(Letter to the Editor - Graphic Illustration/MetroCreativeConnection)

Why have government? Can’t we just live peacefully and productively without the oppressive presence of countless busy-body bureaucrats regulating our behavior?

The answer to these two questions is: We have and need government because humans are, to various degrees, excessively greedy, violent creatures who, unrestrained by the force of government, would ultimately reduce the state of human existence to its paleolithic condition of small, isolated bands of hunter-gatherers. At that point, as we did for the 300,000 years prior to the agricultural revolution beginning 10,000 years ago, our survival would probably stabilize.

Accepting that modern civilization depends upon governmental institutions, there is, however, no unanimity as to the basic purpose of government. The “Founding Fathers” faced that dilemma when they proposed the formation of a strong national government in 1789 after the failure of the Confederation Congress during the years following the Revolutionary War. Proponents maintained that the core purpose of government was to provide security while opponents argued its purpose was to secure liberty. In the end a compromise was reached with the enactment of the originally proposed strong constitution coupled with a “Bill of Rights” attached to protect individual liberties.

The security versus liberty theme apparently still delineates supporters of the two major parties, but the lines are not sharply drawn. Republicans, whose political ideology has historically embraced the “security” theory, now consist primarily of individuals bent on destroying American government — the so-called MAGA Republicans. Liberal Democrats who purport to most highly prize individual liberty often support actions which curtail the freedoms of others — the so-called “Cancel Culture,” which opposes certain expressions of speech and the right to own a ridiculous number of firearms.

The only solution to the conflicts which arise from the inevitable tensions created by strongly held opposing views and which tug at the fabric of government is, as the Founding Fathers demonstrated: toleration and compromise. All of which is easy to say, but the MAGA Republicans present an intolerable obstacle. Although they embrace some rational political objectives — strong borders, anti-abortion — they are primarily driven by a force antithetical to democratic government: the uncompromising, potentially violent (Jan. 6 was real) refusal, except in victory, to accept the results of open and fair elections.

Unless one desires to turn America into some form of dictatorship, there can be no tolerance of and compromise with MAGAism. It is the path to a paleolithic chaos which humans labored 10,000 years to surmount.

Patrick Radcliff

Marietta