Is ‘anarchy’ a pejorative term devised by those who want to keep their hands on power? A bit like the word ‘heresy’ maybe – a term which came to be a handy little tool in the hands of those who wanted to control the church’s teaching.

But this is turning into a far deeper post than I had intended. All I wanted to do today was to point out how impotent the state appears to be in the face of current events. In Ireland they are facing austerity measures far worse than ours due to the financial markets causing damage to their debt status; and as ever in these situations, the poor are having to face quite drastic cuts with the minimum wage there being slashed by 12%. Even the mighty US is being made low with the constant drip of revelations from Wikileaks. I’m unsure, personally, whether these leaks are good or bad; it seems that some of the information of necessity needs to stay confidential – but maybe that’s because I have been conditioned to believe this after years of the state telling us that this is so.

Whatever your opinion, we could all probably agree that the state – once all powerful – is being made to look quite weak and helpless, with new technology creating powerbases outside traditional models.

In view of this impotency it would be foolish of us to seek the state’s protection, would it not?

This post forms a part of a series on idolatry. More here.