What is the State? When I was young it seemed like an unchanging tradition that was set in stone with no opportunity to change. The State was unchangeable, the State was forever, and the State was everything. As I aged I became more keenly aware of other States which ended the idea of the State being everything. I aged further and became aware that the State had been founded by revolution, thus the State was no longer forever. Ultimately the State changed from how it was to how it would be through small steps; the State was no longer unchangeable. Despite the fact that the State no longer seemed to be this omnipotent power well before my teenage years I had not yet questioned what the State was until much later in my life, beyond my teenage years.
The State is an idea. It is not just the idea of one man or woman, the State is a collective idea. The State changes slightly from person to person and sometimes it changes radically from person to person. No one has precisely the same idea for what the State is outside of being an idea.
Some might argue that the State is made of land, population and government. This argument relies heavily on land; without land the State would not have population, without population the State would not have government. The State has land because the population that owns the land agrees that the State also has some kind of ownership or that, at least, no one disputes the States claim. If a majority rejects the States claim of ownership the State has lost its land and population and so would not function as a government. Also, ownership itself is an idea. If a person collects a rock, it is theirs so long as they carry it because it is in their immediate possession. That same person sets the rock down and a different person takes it whose rock is it? The person that carries it now did not carry it before and that which carried it before does not carry it now. That is the basis of ownership, immediate possession. The larger idea of ownership is that which is agreed to belong to someone. If the second collector gives the rock back to the first because that who had it first simply had it first then the second agrees that somehow makes the rock the property of the first but if the second keeps the rock then they dispute that ownership through immediate possession. This is a disagreement of ownership. It is through these that the State is also demonstrated to be an idea.
The State is an idea.
The State is an idea. It is not just the idea of one man or woman, the State is a collective idea. The State changes slightly from person to person and sometimes it changes radically from person to person. No one has precisely the same idea for what the State is outside of being an idea.
Some might argue that the State is made of land, population and government. This argument relies heavily on land; without land the State would not have population, without population the State would not have government. The State has land because the population that owns the land agrees that the State also has some kind of ownership or that, at least, no one disputes the States claim. If a majority rejects the States claim of ownership the State has lost its land and population and so would not function as a government. Also, ownership itself is an idea. If a person collects a rock, it is theirs so long as they carry it because it is in their immediate possession. That same person sets the rock down and a different person takes it whose rock is it? The person that carries it now did not carry it before and that which carried it before does not carry it now. That is the basis of ownership, immediate possession. The larger idea of ownership is that which is agreed to belong to someone. If the second collector gives the rock back to the first because that who had it first simply had it first then the second agrees that somehow makes the rock the property of the first but if the second keeps the rock then they dispute that ownership through immediate possession. This is a disagreement of ownership. It is through these that the State is also demonstrated to be an idea.
The State is an idea.
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