The Three Degrees of Statism

A year ago, I wrote a competitive essay in which in which I have outlined my theory of statism – a method of political observation that separates most of the world into three degrees: total statism; moderate (hidden) statism; and intrusive statism. In the following articles, I will be analyzing this theory a bit closer, and summarizing most of the argument that I have made in the extended work.

Many theories try to explain the dehumanizing acts that have plagued civilization. Some political philosophers like Karl Marx, for example, held that the key to alleviating the latter fallacy lies in elimination of private property. According to Marx, much of human suffering has been caused by an alienation of the human being from the civil society through privately held property.

Other modern intellectuals argue for more unorthodox methods of historical, and political interpretation. Christopher Hitchens, for example, famously argued that “religion poisons everything”, and that most of the human conflicts can be resolved at ease if only the parties of god stepped away from the negotiating table.

I believe that Christopher Hitchens was on the right track to finding the true “poison of everything”; though the answer that he labeled as this absolute poison could not have been more inaccurate.  Religion, though poisonous and bitter in some of its worst forms, was usually only a tool of a much larger threat – the state. Indeed, it was the state that often wielded the weapons of oppression and despotism that it cleverly masked beneath the shadows of noble causes. It was the state that suppressed the representation of the minorities which it then demolished. It was the state that abolished the system of government accountability, thereby clearing the path for unrestrained totalitarian power.

However, what exactly is “the state”? In the words of Frédéric Bastiat “the state is a great fiction by which everyone endeavors to live at the expense of everyone else”. Therefore, a position that opposes such a governing state, and in the next place dedicates its efforts toward finding political systems that would counterbalance the unchecked influence of the totalitarian power, must in essence be called an “anti-statist” position. It is the latter position to which the upcoming inquiries will be directed.