All governments, as St. Augustine observed, begin as criminal bands that achieve dominance over a territory. Even after such syndicates claim the title of “government,” their behavior remains indistinguishable from that of common thieves; the gangs that call themselves “governments,” Augustine emphasized, distinguish themselves from ordinary robbers “not by the renouncing of aggression but by the attainment of impunity.”

Elaborating on that true principle, Albert Jay Nock pointed out that government police agencies do not fight crime; instead, they seek to enforce a monopoly on crime....