Why I Don’t Hate the State

Written by Sandy Ikeda for The Freeman.

When people say, “I hate X!” or “X is evil,” it bothers me. When they say it during a discussion about ideas and about people with whom they strongly disagree, it bothers me a lot.

I’m not talking about simply saying, “I hate X,” as a way of adding dramatic effect to a statement, or even as a momentary, strongly negative sense of aversion toward an idea or person. What I mean is clinging to or indulging in that feeling, or nurturing a reservoir of hatred, or wearing hatred as a badge of honor. “Hatred is my muse!” as someone said recently, after Murray Rothbard.

I myself used to proclaim, “I hate the State.” Of course, I still do sometimes hate the State, but it’s not a sentiment I’m proud of anymore. In fact, I don’t think hating anything, whatever it is and no matter how terrible, is anything to be proud of. When I do feel that way, I try very hard to let it go.
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