Representative Democracy, The State, Enlightened Anarchy.

If life becomes so perfect as to become self-regulated, no ‘representation’ becomes necessary. There is then a state of enlightened anarchy. In such a state everyone is his own ruler. He rules himself in such a manner that he is never a hindrance to his neighbor. In the ideal state, therefore, there is no political power because there is no state. But the ideal is never fully realized in life. Hence the classical statement of Thoreau that ‘Government is best which governs the least’.

It is my firm conviction that if the state suppresses capitalism by violence, it will be caught in the coils of violence itself and fail to develop non-violence at any time. The state represents violence in a concentrated and organized form. The individual has a soul, but as the state is a soulless machine it can never be weaned from the violence to which it owes its very existence. Hence I prefer the doctrine of trusteeship. — What I would personally prefer would not be centralization of power in the hands of the state, but an extension of the sense of trusteeship, as, in my opinion, the violence of private ownership is less injurious than the violence of the state.

Gandhi (via whakatikatika)