Criminals compete with each other, not only because there’s only so much to steal, also because theft reduces the incentives to earn money. Thus a powerful gang of robbers might try to eradicate all other criminals in the arrea. In other arreas other gangs will. Then these gangs will fight each other for territory and slaves.

Thus the basic functions of the state — the police and the military — are explained.

Having seized power, the gang will try to indoctrinate people into thinking it is necessary and benevolent. In the past this was achieved by an funding the church, now it is achieved by funding universities. And just as in the past church attendance was compulsory, so that people could learn about the divine rights of kings, now schooling is compulsory, so that children learn that the government represents them. (But since anyone’s vote is ridiculously unlikely to make a difference in who’s elected, and since even if it does, the rewards or punishments are spread over the whole country no one has any incentive to think about whom to vote and politicians can still do whatever they want.) But compulsory schooling is important for more then just indoctrination: It creates obedient, broken people who can’t think for themselves and wouldn’t dare to.

But the illusion schools and universities teach would be destroyed, if the state just sent the money it robs to its members directly. So instead we have a ridiculous amount of military spending, corporate welfare in the form of bail-outs and subventions, coercive monopolies in the form tariffs, regulations, prohibitions, licenses and patents.

By pointing out only the positive effect of, say, a bail-out — that a few workers won’t be fired — and ignoring the negative effect — that other, more productive, companies won’t be able to hire as many workers — people are fooled into thinking that robbery is beneficial to all.