Congress should
I was born in the year of Sputnik. That began "the Space Race," which was a subset of "The Cold War." I grew up believing that "capitalism" was better than "communism" or "socialism." Most Americans said they
believed in "capitalism" rather than "socialism," but they really didn't know why one was better than the other. As a result, when politicians proposed a "new" government program, voters were unable to explain why a socialist
government program would not work as well as a capitalist approach to the same problem.
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Too many people think of "Wall St. Bailouts" when they think of "capitalism." They think of various forms of collusion between government
and business. This is actually "corporatism," "crony capitalism," or "crapitalism" -- or even "fascism."
"Anarcho-Capitalism" means NO connection between government and business. No regulations, but also no subsidies, privileges, or sweetheart deals from government to business. This
is not "pro-business." It is pro-freedom, pro-competition, pro-personal responsibility. Many businesses strongly oppose true capitalism. They want the violent power of the State on their own side.
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Today, America is no longer the most "capitalist" -- the most free -- nation on earth. Today, a majority of Americans younger than I am believe that "socialism" is better than
"capitalism." I can only shake my head. The last century proved in graphic, bloody detail that "capitalism" (freedom) leads to prosperity, while "socialism" leads to bitter poverty, concentration camps, and mass death.
On my Capitalism page, I quote my favorite economists, who define "capitalism" as
The social system based on
the rejection of the initiation of force or violence against others.
This is also known as the Free Market system. The opposite of "free" is "regulated," "controlled," "dictated," or "managed" by the government.
Most people think of a "capitalist" as someone who uses the violence and the coercive power of the State to crush his competitors and exploit the poor. Such a person is not a "capitalist," according to every defender of
"capitalism" who is willing to identify himself as being "pro-capitalist" or pro-"Free Market." (Most Wall Street types are not willing to identify themselves in this way. They are not true "capitalists.")
"Capitalism" is the opposite of "socialism" or "fascism" or any other big-government system.
All government programs are socialist programs.
All government programs deny that capitalism is true.
All government programs claim that the service they provide could not be provided by ordinary people setting up businesses, competing against each other to
get consumers to buy the services that consumers allegedly desire.
Economic Theory and the history of capitalism demonstrate that government programs never work as well as the Free Market. We should abolish all -- yes, all -- government programs and allow the Free Market to provide the products and
services that consumers want. Elimination of all socialist programs and complete reliance on people acting freely is 100% laissez-faire capitalism, and is called "anarcho-capitalism."
America became the most admired nation on earth because it stood for the proposition that capitalism (liberty) succeeds and socialism (government force and threats of violence) fails.
- Capitalists reject the idea that we need government to deliver Christmas cards.
- Capitalists reject the idea that we need government to run schools.
- Even the Republican Party's National Platform has called for the abolition of
- the Departments of Commerce,
- Housing and Urban Development,
- Education, and
- Energy
- There is nothing that human beings need to do that peaceful people in a Free Market cannot accomplish better than socialist/fascist/corporatist/crony-capitalist government programs
A truly consistent "capitalist" is an anarcho-capitalist. The anarcho-capitalist believes in
• the complete absence of socialism,
• the complete absence of government regulation
or control
• the complete absence of the initiation of force.
This is the issue:
Is there any human activity that is more efficiently carried out under threats of violence and force than under liberty? |
- Is it the case that human beings cannot be trusted to produce milk and bread for the children unless they are threatened with prison terms by "the government?"
- Is it really true that Americans cannot manufacture and distribute computers, clothing, housing, groceries, without "the government?"
If you answer no -- for example,
"No, businessmen are greedy and immoral and would only manufacture shoes of low quality and sell them at rip-off prices, unless bureaucrats were regulating them,"
and you added,
"And consumers are stupid, and would always buy low quality at a high price and wouldn't care for their family unless federal bureaucrats were making sure families paid attention to the most important
things."
-- then you have a religious faith in the State and its regulators, and believe that when greedy businessmen and stupid consumers are elected to government positions by their greedy and stupid peers, these newly-elected greedy and stupid human beings suddenly
lose their greed and stupidity and become altruistic and intelligent overseers of others. "Statism" is a religious belief in the depravity of human beings and faith in the sanctified State.
Throughout this website we have discussed over 200 areas of human endeavor where it is often alleged that Americans could not succeed without government regulation. But all you have to do is look at the things you have and enjoy, compare your life with that of
most people living in socialist countries, and ask, "If the federal government were to be abolished, would entrepreneurs and business owners make sure that I had access to the best quality at the lowest price?"
- From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among
us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?
In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem;
government is the problem.
History tells us that where there is "Liberty Under God," you and I will work hard, with creativity and integrity, to provide goods and services which benefit the lives of others. We will find ways to
produce better goods than our competitor and will bend over backwards to do so at a lower cost. In our efforts to get consumers to buy what we create, we will improve the lives of our customers, because we know that where there is liberty, our customers have the
freedom to shop elsewhere, and other Americans have the freedom to start a business which will sell what consumers demand.
