And the 'withering away of the state' through violent means like restricting freedoms and confiscating private property that socialists promote is quite nonsensical.
Steps like deregulation, privatisation, spending cuts, demilitarisation, stronger property rights, disinvestment and decentralisation of governance is a far more realistic path to reduce the role of government in our lives. It's realistic because it is possible to do this in a peaceful manner.
what violent means are you thinking of that socialists advocating for to wither away the state?
I would add to the list of things that government can do: to make sure that tools, technology and scientific discoveries are deployed in the service of people rather than the service of corporations
perhaps one may say that people will do this themselves of their own volitiion and that there is no need for governance
but I find that these transformations come in cyclical patterns and periods where governance is needed over commons can be replaced by periods where commons can be managed in self-organized manners
for example, most electricity infrastructure in european countries is centrally built and managed, so in a shift to more decentralized grids we inevitably pass through a necessary period of governance of these commons.
Socialists of the current age use the violent means of the state to 'democratise' or 'redistribute' capital.
This inevitably leads to capital being concentrated in the hands of an entrenched elite who use coercive means to preserve their entrenched status. This entrenched elite can be a bureaucracy or cronies. The effect is the same.
Governance of commons, if privatised, will make sure that it is used in a resourceful manner. If bureaucrats do it, it leads to corruption and destruction of the commons because incentives are misaligned.
To judge whether a particular policy is good or not, the question to ask is:
'In what situation is government coercion used?'
If used in a way that an individual's natural rights are violated, it is bad.
If used in a way that an individual's natural rights are protected, it is good.
