No Coercion Exploring the idea of a stateless society.

Government responsible for most U.S. crime

It's official. As reported by the government itself, gangs are responsible for as much as 80% of crime in the United States. The article reports that "criminal gangs in the USA have swelled to an estimated 1 million members" and notes that gangs thrive on illegal drug trafficking and other activities prohibited by the government. This is exactly right. Gangs gain most of their power and wealth by taking advantage of the U.S. government's (and state governments') wars on drugs, guns, prostitution, and gambling, just like alcohol was organized crime's primary source of power during Prohibition. Government-created black markets are always dominated by violent thugs.

So we have a double injustice here. In the first place, the government comes along and prohibits items, substances, and activities that are not inherently bad (though perhaps frowned upon by a certain vocal portion of the population). By doing this, the government is agressing against innocent people. On top of that, the demand for such things cannot be eliminated, so enterprising individuals seeking to profit (again, something that's not inherently wrong) act to provide consumers with what they want. Of course, since they're forced to conduct business in secret and settle disputes outside the normal institutions, violent elements come to dominate. The move toward violence is compounded by the necessity for these individuals to defend themselves from the force initiated on them by the government because of the 'illegal' nature of their business.

Government prohibition of drugs, prostitution, gambling, and guns -- and even disproportionate taxation of such things -- has led inevitably to a flourishing of criminal gangs. These gangs, funded by a combination of artificially high prices and (often) protection payments, do battle with each other for control of lucrative territory, as well as with the government itself. The territories, usually inner cities, are devastated by the warfare. Even non-violent offenders, whose only crime is to use a substance that someone else decided was bad for them, are often thrown in jail or prison. The resulting broken families and deteriorating schools increase the attractiveness of gang life to children, and the trend continues. Increasing resources are expended by both the gangs and the government to beef up personnel and firepower until you virtually have military forces laying waste to American cities, all over our government's decision to declare certain things illegal to appease a bunch of moralistic busy-bodies.

And even beyond all that you have the economic destruction caused by taxes the government collects to wage its war and imprison hundreds of thousands of people caught up in it (people, who might otherwise be creating vast amounts of wealth in the economy). The resulting government-induced poverty yet again enhances the power of criminal gangs and leads to calls for even more government programs to "do something."

It's truly difficult to contemplate how much richer and safer and more peaceful we'd be as a country if not for the actions of our government.

And if you think it's bad now, just wait until they ban caffeine.

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