@Tonus & Bennyboy,
The need for government isn't simply due to presence of douchebags in society. We'd need a government even if everyone was a moral and rational person.
Imagine a hypothetical, futuristic society where everyone has a morality chip implanted in their brain upon birth. Such a chip would indicate all immoral thoughts you have and would give you a severe migraine upon commission of such an act, proportionate to its immorality. Parents would always have such a chip implanted in their children because their chip indicates that it is the moral thing to do. Do you think we'd be able to do away with government in such a society? Would two moral and rational persons never have any disagreements?
Imagine that in such a society, two partners have invested different amounts of time and money into building a company and as a result of that, each claims a different percentage of the profits. Who would decide what the appropriate percentage is? A third party? Who'd choose this third party? Who'd ensure that this third party is objective and correct and hasn't misjudged the facts?
Take another hypothetical - a worker dies in factory due to an accident. The family claims that it was due to the owner's negligence and inadequate safety precautions and demand compensation in the amount of that year's profits. The owner says that the precautions were adequate and the worker died of his own incompetence. Who would decide who is correct and how much compensation is deserved? Who'd lay down the guidelines for what qualifies as "adequate precautions"?
The role of the government is a society goes much beyond keeping errant douchebags in check.
The need for government isn't simply due to presence of douchebags in society. We'd need a government even if everyone was a moral and rational person.
Imagine a hypothetical, futuristic society where everyone has a morality chip implanted in their brain upon birth. Such a chip would indicate all immoral thoughts you have and would give you a severe migraine upon commission of such an act, proportionate to its immorality. Parents would always have such a chip implanted in their children because their chip indicates that it is the moral thing to do. Do you think we'd be able to do away with government in such a society? Would two moral and rational persons never have any disagreements?
Imagine that in such a society, two partners have invested different amounts of time and money into building a company and as a result of that, each claims a different percentage of the profits. Who would decide what the appropriate percentage is? A third party? Who'd choose this third party? Who'd ensure that this third party is objective and correct and hasn't misjudged the facts?
Take another hypothetical - a worker dies in factory due to an accident. The family claims that it was due to the owner's negligence and inadequate safety precautions and demand compensation in the amount of that year's profits. The owner says that the precautions were adequate and the worker died of his own incompetence. Who would decide who is correct and how much compensation is deserved? Who'd lay down the guidelines for what qualifies as "adequate precautions"?
The role of the government is a society goes much beyond keeping errant douchebags in check.
