Would Life Be Truly, "Solitary, Poor, Nasty Brutish, and Short?".
Thomas Hobbes, a seventeenth century political philosopher writes that without government,.
There is no place for industry, because the fruit thereof is uncertain: and consequently no culture of the earth; no navigation, nor use of the commodities that may be imported by sea; no commodious building; no instruments of moving and removing such things as require much force; no knowledge of the face of the earth; no account of time; no arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death; and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. This statement stems from Hobbes observations on human nature and his study of history and politics in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. (Hobbes: Para 09) .
Hobbes statement rings true probably more so today than in his time. Modern governments provide their citizens with far more than protection from alien invasions. Modern governments (particularly western democracies) provide a stable, relatively free and prosperous society. Therefore, without these stable governments protecting the interests of the public that it serves, society would revert to the condition that Hobbes describes as "War."(Hobbes: Para 12). War as described by Hobbes means not combat and destruction, but, "the nature of war consisteth not in actual fighting but in the known disposition thereto during all of the time there is no assurance to the contrary. All other time is "peace"."(Hobbes: Para 8). Modern governments endeavoring to provide "peace" at all times, protect nearly all aspects of life, as we know it. As a matter of fact they protect our way of life so well that we as a society do not realize it on a daily basis. I assert to you now, that by removing all of the services that modern democratic governments offer, life in a comparative sense would truly be "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.
