Honorable mention goes to Daniel Krawisz for “The Meaning of Competition” :The principle that ours is a consolidated government of all the people of the United States, and not a confederation of sovereign States, must necessarily render it little less than omnipotent. That principle, carried out to its legitimate results, will assuredly render the federal government the strongest in the world. The powers of such a government are supposed to reside in a majority of the people; and, as its responsibility is only to the people, that majority may make it whatever they please.
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But in a country so extensive as the United States, with great differences of character, interests and pursuits, and with these differences, too, marked by geographical lines, a fair opportunity is afforded for the exercise of an oppressive tyranny, by the majority over the minority. Large masses of mankind are not apt to be swayed, except by interest alone; and wherever that interest is distinct and clear, it presents a motive of action too strong to be controlled.
Let it be supposed that a certain number of States, containing a majority of the people of all the States, should find it to their interest to pass laws oppressive to the minority, and violating their rights as secured by the Constitution. What redress is there ...? Is it to be found in the federal tribunals? They are themselves a part of the oppressing government, and are, therefore, not impartial judges of the powers of that government.
Is it to be found in the virtue and intelligence of the people? ... Of what people? Of that very majority who have committed the injustice complained of, and who ... are the sole judges whether they have power to do it or not, and whether it be injustice or not.
Under such a system as this, it is a cruel mockery to talk of the rights of the minority. If they possess rights, they have no means to vindicate them. The majority alone possess the government; they alone measure its powers, and wield them without control or responsibility. This is despotism of the worst sort, in a system like ours. ... Free government, so far as its protecting power is concerned, is made for minorities alone.
But the [consolidated] system ..., while it invites the majority to tyrannize over the minority, and gives the minority no redress, is not safe even for that majority itself. It is a system unbalanced, unchecked, without any definite rules to prevent it from running into abuse, and becoming a victim to its own excesses.
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In all free governments, the democratic principle is continually extending itself. The people being possessed of all power, and feeling that they are subject to no authority except their own, learn, in the end, to consider the very restraints which they have voluntarily imposed upon themselves, in their constitution of government, as the mere creatures of their own will, which their own will may at any time destroy. Hence the legislature, the immediate representatives of the popular will, naturally assume upon themselves every power which is necessary to carry that will into effect.
This is not liberty. True political liberty demands many and severe restraints; it requires protection against itself, and is no longer safe when it refuses to submit to its own self-imposed discipline. But whatever power the legislature may assume, they seldom retain it long. They win it, not for themselves, but for the executive. All experience proves that this is a usual result, in every form of free government.
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... A great majority of mankind are much more sensible to their interests than to their rights. Whenever the people can be persuaded that it is their greatest interest to maintain their rights, then, and then only, will free government be safe from abuses.
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... Whatever be the theory of our Constitution, its practice, of late years, has made it a consolidated [not a federated] government; the government of an irresponsible majority. If that majority can find, either in the pursuits of their own peculiar industry, or in the offices and emoluments which flow from the patronage of the government, an interest distinct from that of the minority, they will pursue that interest, and nothing will be left to the minority but the poor privilege of complaining.
Finally, there is competition between producers to serve the desires of consumers. This kind of competition exists only on the free market. When people interact by force, they do not, by definition, have any interest in serving one another.
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... [A]ll producers are necessarily in competition with one another. The assumption that bakers compete only with other bakers is therefore false: as I noted above, all our desires are in competition with one another, and it is up to every producer to convince us that his service is the one that will bring us the most happiness.
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... Our ability to adjust our goals based on costs and benefits means that very dissimilar goods can be substitutes. If I decide to watch my favorite show, but find that it isn't on today, I might decide to watch another show, go make dinner, read a book, go out jogging, play a computer game, or any number of other things having little to do with television. All of these activities are therefore in competition with one another to be my highest priority, and therefore the producers of all of them are in competition to provide the greatest satisfaction.
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... A firm is not animated by a single will, but exists only because its individual members find it convenient to belong to it as a means to their own desires. They work together under the same plan for the time being, but fundamentally they are all still in competition to earn as much as possible of a limited supply of money.
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A firm is only capable of remaining large and dominant if its organization allows for more efficient production than would be possible for two or more separate firms. Without providing this service, the firm would necessarily lose its position because there would be profits available for any entrepreneur who started a similar firm. ...
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Being the sole producer of a given good on the free market gives no special ability to profit denied to other firms, for on the free market there is always the risk that consumers will switch to a different product or that an entrepreneur will start a similar firm. The position of a large firm is only as secure as its ability to produce efficiently what consumers want.
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Within the government hierarchy, people still compete for money, but no longer must they satisfy the consumer to get it. Since there is no objective concept of profit and loss in government enterprises, there is no bottom line against which everyone may be measured.
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To gain responsibility over the largest part of the budget, bureaucrats, politicians, and lobbyists all compete for the favor of their superiors and for responsibility over the largest projects. ... Everyone gains by increasing the overall budget because more is potentially available for him.
The result of this form of competition is deceit, intimidation, inequality, and waste. The government promotes disorder and anarchy so as to create an apparent need for further intervention. By fighting wars, creating black markets, and interfering with the economy, it incites chaos it can then blame on outside sources.
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Competition within the government bureaucracy, or among private individuals for government money, will necessarily worsen these problems. An organization becoming more or less competitive does not change the nature of the competition; to increase the competition of government will therefore only make its evil more effective and insidious. As Hoppe says, "competition in the production of goods is good, but free competition in the production of bads is not."
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