James Bovard shows how the State has become a behemoth that threatens to destroy the individual. Reading through the history of the State and its war on the citizen, Bovard looks at thinkers as diverse as John Locke, Etienne de la Boetie, James Madison, and G. W. F. Hegel. He explores the original idea of the State; the corruption of the concept of freedom; how the rising number of government dependents is subverting democracy; and the ultimate fraud that is perpetrated as the State's benevolence.