Promise us freedom, not services!

Twitter and other social media are abuzz with South Africans exercising their democratic “right” to vote in the local elections today.  The sense of camaraderie, or more correctly – of nationalism – are powerful.  Reports are of 1,000 people queues lining up to vote in certain areas, which is inspiring many people who feel they are making their mark, and hence, a difference, today.  We can sympathise with these views, but cannot be inspired by it for the following reasons.

1) By voting, people give legitimacy to the state.  The state is, by definition, the compulsory territorial monopolist of protection and jurisdiction equipped with the power to tax without unanimous consent. Over a braai with some friends last night, it was mentioned that Pres Zuma had said on the radio that it doesn’t matter who you vote for, the most important thing is that you get out there and make your mark.  This is because Zuma understands that if no-one were to get out there and vote, the state would effectively be illegitimate, and is facing the prospect of internal revolt.

2) The official opposition, the DA, had as the pillar of its campaign the promise that it would deliver services to all.  This has got to be the weakest campaign promise in the history of democracy (which is a very short history, by the way).  The free market, i.e. business men and women, provide services to people every single day, matching supply and demand nearly to the exact degree, without ever having been voted into power.  Walk into your nearest coffee shop, order a cup of cappuccino, and observe.  Observe that an hundred thousand production processes took place to bring you that single cup of warm delicious brew. From the dairy farmer who produced the milk, to the coffee bean farmer in east Africa who grew the beans, to the roasting and the distribution of the beans, to the porcelain factory that made the materials to feed into the capital good to produce the mug, to the paint manufacturer who made the paint and the painter who coated the walls, to the carpenter who made the counter that the coffee machine, which was made in Italy, stands on.  This is only the tip of the iceberg, friends.  There are literally millions of production processes that brought that cup of coffee to you.  But note that not a single one of those producers were ever voted into power on a four year electoral cycle.  If you receive a poor cup of coffee, you don’t pay for it, or send it back for another one at no extra cost, there’s no need to wait four years before you can bring about ‘change.’ It is always the incentive of the market to produce and supply goods and services to people at the lowest possible cost, and to keep us happy and satisfied, today.  The system is so complex, that no-one can manage it without the profit and loss system that applies to private enterprise. Yet we have the idiocy to go and vote a bureaucrat and his friends who has no incentive to match supply and demand and maximise profit, into ‘power’ every four years.  It is always in the interest of the state to reduce the quantity or quality or services, while at the same time maximising revenue, i.e. increasing taxation.  Go into a home affairs office or traffic department and this reality will punch you in the face.  As a voter who gives legitimacy to such a system, there is no way out.  You are a ’subject,’ and need to get in line for another four  years.

3) Apart from promises of better service delivery, no party promised voters any more personal freedoms.  We live in the “new South Africa,” but talk of freedom is dead.  In fact, freedom never came.  Where were the promises that the state would give up the right of spying on us, and abandon RICA? Did any party promise to explicitly protect our property rights, by backing the currency with gold, to stop inflationary deficit government finance, and halt fractional credit creation of the banking system? Did anyone promise to stop groping us before we cross into the flight zone in terminal buildings?  Did anyone promise to let go of state control over ACSA airports so the cost of air travel between our major cities could be reduced and we could travel freely?  Did anyone promise that they would allow us, as ‘free’ citizens, to do with our bodies as we please? In this regard, did anyone promise that they would legalise the use – outside of doctor’s slips, i.e. a license – of marijuana, heroine, or sleeping tablets? Did anyone promise we could buy medicine over the counter of our local chemist without having to pay a doctor for the license first?  Did anyone promise to do away with draconian firearm laws that will allow us to protect our own lives, families and properties from aggressing criminals?  Did anyone promise they would free our borders over the bureaucratic controls of the flow of people, so we could attract more skilled human capital, and have friends and family visit us freely from other parts of the world?  Did anyone promise to do away with intellectual property rights so people could copy and imitate other ideas, giving us more plentiful, better and cheaper products?  Did anyone promise that productive citizens would stop funding the construction of homes and feeding people who don’t want to produce to sustain themselves?

Now I understand these are local elections, and this isn’t the level of voting we are dealing with today.  But did you think of this, as it is clearly very important to our freedom and prosperity as a nation?  On a local level, did anyone promise to privatise service delivery, so we could enjoy improved variety and quality of service, and wouldn’t need to deal with public sector wage negotiations each year?  Did anyone promise to improve local processes and provide means to avoid electricity blackouts?  Did anyone promise to implement local legislation that would allow municipalities to nullify restrictive by-laws?  Did anyone promise to secede from the state so we could take care of ourselves on a local level, by taking care of our own sewerage, water, and road networks? Did anyone promise to fence off areas of communities so the flow of people can be more closely monitored and regulated, so the cost of crime prevention and crime itself could be reduced?

The answer is very obviously: NO.

Whoever wins in local elections today, we will get more of the same big, controlling, evil, violent, coercive state apparatus. Vote for these people if you will.  Team HA won’t, but will continue to work hard day in, and day out, in our personal and business lives, ignoring the four year electoral cycle, to spread the ideas of freedom and liberty. With your help, we will eventually make a real and true difference.