Zachary Antoyan
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Zachary Antoyan is a political science senior and Mustang News liberal columnist. These views do not necessarily reflect the opinion or editorial coverage of Mustang News.
Prepare yourself, because Professor Zach is about to lay down some heavy political theory. “Credentials?” you ask. “It’s theory, so who cares, right?” I do, and you need to know your underlying reasons and justifications for stuff because otherwise you would just be ignorant sheeple, ready for that meat grinder that is the real world. So strap in and ready your mind-brain for some abstract concepts, because I’m going to tell you about the proper role of government.
“But wait,” you naively interrupt. “Isn’t the proper role of government going to be according to you, and have a liberal perspective to it?” The short answer: No. It’s not about politics here, it’s about government, which are two completely different things. It’s not about something that is affected by political partisan crap. We are talking about how a government should be structured, to facilitate the will of the sheeple … I mean people (those are South Park references, two columns in a row).
If you want to, in the words of the master Snoop, “Smoke weed every day,” then we can facilitate that. You want to bring your guns to church; sweet, we can facilitate that, too. I really don’t care what you do with your government as long as it responds to the will of the people and protects the individual. In fact, I’m going to argue that the most successful system of government is one that has the least amount of politics. For those of you that are thinking “communism,” your mind-brain is in the wrong place. Less politics means that government actions are not hindered by partisan bickering. Instead, decisions are made at the individual level, and people are more inclined to converse with others about their personal interests in terms of government action.
So in the totally fictional, but somehow always relevant, state of nature, you are naked and alone. How do you act? Well, most people say pretty savagely. Having no basis for rights or protections between individuals, you are in a constant state of survival. Unfortunately for you, the only thing between life and death are your wits and your fists. Too bad Jeff over there is literally twice your size. What this boils down to is that in the state of nature, all humans have equal and full capacity to act. This capacity to act is known as agency. Since it’s the state of nature, you can do whatever you want, so try to fly if you want to, and jump off that cliff flapping your arms. As you’re falling to the ground, think for a moment about how your situation totally sucks, but also how your physical (and mental) capabilities hindered you from succeeding in your flight attempt. So even in the state of nature in which you can act with impunity, even toward other humans, you are still limited by your capabilities.
Enter stage everywhere, society. You’ll find out pretty quick that life in the state of nature is noting but crap, literally and figuratively. So you and Jeff high-five because now you are two people strong and can get a lot more done. Except now you make a pact that you can’t kill each other — that is called a norm — and if written in the form of a law, it might even be a right. Congratulations, you just created rights. I’m gonna make a claim that you might find a little strange: Rights do not exist in the state of nature. Rights are social constructs, because there is no point to them if they are not agreed upon between individuals. Otherwise it’s just you, and no one else has to respect them. Additionally, rights aren’t things. They don’t exist unless you make them exist by turning them into norms or laws.
But by accepting these terms to work together, you and Jeff have given up certain aspects of your individual agency in favor of pooling your individual capabilities. There now exists collective agency and collective capability, but you are now constrained in terms of your capacity to act, as it is no longer at its full capacity.
Let’s recap: state of nature, you’ve got full agency, do what you want. Now, you live in society because the state of nature sucks, but you have less agency. This is OK, because now you can do a lot more as a team. It’s important to remember that your agency is what allows you to pursue your personal interest, so you don’t want to give up too much of it, otherwise you’ll be sheeple. Now, the agency you give up as an individual doesn’t just vanish into nothingness, it still exists, but now it is in the hands of the entity that decides what the collective action is: government. Government is the facilitator of agency, and this is a good thing, because the agency gives it the legitimacy to act on your behalf. If it doesn’t act according to your personal interests, it is misusing your agency, and is illegitimate. That would be the time to flip tables and burn things.
To be successful, the proper role of government needs to maximize individual agency, allowing for the pursuit of personal interest, while ensuring all of its members are equal so no member has the justification to act in a way others can’t because inequality leads to sheeple (and sheeple is bad). Finally, it needs to maximize the social benefits available to all. That is the proper role of government, and next week, we get to dissect America’s government and see how it stacks up to this role. I’ll give you a hint: It’s not gonna be pretty.
This is Zachary Antoyan, thinking that maybe if he writes more, that picture of his face in the corner won’t be so damn big. Have a fantastic day, everyone.