The Truth About the State – What They Never Taught You in School

It doesn’t matter whether you vote left or right, the State plunders you from top to bottom. Each time it enters a new part of our lives, this dreaded virus makes sure that no one can turn it back and its power grows greater and greater. Its ultimate goal is that you own nothing, so you owe everything you get to the State. It seeks the destruction of any kind of individuality.

Today we are taking a critical look at the figure of the State so that you can begin to question the ideas that are most prevalent at the present about how it works and what it is. Our goal is not to explain logically and step by step what the State is and what alternatives there are (for that there are already much more technical and detailed writings of great authors), but to give you ideas so that you understand that there are other options and you can begin to delve into them.

Of course, given the practical approach of denationalize.me, we will end this article by explaining how you can take action.

Flag Theory and the Perpetual Tourist as a Way Out

Living as a Perpetual Tourist has many advantages: you travel the world, pay little or no taxes, and enjoy greater freedom than most other mortals. Becoming a Perpetual Tourist is one of the best options for those who want to break free from the States grasp.

However, as we often remind you, being a Perpetual Tourist is not the only way and anyone who starts to apply the Flag Theory, that is, to internationalize the most important aspects of their life, will be one step closer to their freedom.

In order for you to better understand why we at denationalize.me think that the State is such a big problem, let’s start by clarifying our definition of this concept.

The definition of State

We all learn this lesson as children: the role of the State is to provide us with the “essentials”: Things like healthcare, education, security, justice, basic rules in human-to-human relations and a protection of the economy. In other words, the state is there to make sure that society functions properly, isn’t it?

Well, this is what we have been taught and what the system trains us to believe. These services have even been sold to us as “natural rights,” as if we are automatically entitled to them. Remember, “the ultimate goal is for you to have nothing so that you owe them everything.”

The State already existed when we were born, and also before our parents and grandparents did. Although, of course, it is not something that has always existed.

In the present, in different countries there may be different opinions about “how” different tasks should be performed, but never about “who” should do them, the State is always responsible for everything, it is the deity of the present. The State is good, it is omnipotent and omnipresent. Or at least that is what they would have us believe.

The State knows that the more services it provides us with (regardless of their quality), the more it can ask from us in return, so it has decided to expand its range of services to levels never seen before.

We shouldn’t forget that the term “State” is still something intangible – behind it you can find politicians, civil servants, organizations, institutions, etc. -, which is why we consider the State as an imaginary and dangerous entity: it is something that cannot be seen, cannot be touched, but its reach and influence are enormous.

The scary truth

In a nutshell, we could say that the State is a monopolistic coercive organization.

Why monopolistic? Because it prevents other people or companies from competing with it. It is the “sole” service provider and whoever disagrees is branded as a criminal.

It is a coercive organization because it does not allow you to get out of the system, you are forced to work in and for it, or else you will suffer dire consequences: from fines to more severe penalties like deprivation of liberty, apart from public scorn and “cancellations” where necessary.

The function of the State is nothing more and nothing less than to parasitize us and live off our work. It does not actually produce anything and lacks any incentive to deliver a good result because it faces no competition and, whatever happens, it will not lose its privileged position and has carefully established the Law to safeguard itself.

Our local thief

Here are some of the ways the “State” found to impose itself as a regular thief in an area:

• Threats: intimidation, creation of control structures, spreading fear.
• Religion: people believed that the State is a deity that has come to take care of everyone, and they ended up worshipping it.
• Defense against other thieves: “look, you may not like what I do, but if I leave, someone worse will come along from whom only I can protect you. Without me you are all lost.”
• Bribery: if someone poses a risk the State it is possible to share part of the revenue with that person or group of persons and gain their favor
• Sense of belonging: everyone obeys because it is good for the group, so you will be better and safer.
• “Good intentions”: the State is here to solve your problems, save lives, prevent crime… because the State has good intentions and is good for everyone, don’t worry about anything, we only want to help. (They want you to forget that the people who really solve problems are called “entrepreneurs” and not “Government”).

