The problem with [your political ideology]

Let's talk about the problem with your political ideology.  I can cover far over half of the people in the U.S. (and probably most of the world) with these two: The problem with liberals is they believe that the government can solve all of their problems.  The problem with conservatives is that they believe the government is the source of all of their problems.  The third, and maybe the best, is moderates.  The problem with moderates is that they believe that there is a perfect balance where the government can solve just enough of their problems without causing them too many problems.  All three of these are wrong, and pretty much every political ideology believes that the government does or can do something that it cannot.  No government can solve all of our problems, and no government can be the cause of all of our problems.  Especially no government can strike a perfect balance, because there is no perfect balance.

So, starting with the liberal ideology: Government cannot solve problems.  I expect the initial reaction of nearly anyone (the exception being some anarchists) is to reject this statement.  Governments appear to solve all sorts of problems.  In reality though, governments only cover up problems or create them.  A government might make laws that ultimately prevent murder.  So, have they solved the problem of murder?  No, because murder is not the problem.  Anger or hatred is the problem, murder is merely one of the many symptoms of the problem.  Government might be able to prevent the symptoms, but the problem persists, and it will continue to persist, because anger and hatred are human problems that no government has or can have control over.  Welfare does not solve the problem of poverty.  It covers up the problem of greed.  Tariffs do not solve the problem of poor economic decisions, like welfare, they cover up the problem of greed.  The best governments can only protect people from the poor choices that are the symptoms of problems that cannot be solved.  If governments could solve problems, then they would solve all of the world's problems and then go extinct because there would be no problems left for them to solve.  Government cannot solve all of our problems.  They can only cover them up, and really they can only cover up a limited subset of our problems, not all of them.

Unlike solving problems, governments can cause problems.  In fact, their track record suggests that this is the only thing governments can do consistently.  Thankfully, governments can only cause a limited subset of our problems, not all of them.  Even a tyrannical dictator cannot cause all of the problems his subjects have.  If a dictator has enough subjects to actually be considered a legitimate dictator, he has too many subjects to completely control their lives.  Subjects that are not ruled with a perfect iron fist will cause each other problems that are not the fault of the government.  In fact, a typical dictator has minions who do most of the harm.  Without the minions, the government would have little power to cause problems.  While governments can cause problems, all problems governments cause are indirect.  The problems are caused directly by other people, not by the governments.  Thus, governments cannot be the cause of all of our problems.  They can only cause a limited subset of our problems, and only if people act as their tools.

The balance problem is hairy.  First, because few people agree on what a perfect balance is, it is impossible for a government with enough subjects to be considered a legitimate government to strike a perfect balance.  There is no balance that a consensus will establish as official.  This is why democratic forms of government only require a majority vote, not a unanimous vote.  In fact, it is extremely unlikely that any government will even completely satisfy a majority of its subjects.  There is no perfect balance for government.  The only really noble goal of governments with respect to balance is to minimize the number of people that are completely dissatisfied.

The above three cover pretty much every political ideology, except maybe one.  The problem with anarchy is that humans are idiots and refuse to cooperate in the effort to solve all problems.  Without government, there is no protection from the symptoms of the problems that people create.  If everyone would be civil without law or social pressure breathing down their necks, anarchy would be great.  The problem is that civilizations require enforcement of civility to remain civilized, because humans are inherently uncivilized barbarians (yep, it turns out it is the truth; if you doubt it, look at any country where the government has failed and there was no protection from greed and stupidity for any length of time).

The problem of government comes down to two axioms.  The first is, all solvable problems are caused by people.  The second is, solvable problems can only be solved by people.  These two axioms contain the secret knowledge to eliminating the need for government.  This is the secret: If all solvable problems are caused by people, and all solvable problems can be solved by people, then if all people will stop causing problems and start solving them, there will be no problems that can be avoided and all problems that are unavoidable will be solved.

The reason we need governments is that many people refuse to stop causing problems, and many people refuse to solve problems.  It only takes one person to break the solution to all problems.  Governments suck.  They cause problems.  They do not solve problems.  Instead they hide problems.  Unfortunately, so long as even one person will not cooperate in eliminating all problems, governments are necessary to protect everyone else from those who will not cooperate.  The existence of governments, however, does not give anyone the right to refuse to cooperate.  Cooperating in the elimination of problems is the responsibility of every person capable of such cooperation.

There is no perfect, or even entirely correct, political ideology.  I am fine with it if you choose to keep your political ideology after reading this.  Please help with the task of eliminating all problems though.  Quit causing problems, and start solving them instead.  It is your responsibility to do this, no matter how rich, poor, weak, or powerful you are.