Most loosely governed state possible.

aware of emptiness

Peoples' political opinions of how a state/country/nation should be governed run the gamut from the authoritarian to the anarchic.

Many people, especially the more individualistic lot, eagerly insist on the idea that the less the government gets involved in the lives of the citizens the better. In the extreme end are the anarchists. But we all know in practice, an anarchy, no matter how idealistic, could never work at all. Anarchy could only work if all people were intrinsically altruistic, kind-hearted and looked out for the interests of others. Never gonna happen. We can't trust ourselves to do everything right. That's why we need order.

But what is the most individualistic, laissez-faire, society possible that is still realistic and plausible? How close could we humans get to developing a state with the least amount of government control that still manages to hold itself together. In short, how close to a real anarchy could we get plausibly without actually having it turn to anarchy and collapsing?

I was thinking maybe a hyper capitalistic society of some sort. A dog-eat-dog world, but within limits of course. The "invisible hand" of economics, guiding things around, with some basic ethical rules and guidelines.
 

NapoleonXIV

Banned
The problem is force.

Force exists, there's no way around it. If you have laws and order, you have to have police and the police will have guns (or nightsticks, or swords, or just be awfully damned big).

And given your dog eat dog Caps, how do you keep one or another from buying the police and then using them to eliminate the competition? Laws? well OK, but whose enforcing these laws?

Now one way around this is to set up other loci of power in the community. The people, frex, have a certain amount of immutable power, just in their ability not to go along. The police can stop people from doing bad things but they can't MAKE people do anything, There's too many of them.

What will they do if everyone just decides not to go to work that day?

So now we have three loci of power, the Caps, who have an economic influence which is all their own, and who will never unite because they all compete, the police, who exist to keep the Caps (and everyone else) in line, but might be bought by one or another Cap (or maybe a consortium) and now the people, who have to go along with the other two for anything to get done.

So set the three against each other and you have.....:eek:
 

Justin Pickard

In GURPS AE's Shikaku-Mon, Brazil's central authority imploded in some kind of economic crisis, and it is now essentially lawless, with order imposed by corporations.
 

Hendryk

Banned
I'm reminded of the opening paragraph of Henry David Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience".

I HEARTILY ACCEPT the motto,—"That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe,—"That government is best which governs not at all"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient.
Click to expand...
Am I right to believe that this is the seminal text of American libertarianism?
 

The Sandman

Banned
The two technological developments that would help immensely would be affordable localized power generation, so that each home or community could power itself, and some method of converting raw matter or energy into useful products, whether it be nanobot assemblers or Star Trek-style replicators. Once you remove the necessity of long-distance trade, communities can handle policing on an ad hoc basis.
 
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