But this will not cause us to revolt. There are not likely to be enough hungry stomachs to make a revolution. We are learning that war doesn't need enthusiasm, doesn't need conviction, doesn't need hope, to sustain it. Once manoeuvred, it takes care of itself, provided only that our industrial rulers see that the end of the war will leave American capital in a strategic position for world-enterprise. The feeling for country would be an uninflatable maximum were it not for the idea of State and Government which are associated with it.
Country is a concept of peace, of tolerance, of living and letting live.
War is the health of the State. War is the health of the State. A nation's patriotic history is solely the history of its wars, that is, of the State in its health and glorious functioning. Once the State has begun to function, and a large class finds its interest and its expression of power in maintaining the State, this ruling class may compel obedience from any uninterested minority. The State thus becomes an instrument by which the power of the whole herd is wielded for the benefit of a class.