“Call the COPS – But Not the Police: Voluntaryism and Protective Agencies in Historical Perspective” is an essay by Carl Watner originally included in The Voluntaryist newsletter #123, published in late 2004. The “COPS” referenced, is an acronym for the Committee for Peace and Safety – volunteers who help maintain the peace – used by Jim Payne in his book Princess of Navina Visits Voluntaria.
Watner’s essay is six pages long, with a seventh page of citations, and on the eighth page, part of “The Myth of the Rule of Law” by John Hasnas. Watner notes:
The purpose of this article is to present a brief overview of the history and evolution of policing, and to show that the only legitimate police function (keeping the peace) is made impossible when the police are agents of the coercive state.Even in the most totalitarian of regimes, police rely on granted legitimacy – on people buying into the bad idea that certain acts are permissible for some but not others. Bad ideas acted upon lead to bad consequences (insert any number of historic and current examples here).
Instead of believing safety can ever be obtained from a coercive monopoly might it make more sense to rely on your trusted network (as the Peacekeeper app facilitates), those you choose to contract with (such as those at the Threat Management Center), or any other voluntary arrangement?
Fortunately, we’re each reasoning beings, able to think for ourselves. If new ideas are thought more sound than those currently-held, we can incorporate them and act accordingly. That is the reason this essay is shared and why this site exists – to share ideas. After all, real change happens one mind at a time.
Counter the lies you’ve been exposed to by government schools and the corporate media:
- see http://voluntaryist.com more from Watner and The Voluntaryist
- see http://copblock.org/library for more resources that question the statist quo-supported police state – of interest if you found Watner’s essay thought-provoking may be The Enterprise of Law by Bruce Benson and Anarchy & the Law edited by Ed Stringham