Chris Dillow — The State & Growth

This is the social democratic conception of the state - that it should help promote individuals' flourishing. To which the Marxist replies: It ain't gonna happen, chumm 

This is because, to Marxists, the principal function of the state is not to promote human thriving, except as a by-product.... 

Now, one criticism of the Marxist view is that it is not falsifiable. If the state pursues growth-friendly policies, we say it is pursuing its accumulation function, and if it doesother things we say it's pursuing the legitimation function. We win each way.

In this context, though, this criticism is wrong. If the state were to introduce a citizens' basic income - sufficiently high and unconditional to permit more people to downsize to what Skidelsky calls "simpler, less acquisitive modes of living" - then the Marxist view of the state would be falsified.
My suspicion is that this won't happen because Marxists are right.

Read it at Stumbling and Mumbling
The State & Growth
by Chris Dillow | Investors Chronicle