I have been on this Paramore kick lately. To those of you who are adults and live in the real world, Paramore is a rock band vaguely in the punk genre. Their members are all kids, I think, at this point, or very young adults. They have this song called “the only exception.” It’s one of their few, if only, soft tempo songs.

I defend my listening to Paramore because Hayley Williams is an amazing vocalist, and I am a nerd for such things

It used to be that when I heard this song I would get all mushy and feel very much in love with my fiance. It’s about how a jaded person finds the right partner and that person is the only exception to her rules about love. But after learning about the nirvana fallacy the other day, now I can’t hear the song without imagining statists belting it out to a flattered and blushing big government.

The Nirvana Fallacy

What is the nirvana fallacy, you ask? Well. As the link above will tell you, you commit the nirvana fallacy when you ignore or assume the problems in your solution. It is assuming that the solution you propose is perfect and is not subject to the same, different or worse problems than the current situation or proposed solution.

One of the most common ways I run into this way of thinking is when I talk to big-government proponents. They often say that the market fails and that because of that failure, the government is the perfect institution to step into that hole. A common argument I hear is in regards to the welfare state. Many statists I know claim that we cannot trust people to spontaneously provide social institutions (like churches, food banks, etc.) to actively combat poverty.

You see, statists are jaded. They don’t trust people (perhaps rightly) to organize to help their communities. People are fundamentally selfish. If left to their own devices, those who stumble economically will only suffer more. Clearly, then, government is the solution to this problem.

It is generally at this point that I ask the person with whom I am debating who they think constitutes government. It’s people.

The fact of the matter is that government institutions are subject to the same number of problems as free market institutions, yet they are often more serious and less fixable than market solutions. Markets are much more fluid and thus they are more able to handle those problems. States are clumsy. Markets are more accountable than states.

If you look at the the current welfare state, you can see evidence of these problems. Those who really need help not being able to swim through the loopholes while those who don’t need it get fat off of taxpayer money. Many libertarians also commit the nirvana fallacy with respect to the market. I can’t pretend that this isn’t true. However, as stated above, even though the market has “flaws,” the flaws that government has are even greater, and the government has brute force behind its decisions.

Abusive love song

I do not understand why there is a belief that the government can be the solution to any problem whatsoever. It’s like singing “The Only Exception” to your abusive partner who shoves you in a closet, then beats you for not being sociable enough.

No, seriously.

States are responsible for more deaths per year — in the history of time — than any  market expansion or act. In our own country it is common practice for us to blindfold and tie up people, put them in the back of a car, and drive them across the Mexico. They are then left in the middle of the desert with no idea of where they are. What did they do to deserve this crime? By being “illegal.” You’re talking about the state that routinely tortures its citizens, or people it perceives to be enemies. This is the same government that thinks its justified to grope its citizens, to wiretap them without permission. It’s the same institution that assisted in the mass murder of millions in South America.

These policies aren’t attributed to one person alone, and we need to get out of the idea that it does. These abuses are intrinsic to governments that are not kept in check by their citizens. Why why why would you want an entity that does these things in charge of your welfare? Your healthcare? Why would you be any more dependent on it than you have to be?

Abuse is the rule. Government success is the exception.