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Notes -
That's my problem exactly with the argument that "oh hey, government = drug cartel, drug cartels bad, right?"
How about if I say the Juarez cartel is good because it's starting to serve the community? (Actually, how about if I say I don't know if I believe it, it sounds way too much like the Star Trek episode A Piece Of The Action?) They're taking the protection money and providing protection services in return. If this is how government gets started, count me in! Would it be better if they were taking the money and letting the place degenerate into a hellhole (or Philadelphia, which from the sound of it is the same thing?)
The libertarian argument here still depends on the notion that governments are supposed to be for the good of the governed, hence the comparison with cartels is meant to be a stunning knock-down: "Oh wow, the government abrogates to itself the use of force, just like a criminal enterprise? what a fool I was to believe all this democracy malarkey, from now on I'm Going Galt!"
However, no matter how crappy our governments get, they still are not quite on the level of drug cartels. And if the Juarez cartel is beginning to resemble a government, all the better for it: then it is doing some good to offset the real harm it is doing with the drug trade. Who knows, maybe some of them will put down the gun and decide to go for the ballot box instead, in time?
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