"Those who abjure violence can only do so because others are committing violence on their behalf."
-George Orwell
From Notes on Nationalism
Here's an interesting take on the necessity of violence to guarantee peace and force to guarantee order. The underlying principle is that without the credible threat of violence laws are just suggestions and rules are just words. It's another look at the "sheep, sheep dogs, and wolves" analogy with an emphasis on the concept of violence from the system rather than the types of individuals within such a system.
Jack Donovan: Violence is Golden
The opposite of such a system would be one without any threat of force at all, which would be sustained by a moralistic, example-setting leader who guides a people strengthened by internal discipline. This type of governance is outlined by Laotze (and embraced by pacifists and hippies alike):
"The more rules you have, the more unhappy people are:
And the more weapons there are, the worse things happen.
The more we want luxuries, the more we abandon simplicity-
And the more laws you pass, the more we will break them.
So the sage says: I do nothing, and the people come together;
By leaving them alone, I let them be on the path-
Bu not using my power, they become rich in themselves.
And if I want nothing, they will return to the essence of their being."
-Daodejing Chapter 57, trans. by Man-Ho Kwok
While almost altruistic to a fault, this is the type of governance I wouldn't be hesitant to support...if it were practical. But it's not. Like the Haight Street experiment in effective socialist communalism, Laotze's vision could only work on a small scale. This brand of governance would be both impractical and ineffective on a nation as large as ours. Why? Because in America there are too many people and, in a way, we are too fractured culturally to have the societal cohesion necessary for something like this to work. Say what you will, but for the time being that's just the way it is.
On a lighter note, here's an interesting article on a new addition to the Norwegian prison system. Maybe a hybridization of their system and ours would work better than the one we have now.
