Competitive Governance?
Continuation, with minor edits for clarity, of a fascinating and intellectually challenging dialog with Matt Sands from England, the creator of the ‘Nations Of Sanity’ NAP law initiative (http://nationsofsanity.com):
David Pratt Demarest – Matt Sands :
Matt, thanks for your contact information and your ‘Nations of Sanity’ NAP law creative efforts!
The problem is, who is going to pass the NAP law of our choice? If we have a voluntary choice on governance systems (competitive governance), some will choose stronger NAP confirmation, some less. When each of us can choose whether to legitimize that particular NAP governance offering, an attempt to force a uniformly acceptable NAP confirmation on everyone suffers from from the inherent force versus choice dichotomy.
The key concept is legitimacy. Laws, regardless of their merit, are legitimized only when they are accepted by all they apply to. Under Voluntaryism, Anarcho-Capitalism, or Panarchy, all would have a choice of which competitive form of governance to accept.
The likelihood of every one of us accepting just one form of governance in an instantaneous gestalt is nil. By contrast, however, the good news is that convergence on the NAP is predictable through free market competition. May the most effective implementation of the NAP win. That is the Voluntaryism free market way.
Better to put our efforts into building a form of governance that will out-compete through exampleship other forms of governance with less emphasis on the NAP. I expect such a competitive scenario will occur regardless of what you and I do, but why not lead the way through exampleship. We can build a better ‘mousetrap’, a form of governance that will accrue legitimacy as a superior competitive product in the free market of governance.
In closing, I would note that free markets, the only human institution that has never failed over the entire history of mankind, will lead the way. Free markets are not just for products and services with a tangible financial value. Free markets cover all human actions and decisions including relationships and the rules for relationships that constitute governance.
I propose or add my voice in support of a bold new concept. competitive ‘FREE MARKET GOVERNANCE’. Governance is just another social service that benefits from free-market competition. Competition, along with self interest, are the over-arching attributes that characterize not only all life but all of existence.
Matt, let’s work together with Voluntaryists, Anarcho-Capitalists, Panarchists, and the broader Libertarian movement to build a better form of governance on a sound foundation of free-market governance competition, self-interest, and the Non-Aggression Principle (NAP).
Thoughts?
