Government is the monopoly on legalized force.
It’s important for students—and all citizens—to understand something fundamental: government is force. More precisely, government is the one institution with a monopoly on legalized force.
When individuals commit acts of violence—harming or violating the rights of others—they are acting outside the law, in violation of the law. A violent criminal, once caught, is arrested and charged precisely because society recognizes such private use of force as both wrong and unlawful.
Government is different. When a government seizes property, imprisons someone, or even takes a life, it usually does so backed-up by the authority of law. What would be considered a crime if committed by a private citizen becomes “legal” when carried out by the state. That’s what we mean when we say government has a monopoly on legalized force.
No business has the legal authority to arrest you, throw you in jail, or confiscate your money because you refuse their service. A business only offers various products or services as a trade that you are free to accept, decline, ignore, or negotiate. Government, however, can command payment—taxes—under threat of punishment. Refuse, and your property can be seized; persist, and you will likely be violently detained, arrested, and eventually imprisoned.
That’s worth repeating: government is the only institution legally authorized to point a gun at citizens and, in some cases, pull the trigger. That’s why wise and good citizens want few laws, not many. Every additional law extends the scope of government force and provides a reason for a law enforcement officer to point a weapon at a citizen.
In this respect, government is like fire: useful, even necessary, but inherently dangerous. This is why constitutions exist—to limit government power, define its scope, and make sure those who wield force remain accountable to the people.
The potential danger of concentrated government power has led to a sobering subfield in political science: democide—the study of governments that kill their own citizens.
The numbers are staggering. Consider the 20th century:
– In all military conflicts combined—World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and others—about 40 million soldiers died in combat.
– Civilians caught in the crossfire of these wars—so-called “collateral” deaths—numbered about 100 million.
– Yet, in that same century, governments murdered at least 200 million of their own citizens through purges, death camps, state-induced famines, forced relocations, and other “legal” acts of mass killing. That is democide.
According to Baylor College of Medicine and the World Health Organization, the leading causes of human death worldwide are heart disease, stroke, chronic respiratory diseases, infections, neonatal conditions, and similar health issues. For perspective: heart disease kills about 9 million people per year, strokes about 6 million, kidney disease about 1.3 million.
But those same institutions do not list death-by-government as a leading cause of death. If they did, the picture would be grim: over just the past hundred years, governments have slaughtered between 250 and 300 million of their own people. That would place government itself among the top causes of premature death.
The exact figures are imprecise because tyrannical regimes rarely keep meticulous death records. In places like the killing fields of Cambodia, researchers estimate casualties by digging up mass graves and extrapolating the numbers of dead from skeletal remains.
Democide takes many forms: gulags and death camps, political purges, executions of dissidents, forced relocations, mass famines caused by central planning, and even systemic collapse of essential services like hospitals. Each is a sobering reminder that only government possesses the legal authority to carry out such widespread violence—and often cloaks that violence in the mantle of law.
Government power is necessary; no civilized society can exist without some form of government and legalized force. But the same monopoly on legalized force that allows government to protect rights also gives it unique power to violate rights. It is not cynical to limit government power, keep government within constitutional boundaries, and remain vigilant as citizens; it’s wise.
FAQ
No. Waypoints is not a lesson-plan warehouse. It is a curated library of primary sources paired with tutorials that deepen content knowledge and strengthen instruction. There are no student-facing lesson-plans; there are tutorials for teachers. For teachers, Waypoints is more like graduate school than a set of prepared lesson plans.
The Home Plan is ideal for individual learners and homeschooling families.
Organizer and Educator accounts can access the tutorials. Student accounts cannot.
Waypoints is a digital platform for learning and teaching built around beautifully published Primary Source Documents and Teacher Tutorials that reinforce selected Key Ideas of Liberty.
The Home Plan is $199 per year and includes an Organizer account, up to two Educator accounts, and up to four Student accounts.
Yes. Many people use the Home Plan simply for their own access to the Library and Tutorials. If you are a lifelong learner, the Home Plan is for you.
No. The purchase process automatically creates your Organizer account, which includes full access to all Waypoints content.
A Custom Plan is for schools, organizations, or other users whose needs are not fully met by a Home Plan or an Academy Plan. It can include a tailored combination of Educator and Student accounts. Please contact us for a Custom Plan proposal.
Student accounts can access the Library of primary source documents.
Yes, please do! We encourage teachers to use Tutorial content, written or video, any way they find helpful.
The Academy Plan is designed for schools, school districts, and other educational organizations.
For schools and districts, pricing is based on student enrollment. For non-school organizations and businesses, pricing is based on membership or staff size.
Please use the Contact Us page to discuss pricing, onboarding, and implementation.
Educators receive tutorials that illuminate the documents, deepen subject-matter knowledge, and support stronger classroom instruction.
You can go to the Waypoints Library and see the list of titles we have curated stretching across subjects such as American history, political thought, philosophy, economics, and citizenship.
Not yet. Additional titles are being prepared and published on a rolling basis. We will let members know when as more documents are published and uploaded to the Library.
Yes. Waypoints is designed to enrich and elevate existing instruction, especially in history, civics, government, and related courses. A teacher does not need to abandon the textbooks, lesson plans, or other curricula materials that have been used for past instruction. Waypoints is designed as an add-on to the materials teachers have been using and assigning to students.
