Why the State can get away with it

One of the crucial factors that permits governments to do the monstrous things they habitually do is the sense of legitimacy on the part of the stupefied public. The average citizen may not like — may even strongly object to — the policies and exactions of his government. But he has been imbued with the idea — carefully indoctrinated by centuries of governmental propaganda — that the government is his legitimate sovereign, and that it would be wicked or mad to refuse to obey its dictates. It is this sense of legitimacy that the State's intellectuals have fostered over the ages, aided and abetted by all the trappings of legitimacy: flags, rituals, ceremonies, awards, constitutions, etc.

...says Murray N. Rothbard in his For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto (chapter 12). And how true! The reason the State can do what it does, mostly without resistance no matter what, is because most of us consider the State to be a legitimate entity. A member of the mafia, extracting "protection fees" and "contributions" from the local shop keepers, is always frowned upon. The tax collector is not. The tax collector is a man with a "normal job" and someone working for "the society". But really he isn't. He is a member of the biggest mafia, and a mafia that can operate mostly without resistance. And this is our fault.