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Topic: What are the must-read Rothbard's books ? - page 3. (Read 5675 times)

hero member
Activity: 784
Merit: 500
November 12, 2014, 12:40:15 AM
#16
Anarchism has nothing to do w AnCap except the word Anarchism

Its like Nazism has nothing to do w Socialism

Anarcho-capitalism is a combination of anarchy and capitalism.

AnCaps don't understand Anarchism. 

Anarchism has its roots in Marxist thinking so the economic system for classical Anarchists would be Socialist.  Anarchism & Capitalism are incompatible ideology.

AnCaps are followers of Rothbard and the libertarian ones are followers of Ayn Rand.  But its all just dumb neckbeard kids.  Nobody serious takes them seriously.  The same dumb kids who think Nazis are Socialists when everyone knows Nazis practice Fascism AND Capitalism

----------------

Chomsky interview about the subject:

Man: What's the difference between "libertarian" and "anarchist," exactly?

Chomsky: There's no difference, really. I think they're the same thing. But you see, "libertarian" has a special meaning in the United States. The United States is off the spectrum of the main tradition in this respect: what's called "libertarianism" here is unbridled capitalism. Now, that's always been opposed in the European libertarian tradition, where every anarchist has been a socialist—because the point is, if you have unbridled capitalism, you have all kinds of authority: you have extreme authority.

If capital is privately controlled, then people are going to have to rent themselves in order to survive. Now, you can say, "they rent themselves freely, it's a free contract"—but that's a joke. If your choice is, "do what I tell you or starve," that's not a choice—it's in fact what was commonly referred to as wage slavery in more civilized times, like the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, for example.

The American version of "libertarianism" is an aberration, though—nobody really takes it seriously. I mean, everybody knows that a society that worked by American libertarian principles would self-destruct in three seconds. The only reason people pretend to take it seriously is because you can use it as a weapon. Like, when somebody comes out in favor of a tax, you can say: "No, I'm a libertarian, I'm against that tax"—but of course, I'm still in favor of the government building roads, and having schools, and killing Libyans, and all that sort of stuff.

Now, there are consistent libertarians, people like Murray Rothbard—and if you just read the world that they describe, it's a world so full of hate that no human being would want to live in it. This is a world where you don't have roads because you don't see any reason why you should cooperate in building a road that you're not going to use: if you want a road, you get together with a bunch of other people who are going to use that road and you build it, then you charge people to ride on it. If you don't like the pollution from somebody's automobile, you take them to court and you litigate it. Who would want to live in a world like that? It's a world built on hatred.19

The whole thing's not even worth talking about, though. First of all, it couldn't function for a second—and if it could, all you'd want to do is get out, or commit suicide or something. But this is a special American aberration, it's not really serious.
legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 1005
November 11, 2014, 10:12:30 PM
#15
Anarchism has nothing to do w AnCap except the word Anarchism

Its like Nazism has nothing to do w Socialism

Anarcho-capitalism is a combination of anarchy and capitalism.

And nazism and socialism is the same thing.
hero member
Activity: 854
Merit: 1000
Bitcoin: The People's Bailout
November 11, 2014, 08:36:09 PM
#14
Anarchism has nothing to do w AnCap except the word Anarchism

Its like Nazism has nothing to do w Socialism

Anarcho-capitalism is a combination of anarchy and capitalism.
hero member
Activity: 784
Merit: 500
November 11, 2014, 08:33:35 PM
#13
Anarchism has nothing to do w AnCap except the word Anarchism

Its like Nazism has nothing to do w Socialism
hero member
Activity: 854
Merit: 1000
Bitcoin: The People's Bailout
November 10, 2014, 10:10:29 PM
#12

Quote
His three books that are most related to Austrian Economics are Everyday Anarchy, Practical Anarchy, and How NOT to acheive Freedom

I strongly differentiate between anarchism and anarcho-capitalism. Anarchism does not recognize property right, am I mistaken ?

I believe Molyneux would consider himself an anarcho-capitalist.  He is an advocate of both anarchism and free market capitalism.  He also regularly produces podcasts and YouTube videos in addition to his free books that may interest you.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUVVh2O56_0
legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 1005
November 10, 2014, 08:35:51 PM
#11
I have read only "Man, Economy, and State". It covers a lot, and is brilliantly written.


