Where there are herds, there are myths.  The state is the grand illusion, a magician that convinces its audience that its tricks are reality.  It claims to act for the common good, yet it is an entity that exists only to rule.  It’s the one institution that determines the law and the price of violating it.  What a splendid arrangement for those in charge!  It’s no wonder that those who benefit most will fight to preserve it.

Yet, the greater mystery is why the masses accept it as just.  This is not a mere authority but an absolute one, an entity that can seize wealth and dictate obedience.  No other organization could make such demands without being seen as criminal.  The illusion is maintained not by force alone—no empire can rule on violence indefinitely.  It relies on belief.  The masses must be persuaded, conditioned, made to accept the structure as necessary, even righteous.

Enter the mythmakers.  They craft narratives that make obedience seem noble.  They fill history books with stories of benevolent rulers, of democracy as the voice of the people, of a social contract that no one ever signed.  They construct a framework where questioning power is heresy.  Schools, media, and intellectuals serve as its chorus, repeating the same refrains until they’re accepted as self-evident.

The destruction they cause is written off as incompetence.  Every failure of the state is seen as an accident, a mistake to be corrected with more laws, more programs, more authority.  Never is the institution itself questioned.  The ruling class, and those who aspire to be part of it, will never admit otherwise.  To do so would be to saw off the branch on which they sit.

Even many who call themselves champions of the free market bend the knee to the state.  They may argue over policies, but they don’t challenge the foundation.  The masses, absorbed in their daily lives, don’t see the illusion for what it is.  They simply accept it as the natural order of things.  So, the cycle continues, as the mythmakers reinforce the script, ensuring that the grand illusion remains intact.

Yet illusions can be shattered.  It is the task of those who see through the deception to expose it.  The truth is simple: the state is not a protector, not a servant, but a parasite.  The moment enough people recognize this, the illusion dissolves.

Until then, the magicians will continue their act, and the audience will continue to applaud.

References

Hans-Hermann Hoppe; The Great Fiction

Friedrich Nietzsche; Thus Spoke Zarathustra