hans hermann hoppe democracy the god that failed

True enough, a king regards the government as his personal possession but exactly this will induce him to act with good judgment. Our author turns on their heads these commonly held beliefs. Does not the knowledge that it can be turned out at the next election act to restrain the government now in power? In a democracy, by contrast, a government that displeases the people can be replaced. Rather, he refers to the full-fledged kings of the Old Regime, with the Habsburgs as particular favorites.īut how can Hoppe say this? A king rules to benefit himself, and he need answer to no one. He does not have in mind constitutional kingdoms, in the style of contemporary Britain, where the monarch reigns but does not rule. Monarchy preserves liberty far better than does democracy and when our author says “monarchy,” he means it. In his view, democracy has led to the increase in state power that classical liberals deplore: “I will explain the rapid growth of state power in the twentieth century lamented by Mises and Rothbard as the systematic outcome of democracy and the democratic mindset, i.e., the (erroneous) belief in the efficiency and/or justice of public property and popular (majority) rule.” Though Mises and Rothbard “were aware of the economic and ethical deficiencies of democracy,” they “had a soft spot for democracy and tended to view the transition from monarchy to democracy as progress” (p. Given this fact, what kind of state is best? If, as Albert Jay Nock famously said, the state is our enemy, which regime threatens us least? Many have looked to democracy, but Professor Hoppe dissents. However convincing the arguments for private-property anarchism, we now live in a world of states. Transaction Publishers, 2001, xxiv + 304 pgs.Ĭlassical liberals view the state with suspicion indeed some, of whom Murray Rothbard and Hans Hoppe are examples, wish to do away with it altogether.

Hans hermann hoppe democracy the god that failed