(#30) On a practical matter, the state powers now are irreversible.–whiskey

Leonid Brezhnev articulated a similar doctrine: Communist expansion is irreversible.

We see how well that played.

As the state increasingly extends its control over areas where it has neither proper jurisdiction nor demonstrated competence, it will generate resentment among those who have to bear the cost of its misadventures. Taxpayers will revolt.

Funding for the welfare state will come to rely on the printing press, because Japan and China will end their purchases of US bonds, which have no prospect of ever being repaid except with greatly depreciated dollars.

Washington, D.C. is, by design, unable to coerce a well-armed populace, which is why they rely on blandishments to further their ambitions. When the money runs out, the state will be perceived as more of a nuisance than an asset.

As economic actors, men seek to rid themselves of nuisance goods. You may be certain the same fate awaits state interference. As free men, we need to begin work now on the wind-down while it can still be achieved in an orderly manner. Fatalistic declarations of irreversibility are unhelpful toward that end.