--- Charles
http://www.lsa.umich.edu/anthro/faculty_staff/wright.html
> ) Humans had been
> living in non-hierarchical societies for , oh ,
> 200,000 years when the state
> arose, according to current paleoanthropolgical
> evidence.
>
> So, there is nothing in our nature that prevents us
> from living without
> states or . .. It is possible for the
> state to whither away,
> naturally
If we want to live like hunter-gatherers.
Of course if we want schools, roads, trains, computers, mail, scientific health care, pensions, Greenwich Village, Broadway, jazz, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cubs, etc., we will need a state -- someone (hopefully) democratic body to make and enforce decisions about allocations of resources, collect taxes to subsidize the things that people won't do on their own. Plus have the resudual monopoly
on force to deal with crime, be the ultimate backup to enforce legislative, administrative, and court decisions.
We may face a catastrophe that will knock us back to the level of a stateless society. I think it is the duty of socialists to fight to make sure that doesn't happen.
jks
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