DNA of "Big" Government

Image by ynse via Flickr

Darwin, modern scientists, and science fiction writers (George Wells, The War of the Worlds) have all discussed the topic of genetic diversity. Darwin talked about how a species needed a certain amount of diversity to survive various extinction events such as a virus, genetic disorders, and natural events like drought. Modern scientists have warned against the use of antibacterial soaps and other products because the antibacterial agent ends up in the water supply in very minute concentrations. At these low concentrations, the bacteria is able to develop resistance. We saw what happened to the aliens in The War of the Worlds. Plot spoiler ... they died from a virus. In the movie the narrator says "...we [humans] have earned the right to be here." Meaning we have developed resistance to these types of things by being one of Darwin's fittest.

So, what does this have to do with government? Let's look at the U.S. in 2 different ways. The first, imagine each state in the U.S. were a person. But these 50 people were "born" from the same mold. Each state have the same ideals, same laws, same tax, same education system, and the same welfare system. Second, take the same 50 people but this time they have the same ideals and a very small number of laws in common. Some of the 50 have other things in common but not all 50 have all things in common. A state (person) now gets sick. Some new law has overstepped its bounds. Some new radical idea has swept the state. A new form of education has been adopted.

In the first case, all 50 states share so much in common that all 50 states are infected. This could be a good thing and the country continues on. But it could be something detrimental and maybe not overtly so. It might be something like the HIV virus that takes a long time to become detectable and an even longer time to affect the life of its host. And in the end it is incurable and fatal. On the other hand, if only one state were infected this creates a putry dish for the rest of us to watch and learn from while not being affected ourselves.

We need the vaccine. In the first case we could inject ourselves and wait 20 years to figure out, "Nope that is not what we wanted." or "Oops, that didn't work like I thought it would." Make a change and start all over. Instead, what about trying 50 different vaccines at one time. Better yet, let each state come up with their own vaccine. The idea of having 50 "individuals" working on this problem creates competition and competition creates better products (vaccines).

The key is survival. If we want to survive we have to adapt and to adapt is to be genetically diverse. Our founding fathers knew this and loosely bound this Republic together with a common set of ideals, the Constitution, but allowed each state to be its own individual.