The State is a Stationary Bandit

The notion that the state is a legitimate agency – one deserving respect – an institution that, despite its flaws, generally promotes (or at least aims to promote) the welfare of its citizens – is increasingly difficult to understand, much less to accept. A far more realistic view of the state, any state, comes from Mancur Olson: the state is a stationary bandit. Prudence might require that ordinary people tolerate it, but wisdom requires that those same ordinary people understand that, when dealing with the state, they are dealing with organized thuggery. Obey it because your failure to do so will prompt it to unleash its guns and prisons on you, but please don’t pretend that the state’s commands are issued with your best interests in mind.