The Withering State, The Unfortunate Paradox

(Promoted from user blogs. -Patrick)

In the Marxist political narrative, capitalism collapses in on itself and gives way to a dictatorship of the proletariat. This temporary form of government would oversee the initial implementation of communism, but would then wither away as it is no longer needed.

Of course, a middle schooler could see the problem with this scenario. Who decides when 'true' communism has been accomplished? And who will make sure those running this dictatorship peacefully give up their power? To their credit, even self-professed Marxists could recognize the challenge, especially after a few years of the Soviet Union.

Curiously enough, libertarians, and to a lesser extent conservatives, have a similar theoretical challenge. That is, our philosophy is based on the assumption that government is inclined to serve its own interests and therefore should not be entrusted with more power than is absolutely necessary. 

The problem is, government already has too much power. And libertarian thinking has yet to offer viable scenarios for getting a self-interested government to voluntarily give up that power. Instead, once the right was in power, it proceeded to do exactly what it alleged to despise, serve its own interests. This had the effect of simultaneously proving the libertarian thesis and undermining its credibility at the same time. Quite an unfortunate paradox if you ask me.

If the right is going to get it right, it has to answer this question: how can government reform itself? The right has to become a movement for reform ... period.