police states provide rules and punishments for disobeying. It is a system of compliance based on “incentives”—the incentives of threats. But such societies typically do not function well. The enforcers cannot be everywhere to make good on the threats, and if there is a sense that the rules and regulations are unfair, there will be attempts at circumvention. It will be expensive to achieve compliance, and even then it will be only partial. Productivity will be low, and life will be unpleasant. The democratic alternative entails trust and a social compact, an understanding of the
...more
