A night watchman state, or a minimal state, is a form of government in political philosophy where the government's responsibilities are so minimal they cannot be reduced much further without becoming a form of anarchy. The responsibilities in a hypothetical night watchman state would include the police, judicial systems, prisons and the military, the minimum allegedly required to uphold the law, which is limited to protect individuals from coercion and theft, to remove criminals from society, and to defend the country from foreign aggression. The term night watchman state was coined in 19th century liberalism, and is a metaphor for a state that "sleeps" (i.e., refrains from getting involved in citizens' lives) until someone's civil liberties are infringed. Night Watchman can mean: Security guard usually hired for the nightime protection of a business premise. ... GOVERNEMENT IS NOT A VIRGIN! Its F***ed Up We Pray To god that he give virginity back Forms of government Part of the Politics series Politics Portal This box:      A form of government is a term that refers to the set of political institutions by which a state... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      Political philosophy is the study of fundamental questions about the state, government, politics, liberty, justice, property, rights, law and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why (or even if) they are needed, what makes a government legitimate, what... In the realist theory of International Relations, the anarchical system that all states find themselves in is the lack of clear organisation of states into a hieracical order that is found within states. ... This article is about law in society. ... Coercion is the practice of compelling a person to involuntarily behave in a certain way (whether through action or inaction) by use of threats, intimidation or some other form of pressure or force. ... Everyday instance of theft: the bike which fits on this wheel has disappeared. ... for other uses please see Crime (disambiguation) A crime is an act that violates a political or moral law. ... Alternative meaning: Nineteenth Century (periodical) (18th century — 19th century — 20th century — more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 19th century was that century which lasted from 1801-1900 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar. ... Liberalism is an ideology, philosophical view, and political tradition which holds that liberty is the primary political value. ... Civil liberties is the name given to freedoms that protect the individual from government. ...

The view proposing a minimal state is known as minarchism, and is a core part of the libertarian ideology. Minarchists propose to enforce a night watchman state with a clearly-defined constitution on the government's powers, and may also see it necessary to ensure the constitution cannot be amended after adoption. In civics, minarchism, sometimes called minimal statism or small government, is the view that the size, role and influence of government in a free society should be minimal — only large enough to protect the liberty and property of each individual. ... See also Libertarianism and Libertarian Party Libertarian,is a term for person who has made a conscious and principled commitment, evidenced by a statement or Pledge, to forswear violating others rights and usually living in voluntary communities: thus in law no longer subject to government supervision. ...

Arguments for a night watchman state

Minarchists argue that the state has no right to interfere in free transactions between people, and see the state's sole responsibility as ensuring that transactions between private individuals are free. In general, the majority of minarchists use deontological arguments: they claim that a minimal state is good in and of itself (for example because it fits their view of natural law), and that any further extension of government is inherently evil, even if it leads to good consequences. The Objectivist philosophy of Ayn Rand is notable for its support of minarchism, believing that the taxes that fund government actions are essentially theft. Other minarchists, however, also attempt to bring consequentialist arguments. Popperian libertarians argue that institutions and cultures evolve best without external interference from government. The adherents of the Austrian school believe that any state intervention in the economy is harmful. In moral philosophy, deontology is the view that morality either forbids or permits actions, which is done through moral norms. ... Natural law or the law of nature (Latin: lex naturalis) is an ethical theory that posits the existence of a law whose content is set by nature and that therefore has validity everywhere. ... Objectivism is the philosophical system developed by Russian-American philosopher and writer Ayn Rand. ... Ayn Rand (IPA: , February 2 [O.S. January 20] 1905 – March 6, 1982), born Alisa Zinovyevna Rosenbaum (Russian: ), was a Russian-born American novelist and philosopher,[1] best known for developing Objectivism and for writing the novels We the Living, The Fountainhead, Atlas Shrugged and the novella Anthem. ... Consequentialism refers to those moral theories which hold that the consequences of a particular action form the basis for any valid moral judgment about that action. ... Sir Karl Raimund Popper, CH, FRS, FBA, (July 28, 1902 – September 17, 1994), was an Austrian and British[1] philosopher and a professor at the London School of Economics. ... Cultural evolution is the structural change of a society and its values over time. ... The Austrian School, also known as the Vienna School or the Psychological School, is a school of economic thought that advocates adherence to strict methodological individualism. ...