History proves that capitalism works and socialism fails. The great economists have explained why:
- Ludwig von Mises, Human Action, Yale Univ. Press, 1949, 885pp. + index
- George Reisman, Capitalism, Ottawa, IL: Jameson Books, 1998, 998pp. + index
- Thomas Sowell, Knowledge and
Decisions, NY: Basic Books, 1980, 383pp. + index
Mises in particular, and his Nobel Prize-winning student, F. A. Hayek, conclusively proved that without the
freely-fluctuating price mechanism of the free market, socialist planners can never allocate resources in the most efficient manner. Mises’ work has never been refuted:
Kevin Craig accepts as a matter of unchanging economic law the fundamental inefficiency of centralized government planning over free market decision-making. The reader can turn to
this bibliography for a nearly complete defense of the concept.
Tragically, most Americans do not really understand how capitalism works. This makes them easy prey for socialist demagogues.
There are usually a few objections:
These three objections allegedly prove that capitalism cannot always work. Every economy needs some socialism, we are told. People who say they oppose socialism and communism cannot explain how capitalism would provide roads, courts, and national
defense. Their support of capitalism in other areas begins to waver.
Suppose we lived under a completely socialist government. All of our shoes are made by the government and distributed to the people by the government "Ministry of Shoes." Suppose some radical libertarian proposed turning over the business of making
shoes to a competitive, profit-based system. We might hear something like this:
- How could you? You are opposed to the public—and to poor people—wearing shoes! And who would supply shoes to the public if the government got out of the business? Tell us that! Be constructive! It's easy to be negative
and smart-alecky about government; but tell us
- • who would supply shoes?
- • Which people?
- • How many shoe stores would be available in each city and town?
- • How would the shoe firms be capitalized?
- • How many brands would there be?
- • What material would they use? What material lasts?
- • What would be the pricing arrangements for shoes?
- • Wouldn't regulation of the shoe industry be needed to see to it that the product is sound?
- • And who would supply the poor with shoes? Suppose a poor person didn't have the money to buy a pair?
Most Americans -- even those who claim to support capitalism, could not answer these questions. Anarcho-capitalist economist Murray Rothbard answers these questions:
- These questions, ridiculous as they seem to be (and are) with regard to the shoe business, are just as absurd when applied to the libertarian who advocates a free market in fire, police, postal service, or any other government operation. The point is that
- the advocate of a free market in anything cannot provide a "constructive" blueprint of such a market in advance.
- The essence and the glory of the free market is that individual firms and businesses, competing on the market, provide an ever-changing orchestration of efficient and progressive goods and services: continually improving products and markets, advancing
technology, cutting costs, and meeting changing consumer demands as swiftly and as efficiently as possible. The libertarian economist can try to offer a few guidelines on how markets might develop where they are now prevented or restricted from
developing; but he can do little more than point the way toward freedom, to call for government to get out of the way of the productive and ever-inventive energies of the public as expressed in voluntary market activity. No one can predict the number of firms,
the size of each firm, the pricing policies, etc., of any future market in any service or commodity. We just know—by economic theory and by historical insight—that
such a free market will do the job infinitely better than the compulsory monopoly of bureaucratic government.
-
- "How will the poor pay for defense, fire protection, postal service, etc.," can basically be answered by the counter-question: how do the poor pay for anything they now obtain on the market? The difference is that we know that the free
private market will supply these goods and services
- • far more cheaply,
- • in greater abundance,
- • and of far higher quality
- than monopoly government does today. Everyone in society would benefit, and especially the poor. And we also know that the mammoth tax burden to finance these and other activities would be lifted from the shoulders of everyone in society, including
the poor.
The "orchestration" of which Rothbard speaks has also been called "the Invisible Hand." Liberty Under God organizes society better than atheistic socialism. Or even
"Christian" socialism.
The Miracle of the Market | Jacob Hornberger
Government Planning is Evil
This bibliography comes from Gary Chartier's book Conscience of an Anarchist [pdf]
[FB]. He would not be delighted at finding his work on a page promoting "anarcho-capitalism," as he is a critic of what I would call "crony capitalism."
Anarchism in America . Dir. Steven Fischler and Joel Sucher. Perf. Murray Bookchin, Paul Avrich, Jello Biafra, Mollie Steimer, Mildred Loomis, Karl Hess, et
al. Pacific Street 1983. DVD. AK 2005. An evocative documentary that provides an overview of American anarchist thinkers and activists representing multiple schools and backgrounds from the nineteenth
century to the present.
An Anarchist FAQ . By Iain McKay et al. InfoShop.org, Jan. 21,
2010 <http://www.infoshop.org/page/AnAnarchistFAQ> July 2, 2010. An influential exposition of anarchism, featuring contributions from anarchists with a range of viewpoints, discussions of arguments for
and against anarchism, and analyses of multiple schools of anarchist thought.
