Throughout human history it has been recognized that powerful interests of all sorts, be they Pharaohs  and their priests, kings and the nobility, commercial interests, dynastic families, corporations, emperors and their imperial bureaucracies, conglomerates, the state administering society in the interest of the most powerful and wealthy interests, as well as it being a power unto itself over society, and the intermediate social strata that do the administrative work overseeing the creation of society’s wealth and goods and services by the middle and lower classes. What is astounding as that this fact, that there are rulers and ruled, is ignored when discussing the justice of the social structure and the distribution of wealth and income in North American and similar and not-as-similar societies in the present. It is is as if in the present we have all gotten beyond the oppressive class structures of the past, a level playing field exists, which is of course a bunch of malarky and characterizes reactionary and conservative social philosophy. Sadly, class oppression is worse than ever in the United States, as wealth and income inequality lead to social situation of a powerless majority and powerful minority or oligarchy, who have almost total control over the all aspects of government, running it in the name of big business, mainly, the vastly overblown and parasitic financial sector. Or as John Dewey said, “politics [government] is the shadow cast by business over society”.

Probably the worst of these reactionary social philosophies these days is so-called libertarianism, an inaccurate self-declaration by its adherents if there ever was one. In case you did not know, modern libertarianism is based on laissez faire, or free market, minimally or unregulated, capitalism. This means a socioeconomic system of little environmental, work safety, consumer safety regulation, as well as a minuscule to no social safety net, all of this of course resulting in very low taxes–its greatest point of attraction to many. Libertarians believe that minimal taxation and regulation–and no minimum wage, Medicare and Medicaid, among other desired eliminations–will lead to greater wealth for all members of society as businesses can employ more people without regulatory and tax burdens, they will in turn have income to spend on goods, services, and investments such as home ownership, etc. Their main strategy for replacing the present functions of government, such as the creation and maintenance of infrastructure, is to privatize it, as they believe that private ownership and management is always superior to public.

Yet an important motivating factor and cause of the libertarians is the regulating and taxing state is oppressive. It is oppressive because it is an unneeded institution that must exist by taxation on the owners of capital, entrepreneurs (the exclusive “producers” in their vocabulary) and that these noble people need to be set free and do the good they do for society. To them the state, or what most might call ‘the government’ is a perpetuating and self-serving monster living at the expense of the productive business person, and that the social safety net is merely something the politicians of the state do in order to win votes of the lower classes, and thus keep them and their political class in power. Thus the state and almost all it does must be cut to the bone. Since private property is the most sanctified concept in libertarianism (as long as it is “legally”, but not morally acquired, and usually not “earned” in any realistic sense of the word), government legal institutions that protect it, as well as law enforcement will remain very firmly in place–this is a part of the government they love. Law enforcement will also of course put down any popular insurrections against private property, and the direction of society dictated by those who own most of it, who of course, do so in their interests.

While the state, in our country, the federal, state, and local governments, is undoubtably powerful and full of reasons to be wary of its power, I think it is a terrible idea to replace the present institutions of the state with private interests performing those functions. One, private institutions are just as susceptible to corruption as those of states; they distort public purpose into the profiteering of their owners, e.g., private prisons seek to jail more juveniles to be more profitable; and three, they eliminate unions of public workers and the voice and better wages and benefits they provide them, replacing them with low-wage workers with few perks.

Worst of all, however, is the fact the the power of the state is taken over by private interests, or as is the case nations without strong states, or central government, power is society is taken over by criminal interests, as is the case in beloved Mexico.