Quote from: elebit on April 25, 2013, 09:26:32 AM

Quote from: RenegadeMind on April 25, 2013, 08:03:27 AM

Look up "statism". An excellent resource to help understand it is the "Nolan Chart".

Merely the fact that one can appreciate the wealth that organized societies make possible does not make one a statist in this sense.

what tripe. 99.9% of your life is organized without authoritarianism. Do you brush your teeth because there is a man behind you with a gun? Do bridge builders build bridges because there is a man behind them with a gun? Is the man with the gun even the reason why you refrain from committing murder? Stateism is not "the mystical force that allows society to be organized". It is a man with a gun telling you to give him your the products of your labor "or else". Please try not to confuse these 2 things, they are so very different.

If you want to understand what society is on a micro level, observe your own behavior. Observe the social rituals that allow you to cooperate with other people, with out any threats of violence being involved. Observe how you almost certainly play only a very small role in the creation of something greater, through spontaneous order, not because you and all your co-workers are threatening each other. This is what society is, statism is just that 0.1% of your life that is not spontaneous and voluntary. It is when the police man pulls you over because the sticker on your car is the wrong color, or the building inspector puts a red sticker on your house which indicates that the state is willing to murder you, if it comes down to it, for entering your own house.