AntiWar.com . Randolph Bourne Institute n.d. <http://antiwar.com> Jan. 27, 2011. A
leading source of news and commentary designed to challenge militarism, imperialism, and the national security state, operated by a nonprofit named for the social critic who famously said, “War is the health of the state.” It’s cross-ideological in
orientation, but a number of the people associated with it are anarchists—not surprisingly, since opposition to the statist violence of war is a bedrock anarchist commitment.
Avrich, Paul. Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America. Oakland, CA: AK 2005. Invaluable resources
related to the anarchist tradition in the United States.
Bakunin, Mikhail Aleksandrovich. God and the State. Mineola, NY: Dover 1970.
——. Statism and Anarchy. Ed. Marshall Shatz. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1990. Anarchist writings of a
passionate Russian sparring-partner of Karl Marx who saw religion and statism as equally illusory and believed that Marx’s ideas could be used to justify dictatorship.
Barnett, Randy E. The Structure of Liberty: Justice and the Rule of Law. New York: Oxford University Press 2000. Barnett’s
outstanding book offers a distinctive natural-law grounding for a stateless society’s legal order and explains how such an order might work.
Berkman, Alexander. What Is Anarchism? Oakland, CA: AK 2003 [1937]. A simple, clear exposition of what the author
labeled “communist anarchism,” by a life-long friend and sometime lover of Emma Goldman.
Bookchin, Murray. Post-Scarcity Anarchism. 3d ed. Stirling: AK 2004. A classic array of essays by America’s leading
post-World War II social anarchist thinker.
Caplan, Bryan. Anarchist Theory FAQ: Or, Instead of a FAQ , by a Man Too Busy to Write One. Version 5.2. N.p. n.d. <http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/bcaplan/anarfaq.htm>.
July 2, 2010. A readable and wide-ranging overview of issues related to anarchism by an academic economist who also writes about philosophy and politics.
Carson, Kevin A. “TheDistorting Effects of Transportation Subsidies.” The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty 60.9 (Nov. 2010):
17-20. <http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/the-distorting-effects-of-transportation-subsidies>
——. “Health Care and Radical Monopoly.” The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty 60.2 (March 2010): 8-11. <http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/healthcare-and-radical-monopoly>
——. The Homebrew Industrial Revolution: A Low-Overhead Manifesto. Charleston, SC: BookSurge 2010.N.p. 2010.< http://homebrewindustrialrevolution.wordpress.com
>. July 2, 2010.
——. Organization Theory: A Libertarian Perspective. Charleston, SC: BookSurge 2009.
——. Studies in Mutualist Political Economy. Charleston, SC: BookSurge 2007. Mutualist.org, 2007. < http://www.mutualist.org/id47.html
>. July 2, 2010. Carson is a brilliant and creative synthesist and reinterpreter of the anarchist tradition, drawing on both nineteenth-century classics like the work of Proudhon and Tucker and more recent work in history, economics, and political theory. Review
mutualist resources at his website—< http://www.mutualist.org >—and engage with him on-line at his blog—< http://www.mutualist.blogspot.com >.
Center for a Stateless Society . Ed. Brad Spangler. Molinari Institute n.d. < http://c4ss.org/ >. July 2, 2010. Articles, commentaries, and other
resources critiquing the state and its corporate allies and envisioning stateless alternatives. (I’m a member of the Center’s advisory board.)
Chomsky, Noam. Chomsky on Anarchism. Oakland: AK 2006. Not only a premier theoretical linguist and a long-time, articulate
critic of the US government’s foreign policy, Chomsky is also among the leading social anarchist thinkers writing today.
Clark, Stephen R. L. Civil Peace and Sacred Order. Oxford: Clarendon-Oxford University Press 1989.
——. “Slaves and Citizens” and “Anarchists against the Revolution.” The Political Animal: Biology, Ethics, and Politics.
London: Routledge 1999. Clark presents an attractive version of anarchism for consideration and highlights commonalities between seemingly divergent anarchist schools. Even though, as will be apparent, I live politically on the left, his “anarcho-conservatism”
has proved of ongoing value to my own thinking.
DeLeon, David. The American as Anarchist: Reflections on Indigenous Radicalism. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins UP 1978. An
historical analysis of anarchism as reflective of a persistent anti-authoritarian strand in American thought.
De Cleyre, Voltairine. The Voltairine De Cleyre Reader. Ed. A. J. Brigati. Oakland, CA: AK 2004. A leading American
anarchist at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, De Cleyre coined the phrase “anarchism without adjectives.”
Ellul, Jacques. Anarchy and Christianity. Trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans 1988. The distinguished and
prolific social theorist argues that non-violent anarchism is an appropriate expression of Christian faith.
