responsible for making good on each death threat.
If there are no reciprocal obligations of allegiance and protection, how could there be any such a thing as a citizen? If there's no such thing as a citizen, how could there be any such thing as a body politic? If there is no body politic, how could there be a state?
"But Jared, government agents claim to be protecting the public and the people at large!"
Bullshit. If you buy something from Amazon and it never shows up, would you accept, "we don't have an obligation to fill individual orders; we only have an obligation to fill orders for our entire customer base" as a legitimate answer when calling customer service to inquire about it? Absolutely not. You'd accuse them of scamming you, and then you'd demand a supervisor.
How could an entire group of individuals receive a service that no single individual receives personally?
They couldn't.
So... Given that these reciprocal obligations of allegiance and protection don't exist theoretically or in practice, it can't be proven that citizens actually exist as anything other than the victims of men and women who force people to pay them, or that government actually exists as anything other than said thieves.
I'm Jared Howe! I'm a Voluntaryist hip hop artist and professional technical editor/writer with a passion for Austrian economics and universal ethics. You can catch my podcast every Friday on the the Seeds of Liberty Podcast Network.
Marc Stevens right? Good shit.
Each one of us stands on the shoulders of others
Government is nothing more than a monopoly on the use of force in a geographical area aka the biggest gang around that controls an extortion racket.
That's an epic admission
There will be an awakening.
This is psychological espresso.
Drink up and share, folks.
Bravo! The state gives us an innumerable list of terrors that we must turn to it for "protection." The lies of what are the terrors are insurmountable. The more money they get the more liars they pay and the bigger the lies get. I an dealing with one of the biggest lies of all--The Nuclear Hoax
It's the Hegelian dialectic. People are easy to control when they're scared.
Interessting thoughts, thanks for that thought. I wouldnt say that todays understanding of citizens can be summarized by claiming we are slaves of people we pay money/tax for. I agree that a new era of the paradigm "citizen" is needed, new forms of responsibility, entrepreneurship, community.
I see todays governments as a result of a process in which humans needed/wanted a certain form of administration for them selves. Still todays understanding it seem is - and here I think I agree to what you are indicating - that if no government was in place, a destructive sort of anarchy would break out, that would destroy community and thus lead to devolution. So many people believe with out government we would fail. Maybe this was true in the past, but this will change. The creation of the #worldcitizen is that in my opinion. Individuals which do not need anyform or government to create and respect. Thats what I understand as the next step: Individuals will be literate in many literacies, will incorporate the idea human rights and self realization, will be able to inherently work in the favour of oneself in equilibrium to the community and the ecosystem in general. At the moment we need the government to tell us in some cases whats allowed and what not. Many people still need that outside frame/restriction. They are not ready yet. But we increasingly will be able. This steem might be a platform for such development. I want to work towards that, within the #globalschool that @jnmarteau presented.