. . . and allies [is] to explain to the public that the Emperor does indeed have a fine set of clothes . . . the ideologists must explain that, while theft by one or more persons or groups is bad and criminal, that when the State engages in such acts it is not theft but the legitimate and even sanctified act called ‘taxation.’ The ideologists must explain that murder by one or more persons or groups is bad and must be punished, but that when the State kills it is not murder but an exalted act known as ‘war’ or “repression of internal subversion.’ They must explain that while kidnapping or slavery is bad and must be outlawed when done by private individuals or groups, and when the State commits such acts it is not kidnapping or slavery but ‘conscription’ — an act necessary to the public weal . . . The age-old success of the ideologists of the State is perhaps the most gigantic hoax in the history of mankind.”
So wrote Murray Rothbard in his essay, “The Nature of the State.” Study the Rothbardian analysis of the state in my eight-week online course entitled “The State: The Rothbardian Analysis” under the auspices of the Mises Academy starting this coming Monday evening, September 17. (The lectures are archived, so you don’t necessarily need to be available at the precise time of the lecture, but of course you will get more out of the course if you are.)
11:42 am on September 14, 2012
