I’ve noticed many instances of people of all walks discussing some political issue have said something like, “Obviously we don’t want anarchy; that doesn’t work; it’s crazy.” I’ve yet to hear any of those people actually defend that position. It’s something everyone seems to just accept as true. But, I’m not so sure.

First of all, the Bible says there is a purpose for government, and I’m not an anarchist. Romans 13:4 says that the purpose of government is to carry out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. And Romans 13:6 says that for that purpose, we can be required to pay taxes, because the government is a minister of God. Notice they are to carry out God’s wrath–not their own wrath. Criminal justice being the only purpose of government places biblical government much closer to anarchy than to the U.S. form of government, which meddles in every aspect of life.

The problem in America is that government in any way acknowledging Christ is unconstitutional. Therefore, they are doing a terrible job, and they’re not carrying out their God-given purpose in any way, except maybe accidentally in some rare cases. My list of grievances would be ten times longer than the list of grievances given to King George III on July 4, 1776. Only a fraction of what we pay in taxes is used for the only biblical purpose given in Scripture.

The bottom line is that our government, at every level, is unbiblical if not antichrist. So, for people to say that our government is preferrable to anarchy is to claim that unbiblical system A is better than unbiblical system B. Maybe they’re right, and maybe they’re wrong, but I don’t think it’s a foregone conclusion.

The problem is that man is inherently sinful, with a wicked heart (which includes those currently operating our government). But, thankfully, God does limit the amount of evil that takes place. All humans have God’s law written on our hearts, but I think most Americans, even those that are unsaved, still have at least a partially Christian worldview. I think anarchy would be much different if we were predominantly Hindu, Muslim or atheist, so I’m only going to consider what anarchy might be like in America.

Americans seem to generally obey whatever the government tells them to do, even if it creates injustice. Most people seem to do what they’re told. Less than 50 law enforcement officers in this fairly large county keep more than 40,000 people under control. Of course, bad things happen, and bad people are around, but it is generally peaceful and law-abiding. Is that because our government is so great, or because it’s in our nature, or because we’re predominantly Christian or because we’re all brainwashed to respect government in the schools they operate? I don’t really know, but I don’t think the vast majority of people would go around murdering people or driving recklessly if there were no more government tomorrow. There are some who would, just as there are some who do now.

There are some great things that would happen if government ceased to exist tomorrow. Public school would be gone. Taxation, welfare, Social Security, government interference in business would all be gone. Individual theft might go up without government, but the government is by far the biggest thief. Government theft via unjust taxation and currency manipulation dwarf private theft. Even civil asset forfeiture, which is blatant, legalized theft is greater than private theft. So I’d guess that government being gone would cause a huge reduction in overall theft.

I suppose the worst fear of anarchy is that roving gangs of thugs would crop up causing all kinds of mayhem. I suppose it’s possible, but Americans are a gun-owning people. We’re not exactly defenseless, and who wouldn’t team up with their neighbors to help protect each other? And isn’t that exactly what we have now? Don’t we have roving gangs of thugs making sure everyone has the correct stickers on their license plate at gunpoint? If you’re scared of roving gangs of thugs under anarchy, just do what they tell you to do, and they might even treat you better than the roving gangs of thugs you mindlessly obey now. Maybe you could offer to buy stickers from them annually at exorbitant rates.

And, just because there wouldn’t be anymore forced payouts for substandard, government-provided security services, doesn’t mean there aren’t free market solutions for security. Why couldn’t my neighbors and I voluntarily pay a security guard to drive around the neighborhood at night? And I’m sure security businesses would pop up to compete for people’s business–providing better service at better prices.

Of course, public school being gone might be the greatest benefit of anarchy. Millions of kids are steeped in antichrist religion seven hours per day. Public school has done so much damage to this country. And the whole thing is paid for by property tax, which is collected via threat of confiscation (robbers stealing from you at gunpoint). The whole system is based on socialism, and has done an excellent job of training most of us to be good, little socialists.

Welfare, food stamps, Social Security, etc. being gone would also be a benefit. Christians are commanded to take care of orphans and widows, but government has usurped that job. We would all be better off if charity and churches took care of people on a case-by-case basis. How much greater would the influence of Christianity be if churches had greater involvement in taking care of people’s day-to-day needs rather than people getting a government check?

On the issue of abortion, anarchy would be bad for the preborn, but obviously, our government isn’t helping so it’s a wash. This is definitely one area that government should be involved in as God’s servants to carry out His wrath on murderers.

There are many other issues to be discussed, but I think anarchy would be preferrable to the government we have. How much worse can that unbiblical option be over the unbiblical option of government we have now?

This is an interesting quote from Alexis de Tocqueville, whose observations come from his time in early America, taken from this worthwhile article.

“At the time of Tocqueville’s observations (in the 1830s), “the means available to the authorities for the discovery of crimes and arrest of criminals [were] few,” yet Tocqueville doubted “whether in any other country crime so seldom escapes punishment.” Citizens handled most crimes informally, forming committees to catch criminals and hand them over to the courts. Private mobs in early America dealt with larger threats to public safety and welfare, such as houses of ill fame. Nothing struck a European traveler in America, wrote Tocqueville, more than the absence of government in the streets.”

Of course, mobs are good if they are righteous mobs. Unrighteous mobs are bad. I think the bottom line is that there is no good form of government for wicked people.