There is a huge difference between organized crime and government.
Governments have predictable, well defined fee structures that can be budgeted for by businesses.
Services are delivered in a, mostly, timely fashion, or at least on some sort of predictable schedule. Many government agencies actually give out time tables for responses, people may not be happy with those time tables, but timelines are provided[1].
Organized crime makes no such guarantee. Pay once, and they can come around and ask again. Once a mark always a mark.
Governments provide stability. The next person in charge is probably not going to change things too much. Taxes aren't going to be raised too much, and changes to taxes aren't going to happen without input from constitutions.
Also the use of force is limited by laws set forth. If you own a bar next to the mayor's son's house and play music too loud, you may get a fine. And that fine may be delivered a bit faster than if your bar wasn't located next to the mayor's son's house.
But your bar won't be burnt down. You won't have your kneecaps smashed in. Your car tires won't be slashed.
This limitation of force is both a legal contract and a social contract. When the social contract is broken, mass protests take place, and steps are taken to reinforce that social contract. The BLM protests and the efforts to establish more community orientated outreach and justice programs are recent examples of this.\
[1] My local department of licensing guarantees how long it takes to mail out new license tabs, my city hall has a timeline for how long building blueprint requests take. Even many federal services have wait time estimates that they try to adhere to. People only complain when government doesn't work, but by and large it does work!
com2kid|4 years ago
Governments have predictable, well defined fee structures that can be budgeted for by businesses.
Services are delivered in a, mostly, timely fashion, or at least on some sort of predictable schedule. Many government agencies actually give out time tables for responses, people may not be happy with those time tables, but timelines are provided[1].
Organized crime makes no such guarantee. Pay once, and they can come around and ask again. Once a mark always a mark.
Governments provide stability. The next person in charge is probably not going to change things too much. Taxes aren't going to be raised too much, and changes to taxes aren't going to happen without input from constitutions.
Also the use of force is limited by laws set forth. If you own a bar next to the mayor's son's house and play music too loud, you may get a fine. And that fine may be delivered a bit faster than if your bar wasn't located next to the mayor's son's house.
But your bar won't be burnt down. You won't have your kneecaps smashed in. Your car tires won't be slashed.
This limitation of force is both a legal contract and a social contract. When the social contract is broken, mass protests take place, and steps are taken to reinforce that social contract. The BLM protests and the efforts to establish more community orientated outreach and justice programs are recent examples of this.\
[1] My local department of licensing guarantees how long it takes to mail out new license tabs, my city hall has a timeline for how long building blueprint requests take. Even many federal services have wait time estimates that they try to adhere to. People only complain when government doesn't work, but by and large it does work!