THRUST FOR FREEDOM - No. 10

What is the difference between
GOVERNMENT and STATE?

Most people use the terms “government” and “state” interchangeably. Yet these two terms are entirely different in their meanings.† A STATE is an instrument of social coercion.‡ A true GOVERNMENT, on the other hand, sells services whose function it is to protect property.*⁽²⁾

The confusion easily stems from the fact that STATES have traditionally claimed to be the protector of the property of the citizens over whom they hold dominion. STATIST propaganda from time immemorial has been that, without a STATE, there would be total anarchy (by which they mean - incorrectly - a condition of disorder and chaos). That this is false is illustrated by the fact that, in the long run, all STATES have led to the very condition from which they claim to be protecting their citizens. Given time enough, all STATES have collapsed. The unfortunate people living under these conditions have seen their achievements and cultures disappear into oblivion.

The reason that STATES do not protect property, but merely claim to do so, is because they employ coercion as their only operational tool. This is a classic illustration of the saying that one cannot achieve ends by means inconsistent with the ends sought. One cannot protect property by employing coercion.

The true protection of property can be achieved through the sale of services whereby the sellers are remunerated on the basis of their success. As a first condition of success, a seller may not force his services upon an unwilling customer. The customer must want to buy the service at a price he is willing to pay. If he is forced to buy, he has lost a part of his property at the outset. Then the only talking point is how much of it he may still retain.

It is completely unrealistic to assert that individuals who have property will not wish to have their property adequately protected. The more they have, the more they will want to have competent services to protect their property. The way, then, is clear for any profit-oriented person with creative ideas to enter the market and offer for sale increasingly competent services at ever-decreasing costs in order that he may earn greater profits for himself in helping others retain control over what is theirs. His success in earning secondary profits*⁽⁸⁾ will be a measure of his success in providing satisfactory property protection to the public.

This idea leads to a new structure of social organization that is fully compatible with the social goals of the founders of the American Revolution, but is able to accomplish these goals without political means and compromised techniques. The true concept of GOVERNMENT then becomes a profit-seeking service organization to protect property. There cannot be a monopoly of GOVERNMENTAL service when the road is free and clear to innovate advanced techniques in the area of protection.

A government is any person or organization that sells services to protect property, to which the owner of the property may voluntarily subscribe.

A state is any person or organization that claims to protect property by coercing the owner of the property to use and pay for its “services,” claiming “legality” as its justification.

It is obvious from the foregoing twin definitions that a GOVERNMENT must operate on a profit-seeking*⁽⁸⁾ basis to be successful, whereas all STATES are bureaucratic*⁽⁹⁾ by nature.

The state, then, is the counterfeit of government.

† Albert Jay Nock
‡ Ludwig von Mises
* See THRUST FOR FREEDOM issue number indicated in parenthesis.