Proof that great things come in small packages

It’s a short little book. A pamphlet, almost. But, the sneaky bit was the amount of information on those 55 pages. Well, that’s the kind of learnin’ 4 years of high school and 4 years at most any college didn’t give you.

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Rothbard’s work is an exposition on just what the state, the State, is. It’s a mob, a thug, a monopoly and a gang using extreme force when it suits them. It is a beast of unquenchable appetite and if you think that’s preposterous, for all the politicians who promised to shrink government, how much has government shrunk? 0. None more.

Thus, the State has invariably shown a striking talent for the expansion of its powers beyond any limits that might be imposed upon it.

State 101

Anatomy Of The State is an entry level book for those seeking to understand why the current R and D system seem to never get us anywhere.  It is also a keen refresher for that individual well aware that taxation is theft, but needs a reminder that the likes of Calhoun are well worth recalling and remembering.

AOTS is a libertarian book.  It is also a book for anyone interested in learning about the shackles of the state and how it maintains and increases its hold on you.

As Rothbard wrote in the introduction, “Briefly, the State is that organization in society which attempts to maintain a monopoly of the use of force and violence in a given territorial area.”

Just 1 thing

The state has many facets but one function: power.  Power over you, to subdue you, to take from you and to cage you.  That it is news that hairdressers no longer need to pay the state for permission to braid hair says something about the great overreach of the state.

Illumination into the true nature of the state and the long arm of the government seems almost comic in that it can’t be so.  Alas, we’ve been made to obey the increasingly petty rules all our lives and we think little about those rules.  Learning what the state is takes a few hours.  Learning what to do about it takes a lifetime.

That lifetime starts with this book.

Visit my page of essays on libertarian thinking.  Some are written by Murray, some by other leading libertarian thinkers, but all well worth reading.