One of the most dangerous things about statists is that (some) of them are able to come across as completely rational and reasonable while advocating something totally insane and absurd-- political government.
The whackadoodles out there aren't very dangerous. they are too easy to identify as nutcases to do much harm. But those rare sensible-looking statists are a real threat to the future of the species.
I used to comment on a blog where it was usually just me and this statist debating over whatever the blog author had written. He was always very calm and paternalistic in his responses to me. He would explain why government was inevitable and essential, and why we "had" to have things like "laws", prohibition, police, taxation, etc. Why "libertarianism" was childish and Utopian, "just like communism".
He was a Right-statist. He was smart and was a good communicator. He didn't seem to have bad intentions. But he was wrong.
To an uninformed observer, his arguments would have looked like they made sense.
To anyone who could see beneath the surface, his claims were extreme and anti-human. As is all statism.
He would never directly address my counterpoints, as though they were beneath him and unworthy of his attention. He'd either erect a strawman or change the subject just enough that it might not be obvious to others. He was really good at doing it in a way that even I sometimes missed what he had done.
He was really dangerous.
That was years ago. The blog we debated on doesn't exist anymore. I don't know what happened to the author, and I don't know if that commenter moved on to other blogs. If he did, he's probably still doing a lot of harm.
