Civilization and its Governments

Philosophers generally hold two clashing views of humanity: one optimistic, the other pessimistic. Each of these viewpoints is often held as an argument to increase the authority of government, whether in economic policies, personal lives, or civil liberties.

The optimistic view of humanity holds that people are inherently good, and indeed are perfectible creatures. All that is needed for a utopian existence is more time for mankind to iron out its faults and get its act together. This view is commonly held by modern liberals, who see government as the ideal "ironing board" to stretch people over and get rid of their problems. The only problem with this is that if people are inherently good, why do they need government to solve all of their problems? People could live in peace with each other without state regulations and taxes and other government functions; they wouldn't need any motivation to help out their fellow man on the street and they would most certainly not attack each other, either personally or militarily.

Clearly, however, this has not happened. Poverty still strikes many. Militaries and insurgents still clash. World peace has not been achieved, world hunger has not been solved. So this philosophy of humanity strikes out. This leaves the pessimistic view of humanity, which states that people are fallen, corrupt creatures with a near-infinite capacity for wrongdoing. This, of course, may be true, as it is the only logical conclusion remaining after the discarding of the optimistic view of humanity; however, this truth is often twisted to provide a false and fallacious view of government's role in society. If humanity is corrupted, one may reason, then it needs a master to keep it in line, right? This view is commonly held by conservatives, who say that mankind's original sin means that government needs to step in and make people do the right things, whatever "right" may be.

However, this view fails to realize that there is no distinction between the corrupt humans of the citizenry and the corrupt humans of the government. If humans are inherently wicked, and governments are comprised of humans, then governments also are wicked. It does not matter whether or not those at the head of the government were democratically elected or seized power in a violent coup; they are just as fallible and prone to mistakes as those they rule.

Both the views lead to an incorrect view of the people; they view people as clay to be molded by a government that is always correct and never falters in its careful control over the citizenry. They both ignore the fact that humans, regardless of election, birth, or status, are all equally prone to evil. The solution to this is to have each man in control of as little of another man's rights and property as possible. Private property must be protected, as must rights and civil liberties, for if any of these things becomes subject to the rule of a privileged few, the only thing that can result is tyranny, oppression, and civilization-wide collapse.