I did not ever consent to a world order based upon the “market state”. I recognize the United States of America and its Constitution, not the capitalist utopia of Thomas Friedman. According to Bobbitt, “the market-state promises to maximize the opportunity of each individual citizen”, and yet that runs the risk of promoting nations of sybaritic narcissists unwilling to defend either their own liberty or their own prosperity.

Citizenship without civic responsibility is an invitation to tyrants who promise free goodies for the voting class. The very concept of the “market state” risks enshrining political corruption as a high ideal, with the state itself becoming an influence bazaar for competing economic interests. I perceive something empty in a “market state”, for a mere promise to “maximize the opportunity of each individual citizen” ignores culture, philosophy, and community as the basic pillars of social harmony.

The ideal of a market utopia is every bit as dangerous as the ideal of a socialist utopia. When the prophets of global narcissism are unwilling to accept the reality of tradition and community as the basis of civilization, it should be no surprise that nationalistic and religious strife becomes severe. When people can no longer get the real thing, they grasp for counterfeit nationalism and counterfeit religion with just enough fanaticism to give them a good jolt of adrenalin. While the prophets of global narcissism shred the social fabric in the name of lower prices, lower taxes, and more goodies for all, street gangs and terrorists sell a counterfeit family with convenient enemies to scapegoat.

A state that bases its legitimacy upon catering to the desires of individual citizens without expecting anything in return is every bit as dangerous as the state that subordinates the needs of the individual to the state. A social contract balances the state’s obligations to the individual with the individual’s obligations to the state. Yes, there is often a need for low taxes. Yet, there is something inherently unhealthy about a state that delivers social services to the citizenry and yet levies no taxes. States that levy no taxes and yet deliver government services do exist; they are called Gulf monarchies. And it is precisely the moral lethargy of these states that creates al-Qaeda.

Let’s imagine that al-Qaeda is basically a bunch of grown men living out an Islamic version of a Dungeons & Dragons fantasy game. And Gulf monarchies DO “maximize the opportunity of each individual citizen” to live out one’s life in a lurid real-life fantasy role-playing game. In the West, players of Dungeons & Dragons eventually grow up. In a Gulf monarchy, not only do a select group of men get to live out the fantasy of becoming “Islamic adventurers”, but rich men get to vicariously participate in this fantasy through sending money to al-Qaeda.

Al-Qaeda should be considered to be the class clowns of Sunni Islam. These terrorists feed off social approval of their actions. When social approval of their behavior is taken away, their organization will wither and die. The key is to make them look stupid and ridiculous, and our enemy is doing part of our job for us already. For the time being, though, we need to understand how the “market state” is actually part of the problem that creates al-Qaeda in the first place.