Alejandro A. Tagliavini *
The day that we respect the science of logic – and we get coherent – societies will progress with a speed that we do not even imagine today. Of course, this is a question of maturity, of development.
Its first law is the «principle of non-contradiction», according to which a proposition and its negation cannot be true at the same time. Parmenides formulated his law of identity that states «what is, is and what is not, is not.» Later, in Plato‘s Republic, the character Socrates says, «the same thing will not be willing at the same time to do or suffer contrary things». And Aristotle assures that «it is impossible that, at the same time and under the same relationship, the same attribute occurs and does not occur in the same subject».
Thus – and leaving the discussion about that evil does not exist, but rather is the absence of good – it is not possible for a good to be achieved with an evil: from violence cannot arise – life – peace. Holding that violence can bring peace or life is inconsistent, and therefore destructive, and can cause a «snowball.»
Today, some governments violate their citizens and close markets -an evil-, supposedly to take care of health -a good-, and the destruction is so important that even the WHO now admits that it is «practically impossible» to keep borders closed, » economies must reopen, people have to work. «
And this snowball, although we are still a long way off, could end up in a global nuclear war if skirmishes such as the closure of consulates and demonstrations of force by the navies in the South China Sea increase.
This closing of markets produced unemployment and alienation in many citizens, increasing a frenzy that was overturned, in part, by the events that occurred after the murder of George Floyd. And the old slogan «defund the police» was revived by the left, proposing that these funds be turned to social programs that, supposedly, will solve crime and, the little that could remain, will be controlled without police. And they remember that, before the formal police system was established, the colonies were protected by a «night watch».
The rightwing disagree, in fact, it is inconsistent to seek state funds for social programs without a police forcing people to pay taxes. But the rightwing is wrong in the solution, it does not understand freedom, because it forgets the logic that says that good is achieved only with more good, «the problems of freedom are solved with more freedom.»
In February I visited Liechtenstein, a country of 40,000 inhabitants plus thousands who enter daily, that shows crime is solved through freedom, with good, not with police. The weight of the State is so low that the fiscal pressure is equivalent to 20% of GDP (the European average is 30%) and it has 5% of fiscal surplus, unemployment is non-existent to the point that 55% of the labor force comes daily from abroad, the average monthly salary is US $ 6,500, they have only 5 hired politicians, 91 police officers and 12 prisoners, none for theft or homicide and, if it were not that they have a tough drug policy, the prisoners would be only two, for scams. So few police there is (ergo, less state spending) that Alexander Ospelt, one of the best local lawyers, ironically told me that, if I saw a police car go by at night, I had a 50% chance of not being caught because there are only two.
* Senior Advisor at The Cedar Portfolio and Member of the Advisory Council of the Center on Global Prosperity, de Oakland, California
Alejandro A. Tagliavini 
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