Government as Referee

I'm going to comment one last time before I give up my new-found obsession with professional wrestling, lest it become permanent.

In a previous post, I questioned what, if anything, professional wrestling says about human nature. I then compared it to what I think Bum Fights says about human nature.

While the two aren't entirely dissimilar, there's one key difference between them.

At the very least, professional wrestling has a referee.

Sometimes, that referee is less active than at other times. For example, when one considers situations like in the following match -- the King of the Deathmatch final between Cactus Jack and Terry Funk -- sometimes the referee seems to exist only to declare a winner:





In more regular matches, however, the referee is much more active. The referee prevents combatants from doing things such as choking their opponent, or touching the ropes.

What emerges is a remarkable difference in the role of the referee. What better comparison than the role of government?

Depending on whatever country you might choose to examine, the government is active to varying degrees, depending on how active any one country may think it should be.

The difference can be stark. At one extreme, nearly any cut-throat business practice can be tolerated -- from dealing ruthlessly with one's competitors to carelessly polluting the environment in pursuit of a cheap profit. At the other, things are well-regulated by the government, and there is very little leeway for aggressive business practices.

Many conservatives seem to believe -- rather foolishly -- that government's only role is to stand back and let societal competitors destroy one another. This, they believe, is the route to wealth creation, but they neglect to pay attention to the destruction left in its wake.

Bum Fights represents an entirely different extreme. An anarchist alternative in which there is no government -- no referee. One wherein one can do almost anything they wish to anyone, and if you can do it with that person's consent, so much the better.

The minimalist view of government is one wherein might makes right. But in a world where might makes right, human rights have very little value. One's "human rights" are determined only by how strong one is, and how much they can take.

The only way that human rights can be ensured at all is to have rigorous and diligent referees -- this is where the government comes in -- to ensure fairness and justice in dealings.

The alternative is to allow our societies to be transformed into Japanese death matches -- or, worse yet, Bum Fights.