Friedman, David D. The Machinery of Freedom: Guide to a Radical Capitalism. Chicago: IL: Open Court 1989. N.p. 2010. < http://www.daviddfriedman.com/The_Machinery_of_Freedom_.pdf
>. July 1, 2010. A clear, good-natured, creative exposition of the case for a market-oriented variety of anarchism from an economic perspective.
Goldman, Emma. Anarchism and Other Essays. New York: Mother Earth 1910.
——. Living My Life. New York: Knopf 1931. Anarchist and feminist who
bridged the anarchist movements in the United States and Europe, Goldman famously declared, “I want freedom, the right to self-expression, everybody’s right to beautiful, radiant things.”
Goodway, David, ed. For Anarchism: History, Theory, and Practice. London: Routledge 1989. A collection of essays examining
the early stages of twentieth-century anarchism and offering varied perspectives on anarchist theory.
Graeber, David. Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology. Chicago: Prickly Paradigm 2004. < http://www.prickly-paradigm.com/paradigm14.pdf
>. July 3, 2010. A compact program for the development of a full-blown anarchist social theory, laying the groundwork for discussions of the state, voluntary associations, and resistance, by a scholar described by a distinguished peer as “the best
anthropological theorist of his generation from anywhere in the world.”
Graham, Robert, ed. Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas 1:
From Anarchy to Anarchism (300CE to 1939). Montreal: Black Rose 2004.
——. Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas 2:
The Emergence of the New Anarchism (1939-1977). Montreal: Black Rose 2009.
——. Anarchism: A Documentary History of Libertarian Ideas 3:
The New Anarchism (1974 to 2008). Montreal: Black Rose 2010. A vast collection of anarchist source materials from before the Middle Ages to the present. The selections are drawn from multiple intellectual
and cultural traditions, many non-Western.
Guérin, Daniel. Anarchism: From Theory to Practice. Trans. Mary Klopper. New York: Monthly Review 1970. Anarchist Library
2009. < http://theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Daniel_Guerin__Anarchism__From_Theory_to_Practice.html >. July 3, 2010. An influential overview of anarchist
history and theory which also features historical information about twentieth-century anarchist experiments.
Hess, Karl. Dear America. New York: Morrow 1975. A Goldwater-speechwriter-turned-New-Leftist explains his conviction that
anarchism best expresses American ideals.
Higgs, Robert. Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government. Oxford: Oxford University
Press 1982. An anarchist economic historian carefully analyzes the link between economic, political, and military crises and the cancerous development of the American state.
Holterman, Thom, and van Maarseveen, Henk, eds. Law and Anarchism. Montreal: Black Rose 1984. Essays on the legal problems
of a stateless society from diverse perspectives.
Jasay, Anthony de. Social Contract, Free Ride: A Study of the Public Goods Problem. Oxford: Clarendon-Oxford University
Press 1991. An economist and philosopher argues on rational-choice grounds that social order is possible without the state but that the emergence of the state is a persistent danger.
Johnson, Charles W. Rad Geek’s People’s Daily: Official State Media for a Secessionist Republic of One. N.p. 2010.
< http://radgeek.com >. July 2, 2010.
——. “Scratching By: How Government Creates Poverty as We Know It.” The Freeman: Ideas on Liberty 57.10 (Sep.
2007): 12-13.< http://www.thefreemanonline.org/Featured/Scratching-By-How-Government-Creates-Poverty-as-We-Know-It >. July 2, 2010. Analytical,
passionate, relentless—Johnson offers a mix of philosophical argument, political commentary, and in-your-face truth-telling. Especially strong on the diverse connections between opposition to the state and challenges to various kinds of culturally embedded
non-state subordination, both violent and non-violent.
Karl Hess: Toward Liberty . Dir. Roland Hallé and Peter W. Ladue. Direct Cinema 1980. An Oscar-winning portrait of the gentle, decent anarchist thinker and activist and advocate of local
empowerment.
Kauffman, Bill. Bye Bye Miss American Empire: Neighborhood Patriots, Backcountry Rebels, and Their Underdog Crusades to Redraw America’s Political Map.
White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green 2010. A literate, contrarian proponent of “front-porch anarchism” pens a love poem to decent secessionist movements, past and present.
Kinsella, N. Stephan. Against Intellectual Property. Auburn, AL: Mises 2009.< http://www.mises.org/books/against.pdf
>. Feb. 17, 2011. An anarchist lawyer and legal theorist offers a sustained case that patents, copyrights, and other forms of IP are unjust creations of the state.
Kolko, Gabriel. The Triumph of Conservatism: A Reinterpretation of American History, 1900-1916.
New York: Free 1963. < http://www.scribd.com/doc/17413331/Gabriel-Kolko-The-Triumph-of-Conservatism >. Feb. 17, 2011. Though not an anarchist himself, Kolko provides
lots of ammunition for anarchist critiques of the state in this study of how Progressive-era regulations were shaped to serve the interests of big business.
