To Patriots
By Aditya
Published on
People often call others hypocrites for using government systems while also hating the government. The argument is usually: “If you hate the government so much, why use its roads, schools, jobs, healthcare, or other services?” But David Hume would probably say that idea ignores how real life works.
Hume did not believe people truly “agree” to their governments in the way social contract theories claim. Most people are born into a country without choosing it. They do not choose the laws, the political system, or the leaders. They are simply born into it.
Hume even mocked the idea that staying in a country means you fully support its government. He compared it to waking up on a ship in the middle of the ocean and being told you are free to leave by jumping into the water. Technically you can leave, but realistically most people cannot.
So according to Hume's logic, using public systems does not mean you support the government.
Someone may use public transportation because they need to get to work. Someone may study in a government college because private education is too expensive. Someone may accept government benefits because refusing them would only make their own life harder while changing nothing politically.
That is not hypocrisy. That is survival and practicality.
Hume believed governments stay in power mostly because people are used to them and need society to function, not because every citizen truly supports them. A country can still run even when many people dislike the people in charge.
There is also another point people forget: public systems are not just gifts from the government. Citizens help pay for them through taxes, labor, and participation in the economy. So using those systems is not necessarily “taking advantage” of the government. In many ways, people are using systems they already contribute to.
Hume's argument cuts through the idealized view of politics. A person can strongly dislike a government while still living inside the society it controls and using the systems around them. That is not hypocrisy. That is survival and practicality.