State Heretics and State Infidels

by Wendy McElroy
Dec. 22, 2014

The term statolatry refers to worshiping the state as the source of goodness to which all else should be subordinated. In statolatry, instead of having a separation of church and state, the state replaces the church and becomes its own religion.

In his book Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War, Ludwig von Mises explained, "A new type of superstition has got hold of people's minds, the worship of the state. People demand the exercise of the methods of coercion and compulsion, of violence and threat. Woe to anybody who does not bend his knee to the fashionable idols!"

Classical liberalism is the antithesis of statolatry, because it celebrates the values of individual liberty, such as free speech and free trade. The role of government in the classical-liberal vision is to protect individual liberties, and it should be no larger or more powerful than absolutely necessary. Instead of embracing statism as the ultimate good, classical liberalism advances both individualism and the happy consequence of individuals cooperating: society.

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