Arguments against a night watchman state

The groups of people who disagree with the notion of a minimal state are far more diverse than those who support it, and include nearly all political views other than libertarianism. Objections to the idea of a minimal state are likewise very diverse.

Specific political orientations and ideologies have specific objections to a night watchman state.

Social liberals and social democrats contend that the social organization of government is well-suited to provide through a welfare state care and protection for people disadvantaged on the market, or in a life stage or condition that involves some degree of dependency (people in a stage of childhood or old age, or engaged in unremunerated caretaking, etc., as well as people experiencing disability). Social liberalism is either a synonym for new liberalism or a label used by progressive liberal parties in order to differentiate themselves from the more conservative liberal parties, especially when there are two or more liberal parties in a country. ... Social democracy is a political ideology emerging in the late 19th and early 20th centuries from supporters of Marxism who believed that the transition to a socialist society could be achieved through democratic evolutionary rather than revolutionary means. ... The Welfare State of the United Kingdom was prefigured in the William Beveridge Report in 1942, which identified five Giant Evils in society: squalor, ignorance, want, idleness and disease. ...

In contrast social conservatives argue that the state should maintain a moral outlook, and legislate against behavior with social destructive effect; that, indeed, the state can not survive if its citizens do not have a certain degree or kind of character, and so ignoring the state's role in forming people's dispositions can be disastrous.^[1] This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Morality. ...

One objection to the Night watchman state is that there is simply no need to reduce the government's attributions to such a minimal level using a rigid and inflexible minarchist constitution, and that it is best to evaluate the merits of government intervention in each issue on a case-by-case basis. According to Keynesians and other proponents of an economically interventionist state, a night watchman state could do nothing in face of such issues as economic recessions (see Keynesian economics). In macroeconomics, the definition of recession is a decline in any countrys Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or negative real economic growth, for two or more successive quarters of a year. ... This article includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ...

Another is that if the powers of the night watchman state are limited by a constitution which cannot be amended by the people, then it is undemocratic. For other uses, see Democracy (disambiguation). ...

Others argue that the criterion "someone's civil liberties are infringed" is not as clear cut as it needs to be for such a state to work.^[2] For instance, it may at first appear that "preventing someone from speaking" is an infringement on a person's civil liberties, but that would entitle permitting someone to speak on a loudspeaker outside people's homes in the middle of night.

Furthermore, to prevent fraud, the night watchman state would have to enforce all contracts that did not infringe on the rights of third parties; protecting a person from infringing his own rights would be a violation of his liberty. Yet, even many libertarians object to the enforcement of some contracts, such as those by which a person sold himself into life-long slavery.

Finally, a unique kind of criticism comes from anarchists, who argue that no state — not even a night watchman one — should exist. Right-wing anarchists argue that the goal of the night watchman state — protecting individuals from acts of coercion and theft — needs to be funded by taxes, which represent in fact a form of theft. Left-wing anarchists believe this formula is incoherent, since they see the institution of property as a form of coercion and theft itself. Anarchist redirects here. ...

Right to keep and bear arms

To ensure that the government does not breach the constitution, some minarchists are proponents of the right to bear arms, assuming that citizens would support the minarchist constitution and arguing that the right to bear arms would enable them to defend themselves and the constitution from the excesses of state power itself. Minarchists in the United States interpret this as the meaning behind the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. The right to bear arms refers to the right that individuals have to weapons. ... The Bill of Rights in the National Archives Amendment II (the Second Amendment) of the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, declares a well regulated militia as being necessary to the security of a free State, and prohibits Congress or any other government agency from...

See also

• Nanny state

Nanny state is a derogatory term that refers to state protectionism, economic interventionism, or regulatory policies, and the perception that these policies are becoming institutionalized as common practice. ...

References

1. ^ Gertrude Himmelfarb, "Liberty: 'One Very Simple Principle'?", p 97, On Looking into the Abyss ISBN 0-679-75923-9
2. ^ Gertrude Himmelfarb, "Liberty: 'One Very Simple Principle'?", p 90, On Looking into the Abyss ISBN 0-679-75923-9