Old and New Statism and Ways to Defeat Them

The ancient state consolidated its power by destroying the dignity of its victims, by demanding that they grovel in the dirt before the "god-king" and pay him endless tributes. The modern state consolidates its power by allowing its victims to destroy their dignity themselves, by helping them to parasitize on each other until they all hate themselves as much as they hate one another.

It is difficult to say which form of such conditioning is more degrading, but it seems clear that the latter is much more deceptive. Thus, while what was needed to defeat ancient statism was primarily strength of arms, what is needed to defeat modern statism is primarily strength of character: it is only in this way that the victims of enslavement can address effectively not the symptoms of their condition, but its causes.