24A023 Two Roads to Freedom by Jim Davies, 6/18/2024

Last week's ZGBlog reported what's been going on with libertarian political attempts to shake off the curse of government, and concluded that that road to freedom is blocked.

After leaving the Libertarian Party I reflected: if freedom cannot be achieved by political (force-based) means, and given that a political party cannot be relied on to stay true to its beliefs, how can it be achieved? - and eventually tumbled to the simpler question: on what does a government depend? The answer then quickly became obvious: not on votes or taxes (they can falsify votes and print money) but on employees. If nobody will work for them, they'll have no recourse. They will inevitably implode.

Then it was just a matter of figuring out how to educate everyone to the degree that they would not work for government. Result: TOLFA. The simple idea is that one person (or more) takes that interactive freedom course and so concludes that government is a repugnant concept for which he will never work - and quit any job with it that he may currently hold, as summarized in the QuitGov companion site. Then he is asked to find one person a year to also take the course and do the same.

The result is exponential growth in the number of people who will not work for government in any capacity. After "n" years that number is 2ⁿ and it reaches the whole adult US population in 28 years.

Exponential progression begins very slowly, as shown by the green line in this Wikipedia chart. In our case it's almost invisible, for most of those years; for example after 26 years only a quarter of government employees will have quit. That's fine; there will be no early warning of the stampede to come in the final, exciting 24 months.

When it does, there will necessarily be some turmoil, for large numbers of people will need to start earning a living in the voluntary, productive, market part of the economy instead of the compulsory one - and a few government functions will need to continue, but under the ownership of investors, without any monopoly and staffed by employees who have learned which way is up. So there will be a great deal of job-changing. But the turmoil will not include any pushback by disgruntled opponents, for this is not a political method; everyone will leave government employ by their own free will.

If you have not yet joined this process, please do so now.

A Third Road?

But is there a third way the job might be done? Last month I came across an intriguing alternative, thanks to George F Smith, the author of that excellent novel The Flight of the Barbarous Relic and other works. In the highly stimulating book The Fall of Tyranny, the Rise of Liberty his theme is that we don't need to take any special action at all, to end the Age of Government; that it will inevitably collapse under its own weight. If that's true it sounds good to me, for I admire efficiency. For example he writes:

Smith reasons that technology advanced quite slowly over many centuries, but accelerated a great deal since 1800 and right now is advancing exponentially in a kind of "hockey stick" bend or "knee". Very soon now, government goods and services will be made directly for negligible cost, while "nanobots" in the bloodstream will radically improve health, intelligence and longevity.

Technology is headed for an exponential flight to the stars — and most people will choose to go with it. Government, because it’s founded on theft, debt, and unsound money, while given legitimacy by court intellectuals, is headed for bankruptcy.

It's an exhilarating vision, but I counsel caution. Government's whole purpose is to exercise and enjoy power, and when it finds its power slipping away it will fight like a cornered tiger. No holds will be barred, and it will have a full complement of fighters if this "do-nothing" method takes effect. As with the political method, things could get very bloody. Since, further, it involves no particular re-education about the evil nature of government, those who fight the cornered feline will be ill-equipped in defense. That contrasts with the "TOLFA method" which will deprive it of human resources gradually at first and then rapidly; and all who quit government service will do so voluntarily because they have learned and understood how revolting it is.

But do take a read of George's book, it's one of a kind. Let me know what you think!