Why Governments Aren’t All That Different from Street Gangs

At some point, you may have heard someone call the government a “gang of thieves writ large,” which is a generalization of a quote attributed to libertarian thinker Murray Rothbard. However, if you’re not familiar with the philosophy behind that quote, you might mistakenly believe that it is nothing more than a clever observation on the wasteful and corrupt nature of government. That’s because you may not be aware of the meaning of “writ large.” It’s synonymous with “clearly” or “obviously.” In reality, Rothbard wasn’t trying to make a clever statement. He was quite literally calling the government a gang.

Most people would have trouble wrapping their minds around that notion. Clearly there are differences between governments and gangs right? Agents of the state don’t lie, extort money, murder rivals, train and initiate uniformed enforcers, go to war with their neighbors, protect the integrity of their borders, enforce protection rackets, or conduct any other activities that aren’t permitted in their legal codes.

In case you didn’t detect my sarcasm, governments and gangs routinely engage in all of the activities I listed above. That’s because they are one in the same. The only significant differences between the two, is that gangs are usually smaller than governments, and their borders are a little more fluid.

If you still don’t believe me, you might have one last counter to my argument: Criminal gangs don’t protect people, or at least, not the average person that happens to reside in their territory. They’re only interested in their own profitable endeavors, and staying alive. By contrast, protecting the people is the cornerstone of every effective government.

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