We chatted outside on the porch after dinner about how
things would change if there was a nuclear war and Washington, D.C. and
the state capital got destroyed. Would we even know it was my first thought, but then others chimed in with more practical opinions:
No more taxes!
No
more expensive and nonsensical requirements and regulations! If we
wanted to open a business, we could just do it. We could hire whomever
we
wanted. Families would have to stick together to take care of the
aged and ill, educate and protect children, defend against intruders.
We
could enforce our own rights! (Not sure what that meant, but I think
it would be like if you caught a rustler -- yes, they exist! -- you
could handle him the way they did 150 years ago, and with no delay).
Then there were more thoughtful considerations:
Would
paper money still have value, or would we have to barter or transact
with specie? If a gang of thieves and murderers arose to pillage the
countryside, how would we deal with it? (That one was easy: we'd form
posses or militias and hunt them down and exterminate them.) But what
if an army of raiders swept over the land, like Comanches, Vikings or Huns? We'd have to build walls and forts, let no strangers who might
be spies come near.
And so on. No one thought it would be a
disaster. But some women did worry about life in a lawless world. The
men dismissed that fear. It was more important that finally we could be
left alone to live our lives without being pestered and plagued by
politicians and bureaucrats. I said but the raiders who would prefer
to pillage than work would be professional warriors, skilled in warfare
and weaponry, violent and cruel. How could we
herdsmen and farmers successfully fend them off? We'd have to develop
our own warrior caste, who would inevitably rule over us, extracting
tribute, taxes if you will. So we'd be back where we started, only
without the benefits of an advanced civilization. No one had an answer
to that and the subject was changed.
wanted. Families would have to stick together to take care of the
aged and ill, educate and protect children, defend against intruders.