Kropotkin, Peter. The Conquest of Bread. New York: Vanguard 1995 [1894]. Project Gutenberg n.d. < http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23428
>. July 2, 2010.
——. Mutual Aid. A Factor of Evolution. London: Freedom 1998 [1914]. Project Gutenberg n.d. < http://www.Gutenberg.Org/etext/4341
>. July 2, 2010. Biologist, geographer, and social theorist, Kropotkin articulated a vision of anarchy emphasizing cooperation and rootedness in the natural world.
Leeson, Peter T. The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates. Princeton: Princeton UP 2009. An entertaining
examination of some complex issues related to social interaction through the lens provided by eighteenth-century pirates, who offer perhaps surprising evidence of the possibility of cooperation without the state.
Long, Roderick T. Austro-Athenian Empire. N.p. 2010. < http://aaeblog.com >. July
2, 2010. Here and at his website—< http://praxeology.net >—Long serves up a tasty mix of very fine philosophy, politics, and whimsical pop-cultural musings. The thoroughly readable philosophical work includes
discussions of anarchism, class analysis, economic method, feminism, and ethics.
Long, Roderick T., and Machan, Tibor. Anarchism/Minarchism: Is a Government Part of a Free Country? Farnham: Ashgate 2008.
Up-to-date arguments from people who believe there should no state and people who believe there should be very limited states.
Martin, James J. Men against the State: The Expositors of Individualist Anarchism in America, 1827-1908. Colorado Springs:
Myles 1970. < http://www.mises.org/books/Men_Against_the_State_Martin.pdf> An engaging portrayal of many of the leading U.S.
anarchists of the nineteenth century, viewed in relation to contemporaneous radical movements.
Meltzer, Albert. Anarchism: Arguments For and Against. Oakland, CA: AK 2001. A brief primer on anarchist ideas designed to
respond to Marxist critiques. Dismisses anarchist thinkers including Tolstoy, Tucker, and Proudhon.
Murphy, Robert P. Chaos Theory: Two Essays on Market Anarchy. New York: RJ 2002. Mises Institute n.d. < http://www.mises.org/books/chaostheory.pdf
>. July 2, 2010. A helpful discussion of the management of the potentially violent in a stateless society. Murphy blogs at < http://consultingbyrpm.com/Blog>.
Nozick, Robert. Anarchy, State, and Utopia. New York: Basic 1974. Features an unpersuasive but influential argument that a
state could emerge legitimately in a stateless society.
Proudhon, Pierre J. General Idea of the Revolution in the Nineteenth Century. Trans. John Beverly Robinson. Mineola, NY:
Dover 2004 [1923]
——. System of Economical Contradictions; or, The Philosophy of Misery. Trans. Benjamin R. Tucker. New York: Arno 1973
[1888].
——. What is Property? Ed. and trans. David R. Kelley and Bonnie G. Smith. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1994.
Arguably the first person to use the word “anarchist” for himself, Proudhon jousted with Marx and developed a distinctive approach to anarchism he labeled “mutualism.”
Richman, Sheldon. “Libertarian Left: Free-Market Anti-Capitalism, the Unknown Ideal.” The American Conservative 10.3
(March 2011): 28-32. < http://www.amconmag.com/blog/libertarian-left >. Feb. 17, 2011. Provides an overview of a developing intellectual and political movement on the political left, populated largely
by anarchists, that interestingly bridges some traditional ideological and strategic divides.
Rocker, Rudolph. Anarcho-Syndicalism: Theory and Practice. Oakland, CA:
AK2004.
——. Pioneers of American Freedom: Origins of Liberal and Radical Thought in America. Trans. Arthur E. Briggs. Los
Angeles: Rocker 1949. Anarcho-Syndicalism is a classic of anarchist strategy, theory, and history which emphasizes the commitment to
freedom shared by proponents of different anarchist tendencies. Pioneers is an appreciation of indigenous American radical traditions from
the perspective of a titan of European anarchism.
Rothbard, Murray N. “Confiscation and the Homestead Principle.” Libertarian Forum 1.6 (June 15, 1969): 3-4. Mises
Institute n.d. < http://mises.org/journals/lf/1969/1969_06_15.aspx >. Feb. 7, 2010.
——. The Ethics of Liberty. 2d ed. New York: New York UP 2003. Mises Institute n.d. < http://mises.org/rothbard/ethics/ethics.asp
>. July 2, 2010. “Confiscation and the Homestead Principle” elaborates a provocative model of wealth redistribution without the state. The Ethics of Liberty is
a detailed exposition of the normative basis of Rothbard’s preferred variant of anarchism.
Ruwart, Mary. Healing Our World in an Age of Aggression. 3d ed. Kalamazoo, MI: Sunstar 2003. A lively and insightful
discussion of institutional and personal methods for problem-solving apart from state action.
Sartwell, Crispin. Against the State: An Introduction to Anarchist Political Theory. Buffalo, NY: SUNY 2008. Demonstrates
the inadequacy of traditional arguments for state authority.
