Drive your cattle to the woods, Francois,
The lord is looking your way.
Hide your women and your goods, Francois,
They’re coming around to make you pay.
Hide if you can, poor little man,
Think of a prayer to say.
Hide if you can, poor little man,
Think of a prayer to say.[Tom Paxton, “When Princes Meet”]
In the previous piece, I focused on the question of who actually wields the power of the State, especially in those instances when it impinges on common citizens. For those are the times when State power is impossible to ignore: the times when the peasants drive their cattle to the woods, hide their women and valuables, and do their best to become invisible.
A dear, departed friend named Ed who shared my detestation of the State once hauled me up short as I ranted. “Abolishing the political State would be nice,” he said, “but it wouldn’t be the end of the thing. States exist because there are people who love power. Take the political State away from them and they’ll just change colors. They’ll adapt! Humans are good at that, remember?”
Ed then cited vigilance committees and lynch mobs. “They wielded the same power as an ‘official’ State. They just did it informally, and for a shorter time. Then there’s guilds and trade unions. Even when there was no ‘official’ State to back them up, they wielded State powers. Wherever you have a local preponderance of force and the will to use it, you have a State.”
I didn’t argue the point. Ed was right. It shed a new and fresh light on the matter.
Where would we find such “local preponderances of force” today?
Everybody’s got his own pet peeve. Some of those peeves arise from the “busybody” impulse that’s more prevalent among us than ever. For there are many persons whose whole lives revolve around their desire to interfere in others’ lives and businesses. They know “how things ought to be.” All too frequently they find like-minded souls to collaborate with them.
One of the premier examples of this in our time is the “homeowners’ association” or HOA.
I was greatly amused to note the proliferation of stories, on YouTube in particular, about battles between homeowners and the tiny totalitarians who always seem to dominate an HOA. I suspect that they’re largely generated by AI composition. Still, the number of them speaks to the superfluity of the meddling impulse. The phenomenon moved Eric Hoffer to comment thus:
A man is likely to mind his own business when it is worth minding. When it is not, he takes his mind off his own meaningless affairs by minding other people's business...The vanity of the selfless, even those who practice the utmost humility, is boundless.
Indeed.
Yet HOAs, no matter who dominates them constitute States de facto. They wield coercive power. All too frequently they go unopposed, even when their demands are unjustified by the organization’s charter. They who run them and the others who back them, actively or passively, are doing State work.
Completely informal groups that arise to put pressure on others have the same character, even if they refrain (or are prevented) from using force. One such figured in my own young life:
A family not far from us had domestic troubles. She slapped him one night, and he responded by shoving her through a screen door, which occasioned a visit to the local hospital for her, a visit from an impromptu decency committee for him, and departure from town for the two of them, soon afterward.
Such incidents might seem trivial at the time, but the desire for power over others – to insert oneself and one’s convictions into another’s life and make him behave — that animates them is anything but trivial. Even when the great majority agree with the necessity of wielding or threatening coercive force, that desire must be recognized – and curbed.
I’ve said at other times and places that the American mantra should be Mind your own business, as it once was. These days, There ought to be a law is heard more frequently. That speaks to the ascension of a poisonous proclivity: the belief that interfering in others’ lives is right and proper as long as you can get a majority to back you.
Rather than beat this into the magma layer, allow me to suggest only this: Try each phrase in your own mouth and mind. Which tastes better? Which strikes you as a better prescription for a peaceful society?
The choice, Gentle Reader, is yours.
3 comments:
Let me provide you with a minor contribution prodded from an old man's memory by your writing the once popular exclamation "There Oughta Be a Law".
Named for that phrase was a single panel comic strip, published in newspapers, that may have disappeared by the time you could read even though a search says it survived until 1985. Here's the details from Brave Leo:
"There Oughta Be a Law!" (often abbreviated as TOBAL!) was a single-panel newspaper comic strip created by writer Harry Shorten and artist Al Fagaly, which was syndicated from 1944 to 1985 The strip originated as "Bitter Laff" before changing its title to "There Oughta Be a Law!" on October 22, 1945 It was inspired by Jimmy Hatlo's "They'll Do It Every Time" and focused on illustrating minor absurdities, frustrations, hypocrisies, ironies, and misfortunes of everyday life The comic strip became known for its recurring catchphrase, "There Oughta Be a Law!", often shouted by characters in response to trivial annoyances
The strip was initially syndicated by the McClure Newspaper Syndicate and later moved to United Feature Syndicate Al Fagaly, who had previously worked on superhero comics for Timely Comics and Archie Comics, including creating the character Super Duck, was the original artist After Fagaly's death in 1963, Warren Whipple took over the art duties until 1981, while Harry Shorten continued providing scripts until 1970 Frank Borth then assumed writing responsibilities until 1983, and Mort Gerberg took over both writing and art from August 1983 until the strip ended on April 13, 1985 A Sunday strip version ran from 1948 to 1980
The comic incorporated reader-submitted ideas, with contributors sometimes credited by name in the strip It was featured in publications such as the Milwaukee Journal's Green Sheet, where it ran from November 1945 The strip's popularity led to multiple collected editions published by companies affiliated with Harry Shorten, including Midwood Books, Belmont Books, and Roband Productions The phrase "There Oughta Be a Law!" predates the comic strip, appearing in print as early as 1920, but the comic helped popularize it as a cultural catchphrase.
Some of the panels, found by Brave images, were predictive of where we are today.
My stupid HOA story. When they designed our community the lefties in government decided that the strip of grass between the sidewalk and street be a new age "gutter" It doesn't drain anywhere it simply allows the water to stand and soak into Mother Earth. It was lined with a fabric and planted with grass. We, the owners of the property, are forbidden to do anything to it. Well, except it seems that if it grows weeds we are responsible and if that special grass gets too high we are responsible. It's a gully, how do you mow it and not tear up that special fabric. We are forbidden to touch it except if due to it's very design it starts to look shaggy. It is a stupid design. Someone's dream of recharging the earths water table when in fact it does nothing useful. But we do get letters from the HOA when a weed appears.
"When your response to everything that is wrong with the world is to say, 'there ought to be a law,' you are saying that you hold freedom very cheap." -- Thomas Sowell
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