Without Government, Could Covid Madness Have Happened?

All signs point to NO.

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Please allow me to try to convince you that without government, the lunacy of the last three years never would have happened. To do so, please begin by contemplating two scenarios.

Scenario 1: What we have now

Governments exist. Government claims a monopoly on the ‘legitimate’ use of physical violence in a given territory. Government imposes, by force, a set of rules upon everyone within that territory. Government has access—via taxation and money-printing—to a theoretically limitless supply of resources. No one is allowed to opt out or secede. You are told that your consent to this arrangement is tacit and implied. Refuse to comply and you will be imprisoned. Resist imprisonment and you will be killed.

Billionaires (with ill intent) exist. They enjoy influence over policy and special access to government. Government facilitates their accumulation of wealth through special treatment, grants, backroom deals, and laws that protect their business, harm their competitors, or enable them to form monopolies.

NGOs (run by people with ill intent) exist. They lobby for their agenda and provide government with ‘research’ and ‘experts’ that just happen to support that agenda. Governments provide the NGOs a megaphone to amplify their agenda, and a vehicle to force that agenda upon a populace. They may also provide some portion of an NGO’s funding.

Scenario 2: Anarcho-capitalism

(Imagine that) we live in a condition not of involuntary governance or chaotic anarchy, but of an intentional, voluntary order. Any legitimately rights-protective function previously performed by government is now performed by competing private agencies in a free market. Justice is provided through private arbitration courts, whose laws and practices are standardized (and negotiated, in cases of conflict) through a voluntary system (somewhat similar to that used by the National Association of Manufacturers). Protection, investigation, and insurance are provided by agencies operating in a similar manner. Individuals have allodial title to their land and property.

Consent is required for all transactions, and all people are free to go about their business in any way they wish, subject to (protective) force only if they first initiate (coercive) force upon another.

Billionaires still exist, but they now no longer have any ability to use government to aid their business or hobble their competitors. If they have gotten rich, they have done so by means of voluntary transactions—by providing desirable goods and services to people who want them. If they eventually get bored with their wealth and become creepy weirdos who