Freedom, Society, and State - Ludwig von Mises Institute

5. WHO RULES THE STATE?
It is clear that the validity of the individualist
anarchist view of the state is dependent upon the
existence of a ruling elite; yet this elite has not
been ident i f ied. Who, then, constitutes this domInant
g r 0 up? 1 n p rim i t i ve tim esit waseas y t 0 s po t • On e
g r au p, em p I a yin g the pol i tic a 1 me a ns, wo u 1d sub j e c t
an 0 the r to its wi I 1 and beg i n to ex t rae t t r i bu t e from
them. Gradually, as this arrangement persisted, it
came to be accepted and the extraction of tribute became
sys terna t i zed in the per iodie payment of taxes to
the "government." As 'economist Walter Grinder summari
zes it, "I tis to th j s more powerful group that the
wealth, plundered by the political means, accrues. In
time this group becomes entrenched both politically and
economically, through its plundered wealth."(42)
But this relatively straight-forward process
becomes much more complicated in today's world. Now,
all areas are ruled by governments. Hence, one cannot
simply organize a military band, impose one's will on a
stateless society, call oneself a government, and begin
to collect taxes. Further, since the government is the
most powerful institution in society, a direct assault
is usually doomed to fail. While in primitive societies
the rUling elite was able to set up its own government,
today this is no longer, or only rarely possible.
The ruling elite of today is that group which,
working through the existing power structure, is able
to obtain control of the government and use it for its
own purposes. This means that the vast bulk of the
go v ernmen t bur e a u c r a c y are not rea I I Y mem be r s 0 f the
el i te except in the broades t sense of the term, but
rather conscious or unconscious servants of that group.
It also means that, and this is perhaps more important,
the essence of the state has remained unchanged from
p rim i t i'v e time s • It isstill the ins tituti ona 1 i za t ion
oft h e po lit i cal means for the purpose of the trans fer
of wealth from the producing group to the exploiting or
ruling group.
Though it might at first seem paradoxical, the Individualist
anarchists believe that the rUling group of
today is composed of the upper echelons of the capitalist
class, or what Walter Grinder refers to as the
ttcorporate-financial super-rich. tt They reason as follows.
The pos i t i on of the entrepreneur on the market
i sal waysinsecu r e . Jus t as the rna r ke t prov idesopp 0 r ­
tunities for the acquisition of wealth, it also pre-
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