wars, markets, and shameless weasels

Don Boudreaux, commenting on the same Arnold Kling post that I did below, says it best:

I’m amazed that anyone, especially thoughtful people on the left, continue to trust these shameless weasels to ‘regulate’ the market and otherwise attempt various schemes of social engineering. I’m equally amazed that people on the right trust these weasels to declare and oversee the conduct of wars.

I think the reason the left and the right "trust the weasels" is a deep belief that there is simply no alternative. I imagine that if one could peel away the beliefs of those on the left and the right, one would find a quasi-Hobbesian core, an unshakeable foundation that there is simply no alternative to the State and it's just a question of who will run it. Thus, no matter how badly the State behaves, it is simply nonsense to a statist to suggest that it be seriously limited because the alternative is either anarchy or rule by unaccountable corporations.