Government is Irrational.

[bennyboy]

Human beings are douchebags by nature, and we need a mechanism by which to limit that nature.

I don't agree with that. I think that human beings, by-and-large, are willing to cooperate and work towards common goals in an organized manner. But I think that this only works well in small communities where everyone in the group knows one another and shunning an uncooperative person is very effective at protecting the group.

Shunning an uncooperative person is an act of government, at least from the shunned person's point of view; who are those other people, he'd think, to decide to punish him for not obeying their dictates? If it was Koolay, he'd be complaining, "You guys are denying me my liberty to fart in our bomb shelter. I never signed a paper saying I wouldn't." Especially after he'd done it about 20 times and someone got physical with him.

Also, a successful shunning has behind it all the implied social stability of a government. Fast wardward to Mad Max days, and try and shun some big alpha male for harrassing your womenfolk. He's going to be real sorry for himself while he ties you down and rapes them one by one, and coerces all the lesser males into picking up weapons and marching to the next village over. The thing about beneficient anarchy is it only takes one man to decide he's the new sheriff in town to establish a government-- and there are very many men who would be more than happy to step into a power void and do just that. And why shouldn't they? There's nothing but benefit for a guy who can get away with making himself king if he can get away with it.