How Would We Protect Ourselves in a Free Society?

Robert P. Murphy and “The Market for Security"

Even if we have accepted that involuntary, imposed government has serious moral or practical flaws, and that self-government is a better solution at the individual level, many of us still wonder: can self-government be scaled up?

I'm okay and you’re okay, we think, but there are still some people out there who mean us harm—people who want to hurt us or take our property. How would a free society of self-governing individuals deal with that?

There are a variety of answers out there. Many of them focus on the concept of private security and justice. Not “posses and hangin’ judges,” but responsible private agencies cooperatively competing in a free and open market to provide security and justice services to willing customers.

Numerous thinkers have fleshed out this concept in interesting and creative ways. Among them is Robert P. Murphy, who has given a series of lectures on the subject collectively titled, “The Market for Security.” One such lecture is below.

Some highlights include…

15 minutes in, when Murphy begins a discussion of how criminal enforcement might work in a private society, and why it would have advantages over the way police do things now,

22 minutes in, when he explores a creative concept for private prisons that would solve certain problems of incarcerating more dangerous people in a free society,

41 minutes in, when he offers a powerful retort to the claim that failed states are an example of how freedom cannot work, and

47 minutes in, when he lays out a few of the ways in which a free society might defend itself from external forces…and do so far more efficiently than any government military.

If you listen to Murphy, and then Hoppe and Friedman and others, the ideas all blend and work off of each other, and you start to realize that it really could work. And given the moral impermissibility of involuntary governance, isn’t it something we should try?

I cannot call this a #FreedomShorts post, since the video isn’t exactly short. But if you are wondering how a truly free society could work, it’s worth your time.