26A002 The Minarchists' Dilemma by Jim Davies, 1/13/2026

Classical Liberals, or Minarchists as I like to call them, if able to form a government would bring huge improvements to America; they'd restore it to fit the vision of the founders, with tight limits on Federal power. The Constitution would no longer be a "scrap of paper."

In effect they would have it implement only the functions of justice and national defense; and even Ayn Rand, superb thinker that she was, swallowed that idea.

Just a couple of problems, in addition to the fact that until everyone has been re-educated far too few will ever vote to give up what they imagine to be "government benefits" - so that won't happen. The further problem is that even those two functions are miserably failing.

1. "National defense" isn't national defense at all, and never has been (unless you count the brouhaha of 1812, when the FedGov began to attack British Canada and was sharply rebuffed when His Majesty's troops invaded and burned the White House.) In a reckless display of honesty President Trump has even re-named the DoD the "Department of War" and that's what it has been in reality ever since the fire.

Does that matter, to John and Jane Q? - it certainly should, for there has never been an unprovoked attack on this country and the FedGov's adventures overseas are getting ever more provocative and ever more foreign régimes are poised to get The Bomb. So yes, one day soon it will really matter a lot. And by allowing the Feds to keep the DoW, minarchists would continue to provoke enmity worldwide and one day soon that provocation will come back to bite us.

2. "Justice" in America may be the best such government monopoly in the world, but that says nothing; it is a sick joke and getting sicker. There are already a few editions of the ZGBlog that expand that theme - find them by visiting the archive and typing "justice" in the Search window.

Like all other "justice" systems elsewhere, that's because first and foremost, it's not about justice at all; it's about authority and punishment. Laws are written, anyone breaking them gets hammered. It's about retribution. Cages for the convicted are called houses of "correction", but with a 70% recidivism rate that is deeply hypocritical. True justice is about restitution of lost rights, and that won't appear before government vanishes.

That authority is normally wielded by the writing and enforcement of laws, which we rubes are supposed to read. In fact there are so many it would take a lifetime to read them all, so that just adds to the hypocrisy. Sometimes though, the written laws fail to prohibit conduct that government dislikes, and then it relies upon its judges to enforce its will in the absence of laws. Two examples follow.

One is the case of Irwin Schiff in 2005. He was convicted of evading income tax, in a Federal Court presided over by Judge Kent Dawson, may his name forever live in infamy. Irwin's defense was that there is no law requiring the payment of a tax on "income" (a term the law nowhere defines!) and that is true and accurate; the reasons are shown in summary here and in greater detail in my book How Government Silenced Irwin Schiff. Dawson forbade him to mention the law in court (!!) then lied to the jury by saying there is.

The other is more recent, and relates to the right of privacy, which follows directly from the Self Ownership Axiom. One important advantage of using Bitcoin is that the payment system is peer-to-peer directly, without being handled by an intermediary such as a bank; and if a bank refuses a government order to reveal customer account details its license to operate gets pulled. Gradually, that very useful privacy has been eroded (this video shows how) so Keonne Rodriguez designed software (Samourai Wallet) to restore it. He was charged and convicted in 2025 for violating the laws requiring a license to operate a money service business; but the whole point of the software is that no money transmittal takes place; and that fact is acknowledged even by the government agency (FinCEN) that monitors money transmitters! - because Keonne never took custody of anyone's funds. He too, therefore, is in prison at this writing for violating a law that does not exist.

Do watch that video; it's an hour spent so well you'll never again suppose that government is operating a system of justice.

So, minarchists are on thin ice. Their two favorite reasons for retaining a minimal government fail to withstand scrutiny. Should any be reading this, consider consistency instead. There is nothing that government can, or should, usefully do. Please apply your mind to TOLFA - a link is on your right - and take action to rid this country of that parasite.