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Dictionary.com defines “sociopath” as “a person with a psychopathic personality whose behavior is anti-social, often criminal, and who lacks a sense of moral responsibility or social conscience.” The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “psychopathy” as a “mental disorder [marked by] egocentric and antisocial activity” and the term “antisocial” is defined as “[behavior] hostile or harmful to organized society [which deviates] sharply from the social norm.” “Society” is then defined as “a [friendly or intimate] companionship or association with one’s fellows” and “a voluntary association of individuals for common ends... an organized group working together or periodically meeting because of common interests, beliefs or profession.” Today, I will demonstrate that, within the context of these definitions, the men and women who work directly for or closely with the State - the TSA agents, police officers, military personnel, politicians, bureaucrats, intellectual apologists and henchmen who carry out what we call governmental objectives - are largely and fundamentally sociopathic individuals or, at the least, individuals with serious sociopathic tendencies who stand in direct contrast to those people living in the market society.
Recently, after an amazing shopping experience at Publix, I felt obliged to make my appreciation known, and proceeded to post the following message on the grocery store’s Facebook wall: “For $7.88, I can purchase a footlong ‘Ultimate’ sub (loaded with several different meats, provolone cheese, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, banana peppers, provolone cheese [sic], salt/pepper/oregano, mayonnaise and mustard), a small cup of shrimp bisque and a large Diet Coke. The entire transaction takes less than five minutes. This is society proper. There is nothing even remotely comparable to this kind of service in the other world - the world of government monopolization, with its drones, drug wars, prisons, taxation, inflation, and mass murder. Where there are markets, however, there is never-ending progress and innovation. Publix is an amazing business. Thank you for existing!” To my astonishment, a moderator for Publix actually responded and thanked me for shopping with them!
Leonard Read’s famous essay “I, Pencil” brilliantly portrays the intricacy and detail behind the production of a simple, everyday pencil and reveals how its creation is the result of a beautiful web of complex market phenomena (if you haven’t yet done so, I highly recommend reading the essay and watching the “I, Pencil” mini-movie on YouTube, which is a true work of art). That seemingly mundane object requires the cooperation of countless individuals from all over the world. It further requires the machinations of a free price system which channels resources and individuals into areas that satisfy the wants of the consumers in the most efficient and productive ways. The price system peacefully brings people of different races, creeds, religions and cultures together for the advancement of the whole of society.
As the Merriam-Webster dictionary clarified, society is a “voluntary association of individuals... working together... because of common interests.” In the market, which is shorthand for the cumulative actions of individuals in society, the quest for profits and the necessity of providing value to consumers to realize those profits creates the spontaneous order - organization of society without central planning or some other form of coercive governmental dictate - that we often take for granted. This spontaneous order, or "invisible hand," so eloquently identified by the great classical liberals, brought into existence the aforementioned sub, shrimp bisque and Diet Coke, as well as countless other gadgets, services and sheer wonders enjoyed daily by billions of people around the world.
So, on one hand we have society - a collection of individuals pursuing their interests peacefully and cooperatively - and on the other hand we have the institution of government, comprised of individuals who carry out governmental objectives (the State), which necessarily achieves its ends through violence or the threat of violence, and therefore represents the opposite of society as that term is properly understood. Those who have talents that creatively utilize and mold the physical and digital world in which we thrive are market-oriented individuals, and those who are talented at manipulating other human beings, or who are inclined to unthinkingly accept authoritarian decrees, are coercively-oriented individuals, or individuals ripe for some governmental occupation or career in state apologetics.
People who are even halfway decent or virtuous, or have a modicum of respect for other people, don’t work for the Transportation Security Administration. People who possess a “sense of moral responsibility or social conscience” don’t accept taxpayer dollars to professionally molest children, harass the elderly or otherwise degrade human beings. Self-aware individuals don’t get their kicks by exercising power and intimidating others or by turning the flying public into submissive, whipped dogs at airports around the country. This entire fascist creep show would soon be over if the Americans demanded it, or understood their power, but unfortunately the average American traveler just takes it on the chin without even a silent protest, thereby compounding and perpetuating the evil.
When we’re not flying, we’re confronted by police officers who, on a daily basis and as part of their job duties, exhibit behavior “hostile” and “harmful” to society. Many of these yes men have no identifiable talent except for the willingness to enforce backwards laws, blindly follow the orders of political opportunists and wield power at the expense of the individual’s sovereignty (in this way they are similar to military members - many of whom are paid murderers and protectors of the Ruling Class’s interests who find endless ways to justify their imperialistic prerogatives). These adrenaline junkies display no hesitancy raiding someone’s house or place of business on suspicion of drug possession or some other non-violent offense, murdering/injuring innocent civilians to protect their interests, or harassing drivers with speeding tickets (driving taxes), road blocks and invasive, unnecessary questioning. If these cops’ political masters and higher-ups decreed that the American citizen must now wipe themselves a minimum of ten times after using the john, you can rest assured knowing that these mindless patsies would soon be spying on your bathroom, questioning grocery store managers about your recent toilet paper purchases, and enlisting your neighbors to conduct “neighborhood wipe watch” surveillance.
The bureaucrat is unique because, much like the “decorated” military member, she has the opportunity to become a glorified sociopath! Although she will receive some worthless degree at some worthless university, she’ll soon realize that her worthless disposition offers nothing of value to the world of production or to society, so she’ll seek out a job at some depraved syndicate like the Social Security Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission, or even the Federal Bureau of Investigation or the Department of State, whereupon she’ll earn a salary incommensurate with her actual skill level or worth - that is, a salary that’s higher than $0. If she sticks with it, she’ll have the opportunity to earn a six-figure income, testify before Congress about why her department needs more tax dollars, and maybe even run for political office or receive some political appointment. Oh, my, Betsy! Of course, Betsy will never think too hard about where her salary comes from, or the cronyism that created and genuinely controls her department, or the people negatively affected by her recommendations, signatures, endless paperwork, reports, and other such rigmarole.
Finally, it’s the Political Class that demonstrates the most calculated kind of sociopathy. Politicians, especially at the federal level, are professional liars and rhetoricians who get-off by exercising power and receiving the adoration of the sycophants and whitewashers who comprise Washington’s power structure. World-class war criminals, thugs and unintelligent egomaniacs like Abraham Lincoln, F.D.R., Richard Nixon, Dick Cheney and Barack Obama are fine representatives of the American Regime, which consists of not only politicians, but also of the banksters, professional economists and intellectuals who act as the eloquent apologists for the existing master/slave relationship which so many chimpanzee-citizens appear to relish.
The majority of politicians lack any understanding of cause and effect relationships. They have no skills useful to the spontaneously ordered market society, but are nevertheless highly skilled at controlling others and imposing their egos on the rest of the population and the world via the reins of political power. They blithely wreck havoc on a broad scale, and yet imagine themselves to be the champions of humanity and esteemed statesmen worthy of mass devotion and national monuments! But, as Hans-Hermann Hoppe opined in The Private Production of Defense, “The path of every president and practically every member of Congress is littered with hundreds of thousands if not millions of nameless victims of personal economic ruin, financial bankruptcy, impoverishment, despair, hardship, and frustration.”
Never apologize for these sociopaths or their ennobled stooges. They will always try to take credit for the good our world creates and deflect the evils created by their world onto us. This is why we should take advantage of every opportunity at our disposal to distinguish society from the State.