The state has spread the idea that it is absolutely indispensable. However, its essence is based on authoritarianism, obedience, a false sense of patriotism and war. Its activities consist mainly of aggression, and the worst thing is that it sets itself up as the ultimate “protector against aggression”.

The State tramples on your natural rights

We work and pay taxes to keep the State alive, yes, but it doesn’t really care whether we do it voluntarily or not. It is another form of slavery: the obligation to maintain the system as if it were our right!

They tell us that we have the right to education, to health care, to a home, to work….

All this sounds very good, however, we forget that for some people to have the right to receive something, there must be others to whom the obligation to provide them with that something is imposed. That is to say, these alleged rights, attempt against what for liberals is the only real right, the right to be left in peace. Your freedom ends where the freedom of others begins!

But, let’s continue examining all those rights that the Welfare State offer us thanks to the social contract.

As it turns out, the so-called social contract is a contract that none of us here have signed and which, moreover, we cannot rescind. Services (entitlements for the statists) are offered and charged for, whether we like it or not. In order for our children to go to school “free”, everyone else has to participate and help pay for the cost of public schools.

However, at no time has anyone been consulted as to whether they think it is right or fair. Not everyone has children or uses the infrastructures that the State advertises as “free”. But, even if they do not use them and have not asked for them, everyone still has to pay for them.

You pay taxes for things you will never use and, if you don’t like it and dare to express your refusal, you will be branded as selfish and asocial. A bit like if, forced, today you go to dinner with a group of people you can’t even stand. You don’t order anything to eat or drink and in the end, they force you to pay part of the bill (well, if you happen to be the highest earner among them, you would have to pay most or even all of the bill).

Education, health and housing are not natural rights, but services, even if they are enshrined in constitutions. They are services that some pay for and others receive. Naturally, we could leave it to companies (private initiative) to provide them in a much more optimal way than when the State does it.

We go to restaurants or buy clothes and furniture because we like them and want them; why not do the same with everything else?

The answer is clear, because they won’t let us. If it did let us, the State would lose its status as an “absolutely indispensable” organ, and it is preferable that the masses continue to think things like this:

• “Nothing would work without the State”
• “I don’t know what would happen without the State”
• “The State knows what is best for us!”
• “It is necessary for the State to provide for the citizens”
• “Without the State, who would look after my interests or defend me in case of aggression?”
• “My children should go to a good school and learn how to become a good citizen.”
• “Who would build the roads and highways if not the State?”

No one likes taxes, yet we are too lazy and too wrapped up in our lives to consider any change.

True natural rights are purely individual: neither of a group, nor of the collective, nor of the nation, society or humanity. We have the right to life, to liberty, to decide what to do with our bodies, to decide what to do with the fruits of our labor, to property, to the pursuit of our happiness and to try to satisfy our needs.

According to John Locke – an influential philosopher and pioneer of the Enlightenment – the concept of property of individuals is what corresponds to certain basic natural rights. This does not mean, however, that every “use” of this property can or should be moral. It need not be compatible with the morality of other people. “Immorality” is not bad (morality does not cease to be someone’s opinion) as long as it only affects you and does not attack someone else’s property.

A rule must be valid for everyone to be ethical. If someone imposes a form of government on us and we cannot reject or prevent it, it means that someone is above us, and there is nothing ethical about that. Even laws are just “opinions” of a group of people… and woe to us if we don’t abide by them! We were not asked for our explicit consent when they were passed.

Just because it makes sense in someone’s mind doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do! Yet the precious and well-meaning social discourses keep coming to the rescue to justify them.

In conclusion, the state is 100% immoral.

Ideological camouflage – the State thrives in wartimes

There is no better context to explain the anatomy of the state than the current situation between Russia and Ukraine initiated in 2022, which corresponds to the biggest security crisis in Europe since the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. The cornerstone of this conflict is Vladimir Putin’s rejection of the sovereignty and independence of the Ukrainian people.

