&gt;And without the production of the individuals and businesses that exist in a society, the state would have no ability to skim off the top and spend that money.<p>Yes, because organizations are just collections of individuals. So of course an organization can&#x27;t do anything without the action of individuals. Is anyone arguing otherwise?<p>&gt; Believing in a higher entity with more rights than any individual is verging on something akin to feudalism.<p>There are many examples where groups of individuals have rights that are greater than the rights of individuals without bringing up feudalism.<p>No individual has the right to imprison another (for long periods at least). No individual has the right to use violence to enforce a contract. Do you imagine a society where individuals have those rights, or one where the state does not?<p>&gt;which isn&#x27;t &quot;society&quot;, it is the governing body of a region of land)<p>No the state isn&#x27;t society. In a democratically controlled system, the state is the proxy designated to act on behalf of society (the extent to which states actually fulfill this duty is highly variable).