I support this suggestion if you want a excellent book about economics.
So good, in fact, to be praised by Mises itself.


On the way to my house ! Cheesy

Quote
His three books that are most related to Austrian Economics are Everyday Anarchy, Practical Anarchy, and How NOT to acheive Freedom

I strongly differentiate between anarchism and anarcho-capitalism. Anarchism does not recognize property right, am I mistaken ?

Yes you are mistaken Smiley

Of course people always have their own definitions of things. Just like if I refer to Capitalism I'm talking about a free market, but it seems the more mainstream definition of Capitalism is more like what I would call Fascism or Corporatism. My definition for Anarchy and Anarcho-capitalism is essentially the same and what I've found is that Rothbard, Molyneux, Friedman, Doug Casey, etc. are all basically in line. Call it whatever you want, but it's based on the non-aggression principle.

I agree, but 2 things. Some folks are walking around arguing for the abolishment of private property. Quite absurd if you ask me, because that allows someone to take your food, your shirt, even the air around your head.

The other thing, even if private property is necessary for anarchism and capitalism, it is possible to discuss how far it goes with ownership to land, the standard in historic times being occupation of unused land, and if you give it up, it is returned to the pool of unused land. Nowadays if you have land, you have it forever, even if you don't use it. We also have the financial system including rent, and the degree to which a state is used to extend the notion of ownership. Outside land, we have the government created assets like patents and copyrights. Interesting questions with several solutions within the boundaries of anarcho-capitalism.
sr. member
Activity: 399
Merit: 250
November 10, 2014, 08:21:37 PM
#10
I have read only "Man, Economy, and State". It covers a lot, and is brilliantly written.


I support this suggestion if you want a excellent book about economics.
So good, in fact, to be praised by Mises itself.


On the way to my house ! Cheesy

Quote
His three books that are most related to Austrian Economics are Everyday Anarchy, Practical Anarchy, and How NOT to acheive Freedom

I strongly differentiate between anarchism and anarcho-capitalism. Anarchism does not recognize property right, am I mistaken ?

Yes you are mistaken Smiley

Of course people always have their own definitions of things. Just like if I refer to Capitalism I'm talking about a free market, but it seems the more mainstream definition of Capitalism is more like what I would call Fascism or Corporatism. My definition for Anarchy and Anarcho-capitalism is essentially the same and what I've found is that Rothbard, Molyneux, Friedman, Doug Casey, etc. are all basically in line. Call it whatever you want, but it's based on the non-aggression principle.
hero member
Activity: 714
Merit: 661
November 10, 2014, 04:49:25 PM
#9
I have read only "Man, Economy, and State". It covers a lot, and is brilliantly written.


I support this suggestion if you want a excellent book about economics.
So good, in fact, to be praised by Mises itself.


On the way to my house ! Cheesy

Quote
His three books that are most related to Austrian Economics are Everyday Anarchy, Practical Anarchy, and How NOT to acheive Freedom

I strongly differentiate between anarchism and anarcho-capitalism. Anarchism does not recognize property right, am I mistaken ?
sr. member
Activity: 453
Merit: 254
November 09, 2014, 05:30:04 PM
#8
I have read only "Man, Economy, and State". It covers a lot, and is brilliantly written.


I support this suggestion if you want a excellent book about economics.
So good, in fact, to be praised by Mises itself.
sr. member
Activity: 399
Merit: 250
November 09, 2014, 05:26:11 PM
#7
To be honest, I think Rothbard is overated. I have never been impressed by one of his book.

I agreed with what you think of Rothbard until I read "A new liberty".
On one book (Anatomy of the state) I read from him he was just spitting on government without really adding much. But that was not the case for "a new liberty".

Though, I realize I might be easily impressed by him, since my basic culture on libertarianism was zero.

Quote
On the other hand I would strongly recommend Hayek. Either The Constitution of Liberty or The Fatal conceit, both are outstanding.

Noted, I have "road to serfdom" from Hayek, but not start reading a single word of him. Definitively motivated me to start today. Smiley
I added the one you cite in my reading list.

