While the state can coerce, with some exceptions (like North Korea) it seems to me misleading to think of it as capable of "enslavement."

My own feeling is that a corporation has no right to have a political or social influence.

What is "credibility"? It's a very familiar notion. It's basically the notion that is central to the Mafia. So suppose say the Godfather produces some kind of edict and says you're going to have to pay protection money.

Women didn't have rights. Under British common law, women were property.

The Russian ambassador at the United Nations did make some proposals for a political settlement in which Bashar Assad would be slowly eased out. The West dismissed it immediately, and we don't know if it was real, because it didn't come from the Kremlin, and it was informal. But the point is every such proposal is immediately scotched. And you just don't know if they're real.

Democracy, in any rational form, also imposes conditions on majority rule. That's what the Bill of Rights is about, for example.

If you care about other people, you might try to organize to undermine power and authority. That's not going to happen if you care only about yourself.