The Criminal Band

 

Murray Rothbard (Source: Ludwig von Mises Institute)

Murray Rothbard (March 2, 1926- January 7, 1995) was born 97 years ago today. 

In the late 20th century, the economics professor was the leading intellectual in the libertarian movement and its most prolific scholar. He co-founded the prominent think tank Cato Insitute and later the Mises Institute.

His legacy as a political strategist and coalition-builder in the libertarian movement remains controversial. He cheered the Black Panthers, opposed the Vietnam War, and reached out to the far left in the 1960s. Later, he reached out to the far right. Mainstream critics accused him of supporting communists and also of racism. When all sides condemn you, that could mean you're right. Or very wrong.

Regardless, my appreciation of Rothbard is in his role as a monetary theorist, historian, and polemicist. In The Ethics of Liberty, he wrote:

All of the services commonly thought to require the State—from the coining of money to police protection to the development of law in defense of the rights of person and property—can be and have been supplied far more efficiently and certainly more morally by private persons. The State is in no sense required by the nature of man; quite the contrary.

In For a New Liberty, he writes:

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.  [Emphasis mine]

Bryan Caplan notes, "If anything is simultaneously obvious and brilliant, it is Rothbard’s insight that governments are glorified gangs of criminals.  How can anyone who knows the basic facts of history disagree?  If you strip virtually any chapter of world history down to a postcard, it’s a story of vicious murderers killing each other in order to enslave nearby civilians."

There are products and services for which I rely on the government. I am thankful for them. The people making and providing them aren't criminals. But dependence on services monopolized by the State doesn't mean you owe it allegiance.

An atheist may receive a life-saving surgery at a Catholic hospital and be grateful for the caregivers and facility.

. 

Does that mean he should conclude, "Without the Roman Catholic Church, I'd be dead?"

Does it mean he ought to kiss the bishop's ring?

No. It's possible to receive services from a Catholic institution yet still oppose the Vatican. 

Many employed directly or indirectly by the State do good things. But they're steered for the State's purposes. The Emperor builds the road for his army, not where the people need it. But then commercial activity shifts to the location of the road, and then we can't imagine life any differently.

The government's schools teach what the State wants taught so that children become good citizens. Good citizenship means consenting to the agents of The State in doing what moral people would never think of doing. Caplan reminds us  that he's called "William the Conqueror," not "William the Mass Murderer."

I've stepped away from closely following politics because I realized political reform and substantive change are as hopeless, by which I mean definitionally impossible, as asking a cobra to defang itself.

Stepping away doesn't mean hopelessness. It means reclaiming one's own power. It ends the rationalizations and excuse-making for your own party when it preaches 'social justice" at home yet wages wars abroad.

It means knowing that somebody is profiting from this government policy, and it's not you or me. 

It means going through life with eyes open. And there's more power in that than in faith that politicians will make positive changes for you.

James Leroy Wilson writes The MVP Chase (subscribe) and JL Cells (subscribe). Thanks for your subscriptions and support! You may contact James for your writing, editing, and research needs: jamesleroywilson-at-gmail.com.