In this book, Hoppe argues that democracy is not an improvement over monarchy. Politicians in a democracy have a very high time preference (they value immediate gratification) because they have to please their constituents in the short span of a term in order to get re-elected. Thus, democracy is short-sighted and favors short-term gains over long-term losses. Monarchy, on the other hand, is the opposite. Monarchs have low time preference for three reasons: (1) their reign lasts for a lifetime (2) they will pass their kingdom on to their heirs, and (3) they have total ownership of their kingdom. Hence, monarchs have a greater incentive to maintain their society over time.
Of course, Hoppe would rather have neither system, but it is food for thought.
Hoppe said the following about the Social Contract: "the state is anything but the result of a contract! No one with even just an ounce of common sense would agree to such a contract. I have a lot of contracts in my files, but nowhere is there one like this. The state is the result of aggressive force and subjugation. It has evolved without contractual foundation, just like a gang of protection racketeers. And concerning the struggle of all against all: that is a myth. Of course the racketeer protects his victims on “his” territory from other racketeers, but only so he can conduct his own racket more successfully. Moreover, it is states that are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of millions of people and immeasurable destruction in the 20th century alone. Compared to that, the victims of private crimes are almost negligible."
Hoppe also stated that democracy is just a “competition of crooks.” "All highly-developed forms of religion forbid the coveting of someone else’s property. This prohibition is the foundation of peaceful cooperation. In a democracy, on the other hand, anyone can covet anybody else’s property and act according to his desire—the only precondition being that he can gain access to the corridors of power. Thus, under democratic conditions, everybody becomes a potential threat. And during mass elections what tends to happen is that the members of society who attempt to access the corridors of power and rise to the highest positions are those who have no moral inhibitions about misappropriating other people’s property: habitual amoralists who are particularly talented in forging majorities out of a multitude of unbridled and mutually exclusive demands." Source
Against the Haters: The Brilliance of Hans-Hermann Hoppe
See also The History & Mystery of Money & Economics-250 Books on DVDrom
For a list of all of my disks and ebooks (PDF and Amazon) click here
For a list of all of my disks and ebooks (PDF and Amazon) click here
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