The Military Draft and Mises

From: ondu

Sent: Thursday, March 05, 2020 10:48 AM

To: Walter Block <[email protected]>

Subject: mises inconsistency – conscription

Hi.

Thank you for the replies. I know u busy and have limited time, just dont know where to ask.

Pls refer me to place where i can put my questions forward without being intrusive.

In human action he justifies conscription in case of state being on the verge survival.

Are there more inconsistencies where he puts the state need over people-personal private property?

Many thanks and good luck writing more books.

Ondrej D.

Dear Ondu:

You’re not being intrusive.

Mises was a libertarian, but not an anarcho capitalist. He supported governments. Mises also supported a draft, in the case of dire necessity. I respectfully disagree with him. I think that a volunteer army would be more compatible with libertarianism, and, also, more effective. Here are some readings for you:

Anderson, 1978; Block, 2018; Boudreaux, 1993; Friedman, 1967; Oi, 1967a, 1967b

Anderson, Martin. 1978. The Voluntary Military, Stanford: Hoover Institution

Block, Walter E. 2018. “Libertarians on the US military: A Critique of Mercer, Anderson, Boudreaux, Friedman, Oi, McCobin and Markevičiūtė.” Political Dialogues: Journal of Political Theory. pp. 57-65; http://apcz.umk.pl/czasopisma/index.php/DP/article/view/DP.2018.004/16658

Boudreaux, Donald. 1993. “A Life-Saving Lesson from Operation Desert Storm.” The Freeman, October, Vol. 43, No. 10; http://www.thefreemanonline.org/columns/a-life-saving-lesson-from-operation-desert-storm/

Friedman, Milton. 1967. “Why Not a Volunteer Army?” New Individualist Review, Vol. 4, No. 4, Spring, pp. 3-9

Oi, Walter Y. 1967a. “The Real Costs of a Volunteer Military,” New Individualist Review, Vol. 4, Spring, pp. 13-16

Oi, Walter Y. 1967b.  “The Economic Cost of the Draft,” American Economic Review, Vol. 57, May, pp. 39-62.

Best regards,

Walter

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3:08 am on May 25, 2020