And yes, this chaos is organized by the skilled strategist Putin. It is not that all Russians hate and want to conquer all Ukrainians. In fact, a large majority of the Russian people don’t like what their leader is doing, which causes an internal imbalance in the Kremlin’s agenda. The Russian population is hostage to a dictator and is exposed to a very negative situation in their lives. Simply because politicians do not know how to understand each other and, of course, because they want more power. The Russian government claims that they are actually defending themselves, which relegates other problems such as authoritarianism or corruption to the background.

This brings us to an important point: the problem of large states is that power always ends up in the hands of despicable people, the worst of society, the people who have the least moral problems to do what they have to do to get to the top of politics. From there, state conflicts are only the instrument to enforce their will. This is our libertarian vision of things that we share with you. We want you to see how the state works, taking autocratic Russia as an example. In this way, we hope it will become clear that everything that is happening in the world right now is the natural course of the conflict of the State against freedom.

Manipulative political discourse is always the result of the opinion of a person or group determined to defend their own interests at all costs. While many try to justify the actions of state X or Y, we want to show you that every action of the state is an act of aggression, because that is what the state likes best: conflict and war.

Look left or right if you want, but the State plunders you from top to bottom.

The state proclaims the “common good” out of absolutely and exclusively selfish interests!

Ukraine is not as important for the West as it is for Putin. The West has no major interests in that country.

For the various “allied” states, the impact of this conflict at the national level is much more important than the war in Ukraine itself. Thus, Ukraine only concerns them as long as it can help them grow their power (the state) and score points to get re-elected.

When a state feels attacked, it responds with a force far greater than the means it musters to protect other states. The attack on Ukraine only creates more excuses for Western countries to gain more power. We are free to protest today, but we will certainly not be free to protest tomorrow.

What is the state?

It is a clear attack on freedom, free trade, natural rights and people.

We are looking at a clear attack on property.

It is domination through force and power.

It is the strong manipulation of political puppets from all parts of the world, who have tied their hands and feet to protect their own interests.

It is a myriad of lame excuses to justify horrible moral crimes and cover up the filth of state hegemony.

It is in war that the state really becomes strong: it grows in power, in numbers, in pride, in absolute dominion over the economy and society.-Murray Rothbard

On the autonomy of the State

Murray Rothbard wrote a book on state autonomy. The fact that it is still valid for any time and applicable without exception despite the fact that the book was published in 1974 is quite striking.

Rothbard believed that the natural tendency of a state is to war and conflict. Basically, the state fears war, but sees in it an opportunity to push further the existing limits of its influence, and thus gain more power. War can be lost, but it can also be won. It is of enormous importance to understand how states relate to each other.

War and conflict are a game that few want to play. People, as a rule, do not hate each other, at least not to the point of wanting to kill each other. People simply end up submitting to the consequences of the mistakes/ decisions of politicians who always want more control and power on a global level. Those who want power always crave more power, and the only way to increase one’s own power is to take someone else’s power. This always creates conflict.

Today, States can no longer attack each other without pretext: that is why they have treaties. Treaties are no more and no less than polite acts of aggression. When states subordinate each other in a trade treaty, the population and the free market usually lose out. This is a full-fledged conflict, even if not a drop of blood is spilled.

The truth about treaties is that governments cede our property rights to others. The state has no right to touch our property, let alone give it to another. It has no moral basis to give or take, but it does, and more often than we think. Through treaties, third parties come to be able to dictate how we should live our lives in a new world order.

And so, the state tries to get its narrative into our heads: “In order for me to defend you, you must give me more power. You must make me bigger so I can protect you. I need to know who you talk to and where you travel, what you buy and from whom. There are very bad countries and we must not support them. I am the only one who can defend you from the tyrants who want to take away your freedom”.

And to top it off, the “new governments” are not obliged to respect the previous treaties or to face the consequences of them.

The State is only afraid of its own end. It must resist the end of a government and the removal of those in power. A State can end either by conquest (one State is swallowed up by another) or by revolution (a sort of “changing of the guard”), as happened with the French Revolution. The greater the power, the greater the risk and instability and the less freedom.

Who is the State really defending: the population or the State itself? We do not need the State to protect us, what we have to do is to protect ourselves from the State. How is it that nobody realizes this?

