The Criminality of the State

December 29, 2006 6:47 AM by Mises.org Updates | Other posts by Mises.org Updates | Comments (2)

The idea that the State originated to serve any kind of social purpose is completely unhistorical, writes Albert Jay Nock. Like all predatory or parasitic institutions, its first instinct is that of self-preservation. All its enterprises are directed first towards preserving its own life, and, second, towards increasing its own power and enlarging the scope of its own activity. For the sake of this it will, and regularly does, commit any crime which circumstances make expedient. States ruin their own people in order to preserve themselves, to enhance their own power and prestige, and extend their own authority. FULL ARTICLE