"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." ~ H.L. Mencken
The Withering Away of a State Entity
Centerville, North Carolina has voted unanimously to abolish itself and discorporate. The town's assets are to be paid over to a neighboring township's fire & ambulance service in lieu of taxes. The N.C. legislature has before it legislation to abolish Centerville's charter, also at the town's request. The state "withering away" sounded so much scarier when Lenin said it.
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I wonder how many "normies" (ie. non-ancap types, etc.) would vote (I know, I know. Voting? Reeee!) who honestly toted up on a balance sheet of pluses and minuses would vote to abolish whole classes of institutional government? But on the other hand, as with numerous instances of genuine populism when put to a vote, the deep state would find some way to thwart it, so why bother? It's getting harder and harder for the deep state to keep up the pretense that all these elections, laws, regulations, matter at all, and that's it's really all about force. The USA is coming to it's own perestroika moment similar to the one the Soviet ruling class faced in 1990.
Nothing, alas, is withering away except a town line. It's a border adjustment, no more. The hapless hundred residents of Centerville will have even less control over their own lives and fortunes than they do today; instead of breaking up a large political entity (eg Brexit, USSR) this is the opposite; a small one is being swallowed up by a larger one.
One less is better tho, Jim. I'd be more than happy if my township, county, and school board state entities disappeared, even if it leaves Michigan and the USgov untouched. Local sorts are the ones that are the most numerous meddlers in my daily life. People whine and moan continually about the federal agencies and the rest of the Big State, but honestly it's the "local" gov minions that trip me up the most. The only fed I have interacted with in the last decade or so was a federal egg inspector who knocked on my door cuz she was lost. Oh, and the Census Bureau "enumerator" guy in 2010.
I don't subscribe to the view that real freedom will result from repeated secession, creating ever more but smaller government entities; but do concede that several small ones are preferable to one big one because they must then in some degree compete with each other, to attract people to join the tax farm each operates. Therefore, the freedom-seeker can vote with his feet, and play one government off against another.
I did that myself, years ago, by quitting Her Majesty's farm and joining this one. And as you probably know, more than a few libertarians are currently leaving other States and moving to New Hampshire, which harasses residents less than most others.