by Joe Siano
In response to the
recent Hamas and Israeli conflagration, China
has trotted out the tired old “two-state solution” chestnut.
It’s time for some
fresh thinking. How about the no-state
solution?
From the era of
the Seleucid occupation through the Nazi “final
solution”, the Western world has been set upon erasing Jewish culture if not
eradicating the Jewish race entirely.
It stands to reason that the Jewish people would want a homeland, a safe haven
of their own.
But a state?
Visionary thinkers
have long warned of the toxic nature of states.
In Common Sense, Thomas
Paine stated that “government even in its best state is but a necessary evil;
in its worst state an intolerable one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to
the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a
country without government”.
With the benefit
of another 200 years of hindsight, Murray
Rothbard was unequivocal, “"The state is not a necessary evil, but an
unnecessary one."
Behold the
handiwork of states: wars, oppressions, genocides. Those are only the worst of its sins. Let’s not overlook economic dislocation,
currency devaluation, destruction of wealth, curtailing productivity, censorship,
intimidation, spying on citizens, and indoctrination of children.
James Buchanan, the father of Public Choice Economics, cautions that the state operates for the benefit of a select few. “Government is not a benevolent social planner, but rather a collection of individuals pursuing their own self-interests.”
Not that they are
more or less evil, but when the Jewish state was born, it served the interests
of its founders with the usual violence, force, and coercion, typical of all
states, to the detriment of others.
Without getting into
he-said, she-said here, the Palestinians seem to have some legitimate
beefs with the holders of State Power.
This is not an indictment of the
Jews. It is an indictment of the State
and its inevitable behavior.
Could they have
done better is the question? Could the
Chosen People have chosen a better way?
Ancient Israel had
a tradition of stateless local governance, guided by God's laws given to Moses. But they tossed aside those laws in favor
of the edicts of sinful men- Saul, David, and Solomen.
Samuel warned the
people what to expect once they sacrificed autonomy to a powerful sovereign.
Samuel told all the words of the Lord to
the people who were asking him for a king.
He said, “This is what the king who will reign over you will claim as his
rights: He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and
horses, and they will run in front of his chariots. Some he will assign to
be commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and others to plow his
ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and
equipment for his chariots. He will take your daughters to be perfumers
and cooks and bakers. He will take the best of your fields and vineyards
and olive groves and give them to his attendants. He will take a tenth of
your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and
attendants. Your male and female servants and the best of your cattle and
donkeys he will take for his own use. He will take a tenth of your
flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves.
When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen,
but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
(Samuel 8 11-18 NIV)
This admonition suits
today’s “democratic” welfare-warfare states quite well.
The rule of this
central authority became so intolerable, that the nation was ultimately destroyed
in civil war.
So, the question
becomes, if one state is onerous enough, why a two-state solution? Wouldn’t just be twice as bad?
Rothbard nailed
the absolute evil of the state when he said, “ It is in war that the State really comes into its
own: swelling in power, in number, in pride, in absolute dominion over the
economy and the society.”
The prophet Joel
concurs:
For there I will sit in judgment
upon all the neighboring nations….
for their crimes are numerous.
Joel 4 12-13
Now is the moment
for bold thinking. By renouncing brutal statism,
Isrrael, along with Palestinians, may fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy that His people
will be
“a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth’”.
(Isaiah 49 6 NAB)
And then, perhaps,
with the abolition of the state we may finally beat our “swords into
plowshares” and our “spears into pruning hooks”.* And perhaps, this would add new meaning to
Christ’s prophecy that “salvation is from the Jews”.
We can only pray.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
To begin
visualizing a stateless society, here are some thought starters.
·
Murray Rothbard, Anatomy of the State
·
David Friedman, The Machinery of Freedom
·
Albert Jay Nock, Our Enemy, the State
· Hans Herman Hoppe, Democracy, The God That Failed
Related Articles:
The
State (Huh – Good God Y’all) What It Is Good For?
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“Half
the people are stoned and the other half are waiting for the next election.
Half the people are drowned and the other half are swimming in the wrong
direction.”
- Paul Simon
*Isaiah 2 4
** John 4 22
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