Against Leviathan | Robert Higgs

Jeffrey Tucker interviews Robert Higgs, Senior Fellow in Political Economy at the Independent Institute. Recorded at the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Auburn, Alabama, on 29 July 2011.

• Category

  News & Politics

[ih8ronpaulh8ers]

Anarchism certainly has a long way to go but I must say its seems to be growing at a rapid pace. Ron Paul supporters are converting more and more these days. Ron Paul may go down in history as the gateway drug to anarchism.

[whitechocolatespace]

RP has done an exceptional job in the education towards libertarianism and with enough courage, lead many inevitably towards anarchism. However, if the statist model of solving social problems is inherently flawed, voting in the framework, even for RP legitimizes the model. If anything, as the statist train wreck is nearly upon us, replacing the conductor of the train to a libertarian will only associate that ideology with the wreck. It will set back the ideology 100 years.

[lautzutao]

this is why those ultimately against the political process support him:D

[xcvsdxvsx]

This comment certainly applies to me.

[ih8ronpaulh8ers]

I realize that. I never claimed he wasn't. I was a Ron Paulian statist but now I'm a voluntarist. Most people who have recently become voluntarists were Ron Paul supporters and learned about broader libertarianism, Austrian school economics, etc. from the Paul campaign. I wouldn't be surprised if he is a closet-anarchist. He is a fan of Rothbard but selling anarchism to the broader public is much harder than Constitutionalism/Minarchism

[SSTTEEAALLTTHH]

Ron Paul is a pretty lousy libertarian (remember, if the states fuck you over, it's ok). If this is the best you think a public figure has to offer in relation to anarchism, it's a very sad situation for said philosophy.

Also, it has become very apparent that the State will never abolish itself, nor will politicians try to abolish it. We must dismantle it trough markets, non-compliance and agorism, not trough voting. Voting is consenting to be ruled.

[SSTTEEAALLTTHH]

Ron Paul is a statist.

[vakeraj]

I used to be a minarchist, until all the bs in DC made me realize that it ALL has to be scrapped.

[SliverAndLead]

It is not a "conversion" but a logically consistent application of the non-aggression principal.

[RKAddict101]

That's non-sequitur. That merely is a restatement of your original belief, but there is no logic to back it up. Likewise, I can explain "If you understand that if you don't participate that it's at your expensive, then it's not theft. You understand that your money isn't being taken by force." Obviously it is unrelated. Again, the understanding, regardless of whether you vote, is an understanding of inevitability, not consent to the fact that the it should be inevitable.

[whitechocolatespace]

If you understand that if you lose that it's at your expense, then it's not theft. You understand that your money isn't being taken by force.

[RKAddict101]

Exactly, but that understanding isn't the same thing as consent. The understanding is an understanding of inevitability, not a consent to the fact that the inevitability is correct or should be inevitable.