We the People: Children's Edition

“The future isn't set in stone. You get to help change people's minds so they use society instead of the state to get what they want. You can help create a future where people are free to choose for themselves.” – The Tuttle Twins and the Fate of the Future

The United States government is moving to dystopian levels of control.    Nearly twice the size of America’s biggest private-sector employer, Walmart, it is now the largest employer in the country.  Growing its influence further, the US government pays for nearly half of all healthcare claims, at a cost of nearly 2 trillion dollars in 2024, while one in eight people is currently on the food stamp program, SNAP.    When and how American citizens will finally rise to address this out-of-control behemoth seems a question for the ages.

In Connor Boyack’s 2018 book, “The Tuttle Twins and the Fate of the Future,” Boyack teaches the twins about the problems of totalitarianism after they watch a dystopian movie where people are controlled by robots.  To safeguard their future, the twins create a project to find ways to use persuasion to meet goals, rather than relying on the coercive power of the government.  Suitable for children aged 8 to 12, this series’ tale is based on Murray Rothbard's book, “The Anatomy of the State”, a warning to Americans about the predatory nature of government.   

In Rothbard’s “Anatomy of the State”, Rothbard offers a breakdown of the state as a coercive monopoly by defining the difference between society and the state.  While a society is nothing more than people who live together voluntarily by offering value through competition, governments are formed to protect the rights and safety of their citizens, often growing from an institution that protects to one that pillages.  Under the guise of working for the common good, the state takes from the productive to grow its power, plundering its citizens in the process.  

As such, in society, there are two ways to acquire wealth: economic means and political means (private vs. public sectors).  Economic means exist in a free market economy where production and exchange create wealth in society as entrepreneurs transform natural resources into products and services for public consumption.  Political means are acquired through the force of government, using coercion and violence to achieve its ends, made easier by its monopoly on power. 

While governments dominate the public sector without competition, they increase revenues through taxes.  Businesses, churches, and other private institutions, on the other hand, must expand their influence through persuasion, utilizing peaceful cooperation and delivering tangible results.  In the private sector, costs can also be covered through user fees, such as toll roads, national park services, and library fees. 

To promote the use of persuasion over coercion is to shift more activity from the government’s purview back into the private sector.  To further reduce the monopoly power of government, a move to polycentric services in the public sector would force institutions to compete rather than to monopolize.  For example, competition in policing has seen private security companies replacing city police, while mediation and arbitration have seen positive results rather than the more expensive court system. 

When the influence of government grows too large, it is the people who must suppress it.  The Constitution, indeed, was written for the people as a roadmap to hold those in power accountable. 

Understanding that they had a role in their future, the Tuttle Twins looked for ways to avoid a dystopian state.  Since persuasion is always better than coercion, a focus on free markets and voluntary cooperation was the obvious answer.  The future of the country has always been in the hands of the people.