Scott, James C. The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia. New Haven, CT: Yale UP 2009.
A study of anarchy in action in a region that includes territories claimed by seven different countries in southeast Asia—an insightful contemporary and historical case study.
Shaffer, Butler. In Restraint of Trade: The Business Campaign against Competition, 1918-1938. Lewisburg, PA: Bucknell UP
1997. An anarchist legal theorist explains how big business used the regulatory state to its advantage at a crucial period in American history.
Skoble, Aeon J. Deleting the State: An Argument about Government. Chicago: Open Court 2008. Expertly dissects arguments
for the necessity and legitimacy of the state.
Spooner, Lysander. No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority; and, A Letter to Thomas F. Bayard. Larkspur, CO: Pine
Tree 1966. Spooner joins Benjamin Tucker as one of the two nineteenth-century American individualist anarchists who have exerted the most continuing influence on later anarchist thought. Spooner was a passionate opponent of slavery as well as of the monopolistic
state, and an unsuccessful provider of the same services as the US Postal Service who was effectively put out of work by act of Congress. Many of Spooner’s writings are available in electronic form at < http://www.lysanderspooner.org
>.
Stringham, Edward P., ed. Anarchy and the Law: The Political Economy of Choice. Edison, NJ: Transaction 2007.
——. Anarchy, State, and Public Choice. Cheltenham: Elgar 2006. Anarchy
and the Law is an enormous collection of historical and contemporary essays concerned with the moral and practical problems raised by anarchism. Anarchy,
State, and Public Choice focuses on economic arguments for and against the viability of anarchism.
Tannehill, Morris and Tannehill, Linda. The Market for Liberty. 3d ed. San Francisco, CA: Fox 1993. A detailed explanation
of how the authors believe social cooperation could be managed without the state. They sometimes say some fairly silly things. But they also sometimes exhibit a humane, hippieish sensibility that I confess I find charming.
Taylor, Michael. Community, Anarchy, and Liberty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1982.
——. The Possibility of Cooperation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1987. Game-theoretic modeling is carefully
applied to problems related to the justification and operation of a non-coercive society.
Tolstoy, Leo. Government is Violence: Essays on Anarchism and Pacifism. New Haven, CT: Phoenix 1990. Reflections on
violence and the state, by a passionate opponent of both.
Tucker, Benjamin. Instead of a Book, by a Man Too Busy to Write One. New
York: Tucker 1897. Fair-Use.org n.d. < http://fair-use.org/benjamintucker/instead-of-a-book/ >. July 2, 2010. A collection of lively polemical essays by the dean of the nineteenth-century
American individualist anarchists. Includes the still widely discussed programmatic statement, “State Socialism and Anarchism.”
Ward, Colin. Anarchism: A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press 2004.
——. Anarchy in Action. London: Freedom 1982. Anarchist history, theory, and practice from the perspective of the doyen
of post-World War II English anarchism—good-natured, humane, and always thoroughly practical.
Ward, Colin, and Goodway, David. Talking Anarchy. Nottingham: Five Leaves 2004. An extended conversation between anarchist
icon Ward and historian Goodway that focuses on a broad range of anarchist activists, ideas, and prospects.
Wilbur, Shawn P. The Libertarian Labyrinth: Mutualist Anarchism and Its Context. N.p. n.d. < http://libertarian-labyrinth.org/
——. Two-Gun Mutualism and the Golden Rule. N.p. 2010. < http://libertarianlabyrinth.blogspot.com
>. July 2, 2010. Wilbur offers insightful, literate anarchist social theory and commentary, in addition to a broad range of historical texts—the obscure as well as the relatively well known—by American and European anarchists (the latter sometimes available
in translation for the first time).
Anarcho Capitalism - Walter Block
—–Original Message—–
From: SS
Sent: Wed 11/23/2016 4:35 PM
To: wblock@loyno.edu
Subject: Question about Murray Rothbard
Dr. Block, I have been a fan of your work for many years, and recently watched your Mises speech on Murray….I was completely blown away and fascinated. The way you described your almost instant transformation to anarchy was very compelling the way Murray put it…that
you wouldn’t want a world government so the idea of getting rid of all government should be able to be argued for. Is there any particular work by Murray that you’d suggest that reiterates these sentiments clearly referring to the idea of anarchy and why it can
easily be argued for? I know you mentioned Man, Economy, and State which I have on the way, but are there any other works that you’d highly suggest? Thank you so much for all you’ve done for the liberty movement, you probably don’t hear it enough. ~SS
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Dear SS: Thanks for your kind words. Here’s a biblio on anarcho-capitalism below:
Dear Everyone Else: I’d like this biblio to be as inclusive as possible. All suggestions welcome.
