StatistFallacies / StateIsSociety

Fallacy:

"The state existed before I did and built this society I live in. The state has legitimacy. You do not." (Daniel Punaniel)

Other forms include just generally referencing "government" when "society" is meant, e.g., "The government creates a place we can all live and work together in."

Response:

Ah, "legitimacy". The state has legitimacy because it says it does. So do I. Stalemate. It is question-begging to say that the state determines its own legitimacy. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? You eventually run smack into infinite regression: since the laws of a state are insufficient to legitimize the set of laws (and thus the state), you need a state (S2) outside that first state (S1) to pronounce those laws valid; except it is not valid, so we need S3, etc.; to Sinfinity.

You falsely confuse "society" with the state. They are different; the state does not build society, but people do, of their own initiative. The state frequently interferes, by coercing people on their own land, and extorting them, but it is not "society"; it is the disease that infects society. Society and government cannot be merged; one is voluntary, the other force.

Voluntaryist "reliance on society" goes no further than voluntary trades (or gifts) and other voluntary interaction, creates no obligation, and does not justify violence against peaceful individuals. (DBR)

Related: ../PublicProperty

last edited 2012-09-09 03:28:27 by DavidRobins