what even is The State? what is the role of The State in organizing The Society We Live In?

this is something I think about often. I don’t have a good answer.

I do have an answer, though. I don’t know if it’s good, but I do have one.

In general , the state is responsible for enforcing the psychological scaffolding of Culture and Economics that we all sort of adhere to, and use as a means of interacting and engaging with the socialsphere. in other words, the state makes sure everyone behaves relatively normally, and society flows smoothly.

I think it’s the state’s responsibility to ensure its constituents are well-prepared — generally through some sort of formal educational system — to become well-developed members of society. these well-developed members of society would then in turn provide high quality labor to further build the ideal state.

In doing so, the state would be responsible for providing a high-quality public education, as noted above, but also critical human resources — clean environments, clean water, clean food, infrastructure and waste management, housing opportunities; the things that fundamentally propel society forward; energy, things to eat and drink, places to sleep, the management of “biological processes”.

if the state wants to succeed, it needs strong, competent citizens; to get strong, competent citizens, you need to provide things that enable people to flourish into this archetype of individual.

the other big one is of course, defense. the state has a monopoly on violence, as they say, and personally I think this is mostly ok. there is a price to pay for security. of course, there’s also conversations to be had about the exchange of product (security) and payment (taxes). people need to know they’re getting what they pay for.

so, anyway, yeah. I encourage people to really think about what it means to be a State. what it means to be A Person Who Lives In A Society.

revolution is the easy part. rebuilding institutions is infinitely more difficult and infinitely more important.