c. "Every State is a despotism, whether
it is the despotism of one or many, or whether, as one might suppose
would be the case in a Republic, all are masters, _i.e._, one tyrannises
over the rest. For this is the case whenever a given law, the expressed
will perhaps of some assemblage of the people, is immediately to become
a law to the individual, which he must obey, and which it is his _duty_
to obey. Even if one were to suppose a case in which every individual
among the people had expressed the same will, and thus a perfect "will
of all" had easily been arrived at, the thing would still be the same.
Should I not to-day and in the future be bound by my will of yesterday?
In this event my will would be paralyzed. Fatal stagnation! My creation,
_i.e._, a certain expression of will would have become my master. But I,
in my will should be constrained, I, the creator should be constrained
in my development, my working out. Because I was a fool yesterday, I
must remain one all my life. So that in my life in relation to the State
I am at best--I might as well say at worst--a slave to my own self.
Because yesterday I had a will, I am to-day without one; yesterday free,
to-day bound."[12]

Here a partisan of the "People's State" might observe to Stirner, that
his "I" goes a little too far in his desire to reduce democratic liberty
to absurdity; further, that a bad law may be abrogated as soon as a
majority of citizens desire it, and that one is not forced to submit to
it "all one's life." But this is only an insignificant detail, to which,
moreover, Stirner would reply that the very necessity for appealing to a
majority proves that "I" am no longer the master of my own conduct. The
conclusions of our author are irrefutable, for the simple reason that
to say, I recognize nothing above myself, is to say, I feel oppressed by
every institution that imposes any duty upon me. It is simply tautology.

It is evident that no "Ego" can exist quite alone. Stirner knows this
perfectly, and this is why he advocates "Leagues of Egoists," that is to
say, free associations into which every "Ego" enters, and in which he
remains when and so long as it suits his interests.

Here let us pause. We are now face to face with an "egoist" system _par
excellence_. It is, perhaps, the only one that the history of human
thought has to chronicle. The French Materialists of the last century
have been accused of preaching egoism. The accusation was quite w