From the White-PillBox: Part 36

Our most common arguments against statism demonstrate its impracticality and injustice. But there's also a solid tool belt of statism's internal contradictions. And it's devastating.

White Pills are generally silver linings that anarchists can find in current events. But another area we can find them is in the inherent weaknesses of statism. And one of these weaknesses is particularly devastating:

It is impossible to justify statism logically.

Statism is burdened by a vast array of internal inconsistencies and contradictions.

This is a formidable problem for statism, as any attempt to justify or defend it has an impossible task. Unfortunately for the State, nothing can overcome logical contradictions.

The White Pill that statism is logically groundless is powerful. Consider this: all tangential justifications for the State suffer, once we realize they cannot get past its logical failures. There is no argument that can, or ever will, overcome the contradictions of statism.

Recall that in the scientific method, a logical contradiction devastates the hypothesis. No other justification (such as appeal to intuition) matters, once a contradiction is exposed.

Upcoming installments of this series will feature many glaring inconsistencies of statism, each a satisfying White Pill on its own.

As they are published, this article will be updated below with links to each. Readers are also encouraged (via the comments link) to offer their own suggestions. The author will be pleased to dedicate an essay installment to promising suggestions.

Published White Pill articles of statism’s logical contradictions:

• Violating consent is never okay; violating consent is okay when government does it.

• Anarchy can never work in practice (so ignore examples where it does).

• No, you can't initiate violence against people; but yes, you can give others the right to do it.

• Humans can be evil, which necessitates a State…comprised of humans.

• Monopolies are bad - because a single entity is in control; government monopoly is good - because a single entity is in control.

• The people in government are our servants; the people in government are our leaders.

• Humans cannot do the impossible; people in government can manage an impossibly complex economy.

• In discussions about government, statists act civilized and respect consent…even while advocating that government violate consent.

• Democracy: don’t trust people…trust the people

• You own yourself...you don’t own yourself

• Money is the root of all evil, except when money is in the hands of the State

• Right and wrong applies the same to everyone; right and wrong does not apply to the State

• Wishing does not actually make things come true; wishing works in our beliefs about the State

• A free society is vulnerable to an invader that establishes a ruling class; the solution is having a ruling class

• Open mindedness is a virtue; questioning the State is heresy

• Science is the rational foundation of civilized society; we may not use the rationality of science to examine statism