From Jeff Tuckers Laissez Faire Club:
Control of education allows the political class to inculcate a sense
of civic obligation and duty, set the parameters of approved thought,
and keep revolutionary ideas from entering into the culture. If you can
get the kids at a young age and train them, all the better. This is why
every state the world over has worked to secure its control over
education. The goal is not to make everyone smart but rather to make
everyone obedient.
Control of communication reinforces this tendency to properly filter
the ideas that people hold. This is why censorship is one of the first
and long-lasting functions of government. It is not to protect you and
me against hearing or seeing things that would corrupt our hearts and
souls. The idea is to maintain a firm grip over what people believe
about the political system and to keep outlying ideas underground and at
the margins of society.
Money comes next. Historically, this is one of the earliest
institutions that the state seeks to monopolize. Only in the 20th
century has the excuse been to keep unemployment down or keep the
banking and financial systems stable. The real reason is, as Hoppe
explains, to provide a funding source for government that doesn’t
require taxation. Taxes make people mad. Devaluation and inflation flies
under cover of night.
Finally, there is the need to monopolize the provision of security,
which means controlling courts, police, and justice. The idea here is to
be able to tell the population that the government is keeping everyone
safe. If government is not there, terrible things will happen: monsters
will take over.
Read the rest
here.
Thanks to Jim for sending this to me!!