Anderson, Terry and Hill, P.J. 1979. “An American Experiment in Anarcho-Capitalism: The Not So Wild, Wild West,” Journal of Libertarian Studies, 3: 9-29; http://mises.org/journals/jls/3_1/3_1_2.pdf
Benson, Bruce L. 1989. Enforcement of Private Property Rights in Primitive Societies: Law Without Government,” The Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. IX, No. 1, Winter, pp. 1-26; http://mises.org/journals/jls/9_1/9_1_1.pdf
Benson, Bruce L. 1990. Customary Law with Private Means of Resolving Disputes and Dispensing Justice: A Description of a Modern System of Law and Order without State Coercion. The Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. IX, No. 2, pp. 25-42; http://mises.org/journals/jls/9_2/9_2_2.pdf
Block, Walter. 2007. Anarchism and Minarchism; No Rapprochement Possible: Reply to Tibor Machan, Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 21, No. 1, Spring, pp. 91-99; http://www.mises.org/journals/jls/21_1/21_1_5.pdf
Block, Walter E. 2011. Governmental inevitability: reply to Holcombe. Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 22; pp. 667-688; http://mises.org/journals/jls/22_1/22_1_34.pdf
Block, Walter E. and Michael Fleischer. 2010. How Would An Anarchist Society Handle Child Abuse? October 13; http://www.lewrockwell.com/block/block167.html
Casey, Doug. 2010. Doug Casey on Anarchy.
March 31; http://www.caseyresearch.com/cwc/doug-casey-anarchy
DiLorenzo, Thomas J. 2010. The Culture of Violence in the American West: Myth versus Reality. The Independent Review, v. 15,
n. 2, Fall 2010, pp. 227239; http://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_15_02_4_dilorenzo.pdf
Gregory, Anthony. 2011. Abolish the Police. May 26; http://www.lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory213.html
Guillory, Gil & Patrick Tinsley. 2009. The Role of Subscription-Based Patrol and Restitution in the Future of Liberty, Libertarian Papers 1, 12; http://libertarianpapers.org/2009/12-the-role-of-subscription-based-patrol-and-restitution-in-the-future-of-liberty/
Hasnas,
John. 1995. The myth of the rule of law. Wisconsin Law Review 199; http://faculty.msb.edu/hasnasj/GTWebSite/MythWeb.htm
Heinrich, David J. 2010. Justice for All Without the State. The Libertarian Standard. May 6; http://www.libertarianstandard.com/articles/david-j-heinrich/justice-for-all-without-the-state/
Higgs, Robert. 2009. Why We Couldn’t Abolish Slavery Then and Can’t Abolish Government Now. August 20; http://www.lewrockwell.com/higgs/higgs128.html
Higgs, Robert. 2012. What is the point of my libertarian anarchism? January 16; http://archive.lewrockwell.com/higgs/higgs180.html
Hoppe, Hans-Hermann. 2008. Reflections on the Origin and the Stability of the State. June 23; http://www.lewrockwell.com/hoppe/hoppe18.html
Hoppe, Hans-Hermann. 2011. State or Private Law Society. April 10; http://www.lewrockwell.com/hoppe/hoppe26.1.html
Huebert, Jacob. 2010. Libertarianism Today. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger
King, Seth. 2010. Daily Anarchist Interviews Walter E. Block, September 9; http://www.lewrockwell.com/block/block165.html
Kinsella, Stephan. 2009. The Irrelevance of the Impossibility of Anarcho-Libertarianism. August 20; http://www.stephankinsella.com/2009/08/20/the-irrelevance-of-the-impossibility-of-anarcho-libertarianism/
Long, Roderick. 2004. Libertarian Anarchism: Responses to Ten Objections http://www.lewrockwell.com/long/long11.html
McConkey, Michael. 2013. Anarchy, Sovereignty, and the State of Exception: Schmitts Challenge. The Independent Review, v. 17, n. 3, Winter, pp. 415428. http://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_17_03_05_mcconkey.pdf
Molyneux, Stefan. 2008. The Stateless Society: An Examination of Alternatives. http://www.mail-archive.com/libertarianenterprise@yahoogroups.com/msg02056.html
Murphy, Robert P. 2005. But Wouldn’t Warlords Take Over? July 7; http://mises.org/story/1855; http://mises.org/library/wouldnt-warlords-take-over
Paul, Ron. 2008. On the Inner Contradictions of Limited Government. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o4kiWpqoeg&feature=PlayList&p=9645F6A68683F679&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=4;
http://libertyupward.com/ron-paul-religious-icon/
Rockwell, Lew. 2013. What Would We Do Without the State? March 31; http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/134782.html
Rothbard, Murray N. 1973. For a New Liberty, Macmillan, New York; http://mises.org/rothbard/newlibertywhole.asp
In the view of Rothbard (1973, emphasis added by present author) For centuries, the State (or more strictly, individuals acting in their roles as members of the government) has cloaked its criminal activity in high-sounding rhetoric. For centuries the State has
committed mass murder and called it war; then ennobled the mass slaughter that war involves. For centuries the State has enslaved people into its armed battalions and called it conscription in the national service. For centuries the State has robbed people at
bayonet point and called it taxation. In fact, if you wish to know how libertarians regard the State and any of its acts, simply think of the State as a criminal band, and all of the libertarian attitudes will logically fall into place.
