Serious students of political systems are aware of Randolph Bourne's observation that "war is the health of the state." As far as it goes, this statement offers great insight into the symbiotic relationship between state power and the mass butchery of human beings. The 20th century was one of rampant, totalitarian statism which, not coincidentally, produced the deaths of some 200,000,000 in state-run wars and genocides. That political systems such as the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, the United States, China, and Great Britain – to identify the principal players – expanded their international and domestic powers through the systematic killing … Continue reading XCVIII – Failure Is the Health of the State