The Only Thing That The Psychically-human Being

There Are Two Methods, Or Means, And Only Two, Whereby Man's Needs And Desires Can Be Satisfied. One Is The Production And Exchange Of Wealth; This Is The Economic Means. The Other Is The Uncompensated Appropriation Of Wealth Produced By Others; This Is The Political Means.

The Idea That The State Originated To Serve Any Kind Of Social Purpose Is Completely Unhistorical. It Originated In Conquest And Confiscation - That Is To Say, In Crime. It Originated For The Purpose Of Maintaining The Division Of Society Into An Owning-and-exploiting Class And A Propertyless Dependent Class - That Is, For A Criminal Purpose.

It Is Unfortunately None Too Well Understood That, Just As The State Has No Money Of Its Own, So It Has No Power Of Its Own. All The Power It Has Is What Society Gives It, Plus What It Confiscates From Time To Time On One Pretext Or Another, There Is No Other Source From Which State Power Can Be Drawn. Therefore Every Assumption Of State Power, Whether By Gift Or Seizure Leaves Society With So Much Less Power; There Is Never, Nor Can Be, Any Strengthening Of State Power Without A Corresponding And Roughly Equivalent Depletion Of Social Power.

The State Always Moves Slowly And Grudgingly Towards Any Purpose That Accrues To Society's Advantage, But Moves Rapidly And With Alacrity Towards One That Accrues To Its Own Advantage; Nor Does It Ever Move Towards Social Purposes On Its Own Initiative, But Only Under Heavy Pressure, While Its Motion Towards Anti-social Purposes Is Self-sprung.

It Is Interesting To Observe That In The Year 1935 The Average Individual's Incurious Attitude Towards The Phenomenon Of The State Is Precisely What His Attitude Was Toward The Phenomenon Of The Church In The Year, Say, 1500. It Does Not Appear To Have Occurred To The Church-citizen Of That Day, Any More Than It Occurs To The State-citizen Of The Present, To Ask What Sort Of Institution It Was That Claimed His Allegiance.