If our goal truly is to support “democracy,” or rule of, for, and by “the people,” we need to start by ending compulsory monopoly, or government efforts to force citizens to use its services, and only its services. When voluntary association and the ability to choose alternative services wither, citizens become subjects, and democracy dies.
America’s Framers understood how important voluntarism was for a free society. They designed the first two inalienable rights of the Bill of Rights to ensure that the federal government could never monopolize expression, spirituality, hunting, or the legitimate use of force. The right to voluntarily associate to ameliorate social problems that governments will not, or cannot, efficiently address is also protected under the unfortunately underappreciated Ninth Amendment .
EAT THE RICH THIS TAX DAY? NAH. THAT'S LAZY LEFTIST RHETORIC
Americans have long taken advantage of this freedom.
If anything, Alexis DeTocqueville in Democracy in America understated the predilection of early Americans to associate. In addition to more than 25,000 for-profit voluntary associations, Americans between the founding and the Civil War chartered more than 15,000 nonprofit voluntary associations. The latter ranged from primary and secondary schools to religious organizations, private militias, musical bands, abolitionist societies, and scientific research associations.
Today, America’s voluntary or “third” sector remains robust relative to those of other countries, but in many ways, it has become a shadow of its former self. Many non-governmental organizations receive most or all of their funding from the government and hence are beholden to its dictates. Many others are tiny or limit themselves to “education” or “raising awareness” instead of directly tackling social issues.
But the biggest problem is that which is unseen: the government is stifling competition in K-12 education, health and safety regulation, transportation, and myriad other areas, preventing new voluntary associations, for-profit, and nonprofit organizations from forming.
As DeTocqueville pointed out, politicians feel threatened by voluntary associations that governments do not control because they point to the many ways that “the people” can reduce social problems without coercion or taxes. The truth is, almost anything government can do, voluntary associations can do better. The people of South Africa are learning that lesson today , as insurance companies step into the power vacuum left by the government there to fix potholes, direct traffic, and sponsor fire brigades, much as they did in early America .
Governments also fear the efficiency and flexibility of voluntary groups to address problems that governments themselves created or are too timid or rigid to fix.
In just a few months, for example, a completely voluntary group of doctors, actuaries, and life insurance professionals called the Insurance Collaboration to Save Lives tackled the post-pandemic excess mortality and morbidity problem plaguing most Western nations by developing a screening protocol to help identify those most at-risk of unexpected death or injury.
With almost no budget, the impromptu group, which formed a formal nonprofit in February, met a few times a week over Zoom and never asked any of its volunteers to do anything that they didn’t want to do. Whether the group actually meets its goal of saving a million lives or not, it is already a successful example of true “democracy” in action.
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So the next time you hear some pontificating pundit reduce “democracy” to election results, keep in mind that democracy is really about the government allowing citizens to solve problems themselves, and not forcing them to use compulsory monopolies, even ones indirectly backed by 50.000001% of voters.
Dr. Robert Wright is a senior research fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research, an author or editor of over 20 books, and author of the forthcoming book, Liberty Lost (AIER 2023).
