Brain function is disturbed by stress.  Political conditioning rests on deliberately induced fear and anger.  Pavlov figured out—with an accidental flood—it was much easier to condition dogs under stress.  The stress induced by the political class wipes the mind clean.  They are much more suggestible, and their judgment has been impaired.  This is why emergencies never end.  Wars and pandemics are particularly useful.

The advantages derived from peaceful cooperation are universal.  The sacrifice you make is only temporary.  You’re giving up a gain now to gain more later.  This is obvious.  Unless, you have been conditioned to think otherwise.  As Bastiat said, “When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men in a society, over the course of time they create for themselves a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.”

Statism is a religion.  However, there is a vital difference between religions as we know it and statism.  Statism is not voluntary, religion is.  Religion is to bind, not belief in a deity.  Statism requires you to bind to a certain system.  The parties are as different as Stalinism and Trotskyism.  There isn’t much different other than the religion you subscribe to.  It’s still a religion whether you think so or not. 

Some are too weak mentally to adjust themselves to cooperation.  Society can’t exist if the majority refuse cooperation.  If the majority of individuals won’t cooperate, there’s nothing to stop them from making the minority from being their slaves.  The insane may not be able to adjust themselves.  As Nietzsche pointed out, “Insanity in individuals is something rare – but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs, it is the rule.”

There is no guarantee that violence won’t happen.  The majority of voters display a cultish behavior.  They have been conditioned to support violence.  Given the behavior that is required, it’s not surprising that bad men seek office and rise to the top.  “A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.”  It’s ideas that matter.  Violent oppression can be stopped by not supporting violence.

References

Ludwig von Mises; Human Action

William Sargant; Battle for the Mind