It makes no sense to give up our freedom and put it in the hands of a tyrant who says he will protect us from other tyrants. There is simply no way to take it. No one can protect us better than we can protect ourselves.

It would be wonderful if we could help everyone to free themselves from state control, but this change cannot happen overnight. To help as many people as possible, we must take one step at a time. It is essential, of course, that people understand where the problem lies. So, here we are, writing this article for the liberation of humanity 🙂

The state thrives in times of war, expands and glorifies itself…unless it is defeated and crushed.

Okay, yes, I don’t want so much State, but what are the options?

If we speak in general terms of what we can do as a society in order for the State to be smaller and less powerful, we should know that the alternative to societies directed by States are societies based on interpersonal relationships. Societies in which we flee from intermediaries who contribute nothing or who take much more than they give.

We need societies in which there are counterpowers, meaning other institutions such as churches and other types of non-state organizations. We must strengthen families and the circle of people around us, so we are not as depending on the States protection.

We need to take resources away from the States by not paying taxes (this, of course, is a part in which we can all contribute). This way, we can make the State step back, make them leave the areas of our lives where they should never have entered.

It is also important that people begin to question whether the state and its dreaded invention of the welfare state are good or necessary. The more people talk about this and question if the welfare state is a good thing, the more difficult it will be for governments to continue to grow and increase their power.

Voting with our feet is of course part of our toolkit. If there is a strong movement of people leaving for smaller, lower-tax states, that will show the way forward to the more totalitarian states, the ones that try to control every aspect of our lives.

It is essential to make the states smaller: divide and rule! Let Bavaria become independent from Germany, Lombardy and Sardinia from Italy, Catalonia and the Basque Country from Spain, Scotland and Northern Ireland from the United Kingdom, Corsica from France, Flanders from Belgium….

Independence and separatism not only result in states losing power, but also allow them to function more effectively or, rather, less disastrously.

In the end, the idea is to roll back the state, to get this virus out of every possible area of our lives. I’m sure there would come a point where we would discover that the state is not really necessary in absolutely any area.

On the other hand, if we are talking about what we can do as individuals, in the short term, to save ourselves, the solution lies in the Flag Theory and the Perpetual Tourist.

The life of the Perpetual Tourist: because your life is yours!

As we said, the Perpetual Tourist or PT is a person who knows that Government isn’t the solution, but the problem. For the PT, basic natural rights remain the only valid rules (along with the law of supply and demand that regulates the market). The Perpetual Tourist does not live outside the law but has learned to defend himself from the local thief, of which we have already spoken enough.

The first step to becoming a PT is to understand that the State is harmful, regardless of what they want to sell you. It is harmful regardless of whether you agree with some current laws because there are always going to be future laws that you don’t sympathize with that bring disadvantages. You may like the current president, prime minister or chancellor of the day, but you will certainly not like the next politicians who take over. The truth is that it doesn’t matter who governs: the dirty machinations of the system splash us all.

As a Perpetual Tourist, you could go where you are best treated. The beauty is that everyone can decide for themselves what “best” means for them. It is clearly a subjective matter, and that is why we should cater to the needs of the individual and not society.

As Perpetual Tourists, we can abandon the State, because if it were up to it, it would never let us go. It needs us to maintain its power and wants to befriend us. Remember, the State is the deity of the present and, of course, it loves us, is good, just and does everything for our good.

As a PT you can take (or regain) control of your own life, which many do not do out of ignorance, laziness or fear. You will be able to explore the world freely again, humanity has always needed explorers to move forward and if we want to bring about a paradigm shift away from the state, we have to start exploring new paths. If it works, more and more people will dare to take the plunge and little by little lose the fear that has lived inside all of us for years.

It doesn’t matter what country or political spectrum you are from: States are always criminal organizations that, by definition, feed off our goods and freedoms.

If you want to start living as a Perpetual Tourist, you can continue reading the many articles we have published in our blog or, directly, book a consultation with us so we can explain how to take the step and get rid of the burden of the State.