When we sever ties to the friendships, communities, churches, and other organic social support structures, our need for external support doesn't magically go away.
Discussion
In trying to become sovereign individuals, we quickly run up against our own limitations, and then when a powerful, anonymous force such as government steps in promising to restore the supports we cast away, we gladly throw ourselves into its arms and become dependent on a faceless, impersonal bureaucracy.
The Lockean idea of a social contract that we, as sovereign individuals, freely enter into is just wrong. Acting as if it's true leaves us exposed, isolated, and vulnerable.