This gives a succinct account of Rothbard’s view of the state. Following Franz Oppenheimer and Albert Jay Nock, Rothbard regards the state as a predatory entity. It does not produce anything but rather steals resources from those engaged in production. In applying this view to American history, Rothbard makes use of the work of John C. Calhoun
How can an organization of this type sustain itself? It must engage in propaganda to induce popular support for its policies. Court intellectuals play a key role here, and Rothbard cites as an example of ideological mystification the work of the influential legal theorist Charles Black, Jr., on the way the Supreme Court has become a revered institution.
This is a excellent essay with no fluff and filler the first time I opened it up the content jumped out at me I related other information to all the concepts in the book and and couldn't put it down tell it was done... wow. I picked up another 5 copies and after that when i didn't get them back i picked up another 25 copies I keep handing them out to questioning minds. The nice thing about this is the SIZE, only one person has told me they haven't finished it. try that with Human Action it took me half a year to finish.
Some background on this essay. First published in "Rampart Journal" back in 1965 and reprinted in "The Libertarian Alternative" edited by Tibor Machan.
Just superb in its clarity in explaining the state and why its existence is quite frankly just stupid. Very short so if you thinking about it you should probably get the collection of essays in Egalitarianism a revolt against nature. But once again just pure awesome and engaging till the very end.
This is an essential Rothbard read. Mr Libertarian rejects the democratic myth that "we are the state," and instead directs us to those that manage, maintain, and benefit from the ruling aparatus. He explains how the state is an essentially paraistic set of social arrangements that feed off exploitation, via "the politicial means" to wealth, rather than "the economic means," and how it relies on the efforts of opinion makers to ensure its continued existence, through developing a statist hegemony that lovers of liberty must reverse. More importantly, though, Rothbard then proceeds to demonstrate how state power can never be limited, for so long as a branch of government has an exclusive monopoly on deciding whether the actions of any other branch are "constitutional," it will always tend to do so in its own favour. This reproduction of the classic essay is only flawed, though, by not being anarchist enough! The editors should have included Rothbard's essay "Society Without The State
This little essay will change the way you look at the world. pick it up. well worth it.