Without the state, western democracies will remain a paradise for predators

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/us/without-the-state-western-democracies-will-remain-a-paradise-for-predators-1.1665890

Without the state, western democracies will remain a paradise for predators
Fri, Jan 24, 2014, 12:01

~snip~

For the first 30 or so years after the second World War, government was the umpire, the entity that stood by the little person, levelling the playing field and making justice, whether social or legal, a real possibility.

Freedom and individuality are thought to be synonymous, but not even John Stuart Mill could have envisaged the advent of today’s hyper- individual, a person who owes nothing to anyone – not to mother, father, children, employee or community. And this current cult of individualism has heralded an era of growing inequality and diminished protection for the vulnerable.

If the state does not have the resources to ensure that laws are enforced, employers and corporations, with their access to the best legal advice, know they can run rings around government agencies and act with impunity.

In a revolution that began with Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher – the Artful Dodgers of their day – New York, along with most of the rest of the developed world, has diminished the state (in all its national, local and agency manifestations) to an almost empty shell.