Rothbard, Murray N. 1975. Society Without a State. The Libertarian Forum, volume 7.1, January; http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard133.html
Rothbard, Murray N. 1977. Do you hate the state? The Libertarian Forum, Vol. 10, No. 7, July; http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard75.html
…there is no sign that David Friedman in any
sense hates the existing American State or the State per se, hates it deep in his belly as a predatory gang of robbers, enslavers, and murderers. No, there is simply the cool conviction that anarchism would be the best of all possible worlds, but that our current
set-up is pretty far up with it in desirability. For there is no sense in Friedman that the State any State is a predatory gang of criminals. The radical cannot think in such terms, because the radical regards the State as our mortal enemy, which must be hacked away
at wherever and whenever we can. To the radical libertarian, we must take any and every opportunity to chop away at the State, whether its to reduce or abolish a tax, a budget appropriation, or a regulatory power. And the radical libertarian is insatiable in this
appetite until the State has been abolished, or for minarchists dwindled down to a tiny, laissez-faire role. Rothbard, Murray N. 1998 [1982]. The Ethics of Liberty, New York: New York University Press. http://www.mises.org/rothbard/ethics/ethics.asp
Paul, Ron. 2008. On the Inner Contradictions of Limited Government. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o4kiWpqoeg&feature=PlayList&p=9645F6A68683F679&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=4
Spooner, Lysander. 1966[1870]. No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority and A Letter to Thomas F. Bayard, Larkspur, Colorado: Rampart College; http://jim.com/treason.htm vv
Stringham, Edward, ed. 2007. Anarchy and the Law: The Political Economy of Choice, Somerset, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Tannehill, Morris and Linda Tannehill. [1970] 1984. The Market for Liberty, New York: Laissez Faire Books; http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig11/tannehill1.html
Tinsley, Patrick. 1998-1999. “With Liberty and Justice for All: A Case for Private Police,” Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 14, No. 1, Winter, pp. 95-100; http://www.mises.org/journals/jls/14_1/14_1_5.pdf
Wenzel, Robert. 2013. Robert Ringer’s Strawman Anarchist. February 2; http://archive.lewrockwell.com/wenzel/wenzel211.html
Woods, Tom. 2014. Four things the state is not. July 29; http://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/07/no_author/4-things-the-state-is-not/
private police: private army:
Gregory, Anthony. 2011. Abolish the Police. May 26; http://www.lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory213.html
Guillory, Gil & Patrick Tinsley. 2009. The Role of Subscription-Based Patrol and Restitution in the Future of Liberty, Libertarian Papers 1, 12; http://libertarianpapers.org/2009/12-the-role-of-subscription-based-patrol-and-restitution-in-the-future-of-liberty/
Hoppe,
Hans-Hermann. 2011. State or Private Law Society. April 10; http://www.lewrockwell.com/hoppe/hoppe26.1.html
Huebert, Jacob. 2010. Libertarianism Today. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger
Murphy, Robert P. 2005. But Wouldn’t Warlords Take Over? July 7; http://mises.org/story/1855; http://mises.org/library/wouldnt-warlords-take-over
Rothbard, Murray N. 1973. For a New Liberty, Macmillan, New York; http://mises.org/rothbard/newlibertywhole.asp
Rothbard, Murray N. 1975. Society Without a State. The Libertarian Forum, volume 7.1, January; http://www.lewrockwell.com/rothbard/rothbard133.html
Rothbard, Murray N. 1998 [1982]. The Ethics of Liberty, New York: New York University Press. http://www.mises.org/rothbard/ethics/ethics.asp
Stringham, Edward, ed. 2007. Anarchy and the Law: The Political Economy of Choice, Somerset, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Tannehill, Morris and Linda Tannehill. [1970] 1984. The Market for Liberty, New York: Laissez Faire Books; http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig11/tannehill1.html
Tinsley, Patrick. 1998-1999. “With Liberty and Justice for All: A Case for Private Police,” Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 14, No. 1, Winter, pp. 95-100; http://www.mises.org/journals/jls/14_1/14_1_5.pdf
Wiśniewski, Jakub Bożydar. 2014. Defense as a private good in a competitive order Review of Social and Economic Issues, Vol. 1, No. 1, Summer, pp. 2-35; http://rsei.rau.ro/images/V1N1/Jakub%20Bozydar%20Wisniewski.pdf
Wollstein, Jarret B. 1969. Society Without Coercion. In Society Without Government. New York: Arno Press
Woolridge, William C. 1970. Uncle Sam the Monopoly Man, New Rochelle, N.Y.: Arlington House
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