RALEIGH – As candidates, activists, journalists, and voters gear up for tomorrow’s primary elections, it’s important to remember what politics is really all about.
A government is not a debating society. It is not a family. It is not a business. It is not a civic club. It is not a church. A government – be it a democracy, a republic, an aristocracy, or a dictatorship – is a social institution that uses force to accomplish its objectives. That’s what makes it different from those other social institutions.
And what makes a government different from, say, a mob family or a band of pirates? Governments seek to legitimate their use of force by promising equality under the law, the protection of individual rights, and the provision of valuable public services that cannot be performed through voluntary exchange.
When politicians make sweeping claims about the ability of politics to transform societies into extended families, or to eradicate social disadvantage, or to spread a social gospel, or to revolutionize an industry, or to radically transform the way we live, work, shop, or commute, just keep in mind that what they really mean is that they want access to government’s instruments of force to accomplish these goals.
They want the power to tax, regulate, or imprison you. This goes for the smart politicians as well as the dumb ones. It goes for the good ones and the bad ones. It goes for those who want to protect your freedom and those who want to deprive you of it (for your own good, of course).
So don’t be under any illusions when you cast your vote. You are not registering your approval of a candidate’s personal character. You are not commending his choice of yard-sign color scheme. You are not “liking” him on Facebook, or “like-liking” him on the playground. You are not expressing admiration for his family, his professional achievements, his charitable donations, or his golf game.
When you vote for someone, you are electing to give him control over the power to tax, regulate, or imprison you. Do so thoughtfully and carefully. And even when you do, be prepared for disappointment. Politicians have a tendency to abuse their power, a tendency that stems not just from the individual impulses of human nature but also from the inherent flaws of any political process.
The constituency for plunder is more strongly motivated than the constituency for liberty.
If you derive all or most your income, power, or status from government’s ability to redistribute income or regulate private decisions, then you have a strong personal interest in government maintaining and expanding that ability – and, correspondingly, you have a strong personal interest in ensuring that whoever runs the government shares your goal, even if that means devoting a substantial part of your time, attention, and resources to political activism.
If, on the other hand, your relationship to government is characterized primarily by the consumption of services such as law enforcement, city streets, or public schools, then you certainly have a personal interest in the outcome of political campaigns – but it’s rarely at the top of your priority list. You have lots of competing demands on your attention. You are less likely to turn out, particularly for party primaries, and less likely to give money, volunteer, or corral other voters for your favorite candidates on Election Day.
These factors help to explain why it often proves difficult for politicians advocating limited government to obtain and hold political power. They also help to explain why some of those politicians tend, over time, to lose their commitment to limited-government principles.
I don’t advocate abandoning the field of politics just because it’s difficult or distasteful. The very fact that elections are ultimately about conferring the power of force on public officials should motivate those who cherish freedom, who wish to minimize the use of force in human affairs, to participate in the electoral process.
There is no alternative to politics. All human societies have always and will always contain coercive governments. As a result, all human societies have always and will always contain political activity in some form. So get involved – but do so for the right reasons, and with a clear understanding of what’s at stake.
Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation.