Atheists: Let's Talk About The State

A few weeks ago, the YouTube user Krishna Scrub 047 sent me a link to a few videos by the user Confederal Socialist. I enjoyed watching them, and they got me thinking seriously about the idea of a stateless society. So, I'm currently reading around the subject at the moment. I think that the case against the state is very strong.

I'm reading this book at the moment, which is a kind of layman's introduction to the whole thing. YouTube atheists, I humbly request that you direct your formidable brains, your powers of critical thought and persuasion, at the question of the legitimacy of the state. It seems like an important question to me.

By the way, I don't want to suggest that a theology isn't important. I think it is, and although I think that all the arguments for theism have been thoroughly defeated, I think it's important that people keep patiently knocking them down because zombie-like, they keep popping up again, as I'm sure you've noticed. So, the refutations of these arguments need to remain close at hand.

So, what's a state? I've seen different definitions. The one I'm going to use is a group who imposes rules on others living in a particular region and enforces those rules with violence. If a citizen does not comply with the state's rules and tries to defend himself against being punished for disobedience, he will be killed. The majority of the world population view this group and its violence as legitimate.

In Confederal Socialist's video, a basic argument against a state, which you should check out, he points out the following: The state's willingness to follow through on death threats for resisting punishment is crucial for the continued existence of the state. This is because if it emerged that by resisting arrest with force, you could avoid punishment—for instance, by defending yourself with a gun—quickly everyone would realize this. They would resist punishment, and the state's rules would be ignored.

So, I hope that most people would agree that under normal circumstances, threatening people with death for disobeying rules is not okay. It's a form of terrorism, and it's not the kind of behavior we should be happy to tolerate. But since this is exactly what a state does, then either there needs to be some special reason that we should make an exception here, or we need to decide that sometimes it's okay for an elite to exist which violently subjugates people. All we need to conclude is that the existence of the state isn't acceptable.

So, what do you think? First, do you agree with this assessment? And second, do you think there are reasons to accept the existence of the state all the same?

So, I'd like atheists in particular to talk more about this stuff. I'm thinking of users like Tool Time, Prof Nth, Herb Now, Fat Manchild, Rubber Tape, and Nansha. But I'd like to hear from anyone who wants to reply. This is a welcome to comment too, but I'll mention up front that I'm not really interested in hearing opinions on the subject that depend on or assume the existence of a god.

Perhaps some of you guys already have videos talking about this, and I missed them. It's possible. If this isn't a subject you feel you know well enough to comment on, then please take this as an opportunity to find out more about it all. I've provided some links in the sidebar as a starting point.

Also, anarchism is, I think, a subject that's even more misunderstood and stigmatized than atheism. So, if you prefer not to comment on this stuff, I can understand that. Anyway, I'm looking forward to hearing what people think. Thanks.