"Private property of its population": True, couldn't put it better myself "The state is the machinery used": somewhat disagree; the State is a captured, monopoly version of the traditions any society uses to manage itself.

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Yup. States ALWAYS do this under internal stress, cannibalizing their tax base to fund immediate needs. "Against The Grain: a deep history of the earliest States" goes into this in some detail (Warning: "piracy" site)