"...private organizations exist on sufferance of the state, and the real dictator is always the man who controls the armed forces and the police. At most, large corporations may be junior partners of government - very junior and this is possible in just a few countries. Other outfits, such as unions, could as well fill the role, and churches have sometimes been coequal or senior."
-NESFA vol 2, p. 229.
But where did the state come from? Corporations control an economy that is able and willing to support armed forces and the police. The Church was integrated with the medieval feudal state when it controlled wealth in the form of land.
I suggest that the state, which has grown from a body of temple guards to an elaborate bureaucracy, exists to maintain the economy, which in turn has grown from priestly control of granaries to competitive accumulation of profit. The rich control the state either directly or by funding political parties. The state protects not only human life (when not destroying it in wars) but also wealth and property, thus the economy. Historically, could it have been otherwise?
I think that technology and education will enable human beings to live, work and create wealth without state supervision. However, vested interests and the dead weight of tradition prevent us from jumping immediately to that happy outcome!
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