State vs. Society
State and society (power and liberty) are fundamentally opposed.
State vs. society is essentially a zero sum game wrt power.
An increase in State power is a decrease in social power,
and vice versa.
Society's ability to do something atrophies if the State takes over that function.
This concept expressed variously as:
- artificial society vs. natural society (Burke, Bastiat)
- society of status vs. society of contract (Henry Maine)
- military society vs. industrial society (Spencer)
- political means vs. economic means (Oppenheimer)
- generalized: planned order vs spontaneous order (Hayek)
Anarchists agree.
