Most people see the state as a “be-all and the end-all” or signifying both the ‘means’ and the ‘end’ of our existence. That’s why the flow of communications—reporting, reasoning, narratives, conversations and etc.—mostly revolve around the basic premise where the state has been deified as our messiah.
Libertarian Frank Chodorov exposes the myth of this mentality...(bold emphasis mine)
The weakness of the State lies in the fact that it is but an aggregate of humans; its strength derives from the general ignorance of this truism. From earliest times the covering up of this vulnerability has engaged the ingenuity of the politician; all manner of argument has been adduced to give the State a suprahuman character, and rituals without end have been invented to give this fiction the verisimilitude of reality. The divinity with which the king found it necessary to endow himself has been taken over by a mythical 51 percent of the electorate, who in turn ordain those who rule over them. To aid the process of canonization, the personages in whom power resides have set themselves apart by such artifices as high-sounding titles, distinctive apparel, and hierarchical insignia. Language and behavior mannerisms — called protocol — emphasize their separateness. Nevertheless, the fact of mortality cannot be denied, and the continuity of political power is manufactured by means of awe-inspiring symbols, such as flags, thrones, monuments, seals, and ribbons; these things do not die. By way of litanies a soul is breathed into this golden calf and political philosophy anoints it a "metaphysical person."
You can see such dynamic at work in populist themes such as Earth Hour, anthropogenic global warming, global imbalances and other national sensational issues such as corruption et. al.
For every social problem, the reductio ad absurdum or what I call the three monkey solution approach has always been for government
1) to tax or to regulate someone else (definitely never the proposer),
2) to change the people (what I call personality based politics or a system of musical chairs) and
3) to throw money at the problem (which is why paper money exists).
Hardly anyone infers on the issue that the state itself or the laws from which the state has founded its existence could be the source of imbalances. And in saying so, this would be tantamount to blasphemy. The price for truth is ostracism when it should be the other way around as Mr. Chodorov argues.
Yet George Washington told us why the state should not be seen as our messiah...
Government is not reason; it is not eloquence; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