Quote
What Has Government Done to Our Money and/or The Mystery of Banking. Both are great, I think MOB goes into a little more detail. Very relevant for people wanting to understand the basis for Bitcoin also.
Well, since the last 8 months what lead me here today are the natural flow of question that arise when one discover Bitcoin :
  • 1. What is Bitcoin (technical level)
  • 2. What is money and banking
  • 3. What is libertarianism
I don't understand the money and banking matter as much as the technical level of bitcoin, but that's good enough for me for now, I'm concentrating on the libertarian part. Smiley


Anyway, writting down all the references. I have to profit from amazon premium subscription while I can ! :-o

Well if you're looking for stuff besides Rothbard, then I recall Stefan Molyneux's books to be extremely good too. His three books that are most related to Austrian Economics are Everyday Anarchy, Practical Anarchy, and How NOT to acheive Freedom.

Currently I am reading Machinery of Freedom by David Friedman and it's pretty good from a real world perspective too.
hero member
Activity: 714
Merit: 661
November 09, 2014, 05:16:58 PM
#6
To be honest, I think Rothbard is overated. I have never been impressed by one of his book.

I agreed with what you think of Rothbard until I read "A new liberty".
On one book (Anatomy of the state) I read from him he was just spitting on government without really adding much. But that was not the case for "a new liberty".

Though, I realize I might be easily impressed by him, since my basic culture on libertarianism was zero.

Quote
On the other hand I would strongly recommend Hayek. Either The Constitution of Liberty or The Fatal conceit, both are outstanding.

Noted, I have "road to serfdom" from Hayek, but not start reading a single word of him. Definitively motivated me to start today. Smiley
I added the one you cite in my reading list.

Quote
What Has Government Done to Our Money and/or The Mystery of Banking. Both are great, I think MOB goes into a little more detail. Very relevant for people wanting to understand the basis for Bitcoin also.
Well, since the last 8 months what lead me here today are the natural flow of question that arise when one discover Bitcoin :
  • 1. What is Bitcoin (technical level)
  • 2. What is money and banking
  • 3. What is libertarianism
I don't understand the money and banking matter as much as the technical level of bitcoin, but that's good enough for me for now, I'm concentrating on the libertarian part. Smiley


Anyway, writting down all the references. I have to profit from amazon premium subscription while I can ! :-o
sr. member
Activity: 399
Merit: 250
November 09, 2014, 04:54:34 PM
#5
What Has Government Done to Our Money and/or The Mystery of Banking. Both are great, I think MOB goes into a little more detail. Very relevant for people wanting to understand the basis for Bitcoin also.
legendary
Activity: 861
Merit: 1010
November 09, 2014, 03:21:19 PM
#4
To be honest, I think Rothbard is overated. I have never been impressed by one of his book.

On the other hand I would strongly recommend Hayek. Either The Constitution of Liberty or The Fatal conceit, both are outstanding.
full member
Activity: 153
Merit: 100
November 09, 2014, 03:00:59 PM
#3
I've only read Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature.
legendary
Activity: 1512
Merit: 1005
November 09, 2014, 12:09:52 PM
#2
I have read only "Man, Economy, and State". It covers a lot, and is brilliantly written.
hero member
Activity: 714
Merit: 661
November 09, 2014, 09:18:35 AM
#1
In a relatively short period of time, I taught myself what libertarianism is. (A word I did not know 6 month ago)
I started with Milton Friedman, Ayn Rand, then Mises and now Murray Rothbard.

I think that, as many of you that actually read one of them entirely, they definitively shifted my mind.

The first of Rothbard I've read "Anatomy of State" was not particularly practical... entertaining but not mind shifting.

However "For a new liberty" of Rothbard is impressively practical.
He still has not converted me to anarcho capitalism but I've not been able to contradict any arguments of Rothbard.
Also, there is no argument against libertarianism that Rothbard does not respond to. He leaves to gray area, no untold story, no attack unresponded.
This was, among all the books I read, one of the most mind boggling one.

My question is : Given the limited time I get, what other book of Rothbard would you recommend, covering different grounds than "For a new liberty" ?
I'm not fan at reading several time the same author, because they have the tendency to repeat themselves, thus wasting my time. But Rothbard is a special beast, I'm willing to take the risk.

What are the must-read Rothbard's books ?
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