For a New Liberty The Libertarian Manifesto edition by Murray N Rothbard Politics Social Sciences eBooks
Download As PDF : For a New Liberty The Libertarian Manifesto edition by Murray N Rothbard Politics Social Sciences eBooks 
A classic that for over two decades has been hailed as the best general work on libertarianism available. Rothbard begins with a quick overview of its historical roots, and then goes on to define libertarianism as resting "upon one single axiom that no man or group of men shall aggress upon the person or property of anyone else." He writes a withering critique of the chief violator of liberty the State. Rothbard then provides penetrating libertarian solutions for many of today's most pressing problems, including poverty, war, threats to civil liberties, the education crisis, and more.
For a New Liberty The Libertarian Manifesto edition by Murray N Rothbard Politics Social Sciences eBooks
It's difficult to figure how many stars to award this book, because it entails both the very good and the very bad, and descends into the very ugly.The good first: Rothbard's book is a classic of libertarian thought, and anyone with a serious interest in libertarian ideas should read this at some point. It is well- written in that it is quite readable, very interesting, and in many respects nicely argued. Whether you agree with him or not, Rothbard has very interesting perspectives on many issues and lays out what is a mostly self-consistent system of addressing problems using the free market instead of government. In short, he identifies serious problems with government action in various spheres, and proposes alternative free market/nonstate solutions. His defense of individual liberty is important reading. He takes on supposedly difficult cases for the market, such as provision of education, roads, and police and judicial services. Some of these are quite thought-provoking, and whether one finds them convincing or not, they are certainly worth reading. Rothbard essentially concludes that a stateless society based on anarcho-capitalism would be far superior to any state. This is crucial reading for anyone interested in understanding the anarcho-capitalism variant of libertarianism.
The bad: In some places Rothbard's analysis is quite shallow, so much so as to almost make him seem silly. He basically ignores the public goods problem in economics, essentially by denying it exists. This is a serious error, since the primary argument for having government at all is based on this. His analysis is entirely inadequate and unconvincing. Similarly, in his discussion of private police and defensive agencies (his solution to replace the state) he responds to the challenge that such agencies would fight among themselves like mafias -- his response is to simply assert that they would find it too costly to fight. Well, that's a nonsensical response. One might as easily make the same argument about states to "prove" that wars never occur. If a profit-maximizing private defensive agency in stateless society decided it could make more by killing off its competitors and stealing their assets, why wouldn't it? It's a legitimate and obvious question, and Rothbard has no answer at all.
It gets worse...the ugly: By the time he gets to foreign policy, Rothbard has been on such a jihad against the state, and the U.S. government in particular, that he goes berserk and accuses the United States of being the bad guys in the (then ongoing) Cold War. In the First Edition (1973) he went so far as to attribute to Stalin a libertarian foreign policy, alleging the USSR practiced non-interventionism. When it was pointed out to him that the USSR invaded Finland, Rothbard added to his Second Edition a defense of Stalin's attack, arguing that Stalin only wanted to reclaim traditionally Russian Karelia and liberate all the Russians supposedly living there. All of that is a-historical nonsense and Rothbard simply invented it. The Soviets planned to capture all of Finland and had even assembled a new Marxist government they hoped to install in Helsinki. But even if it were true, how can Rothbard justify on libertarian grounds the bloodiest dictatorship in history attacking a free country in an effort to get "its" land and people back? It makes no sense, but Rothbard's only concern is to defend his indefensible claim that the United States surpasses the rest of the world in doing evil. Well before the First Edition came out there was ample evidence that the Stalin and other Soviet leaders engaged in interventionism all around the world, often quite bloodily (Katyn Forest anyone?) Rothbard's "libertarian" defense of Stalin is despicable and intellectually dishonest -- and that's the real problem with this book. Rothbard pretends that he's doing careful analysis and finding the state wanting, while showing that his own anarcho-capitalist system shines. But in fact, no argument is so bad, no intellectual sleight-of-hand too dishonest, if it will get Rothbard to his pre-chosen conclusion.
I appreciate Rothbard's fierce devotion to individual liberty in this book and there are many interesting ideas, but his willingness to make bad and even dishonest arguments in its defense lead me to conclude two stars. Frederic Bastiat argued "The worst thing that can happen to a good cause is, not to be skillfully attacked, but to be ineptly defended," so by that standard I'm letting Rothbard off easy.
Product details
|
Tags : For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto - Kindle edition by Murray N. Rothbard. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto.,ebook,Murray N. Rothbard,For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto,Stellar Editions
People also read other books :
- Perfectly Incorrect Why The Common Core Is Psychologically And Cognitively Unsound eBook Terry Marselle
- Perfectly Incorrect Why The Common Core Is Psychologically And Cognitively Unsound eBook Terry Marselle
- Perfectly Incorrect Why The Common Core Is Psychologically And Cognitively Unsound eBook Terry Marselle
- The Search For My Inner "I" Joseph W Macy 9781483679297 Books
- The Search For My Inner "I" Joseph W Macy 9781483679297 Books
For a New Liberty The Libertarian Manifesto edition by Murray N Rothbard Politics Social Sciences eBooks Reviews
It might change you too, if you pick it up and read it with an open mind.
The thesis of this book can be summed up as "libertarianism is a justified social philosophy and only it is capable of resolving our social problems in an economic and moral way." Other reviews can provide more detail, in fact you can read the whole book online for free if you know where to look and check it out yourself, or use the "look inside" feature.
Establishing that private property rights are ultimately justified, Rothbard tackles all the big issues of his day and our own -- war, the business cycle, environmental conservation, the public sector, welfare, education, personal liberty, etc. When he analyzes a problem and offers a libertarian solution, prepare to be have all your assumptions about the world challenged like you never thought possible, even if you are naturally sympathetic to the "lite" libertarian position of limited government. Rothbard does not pull punches -- only private property rights are justified, and therefore the government, which is intrinsically and institution that violates private property rights, is evil by nature and should not exist. The fact that libertarianism would be economically better is secondary to the moral issue. That is why this book is "hard"-core libertarianism and it is so valuable. (Most libertarian literature is grounded in economic arguments.)
That's the core of the book, essentially. For the remainder of this review I ask you indulge my personal story as to what this book meant to me when I read it -- perhaps that will produce a more compelling a reason to read it for some people.
This is the book that converted me to libertarian anarchism about 10 years ago, Before that, I was your typical minimal government "classical liberal" sort of guy. But in chapter 2, "Property and Exchange", I came across the argument that shattered my simplistic conception of the world and made me realize that no alternative to libertarianism is morally acceptable.
It wasn't that easy, of course. I grappled with Rothbard's arguments in my mind for a long, long time. I was figuring they were so radical they MUST be wrong, although the arguments were so clear and decisive it seemed oppressively difficult to say _why_ he was wrong. Eventually, I had to concede that Rothbard is, quite simply, correct on the issue of justice, and there is no honest way around it.
And this isn't even the hardest part! When it came time to face Rothbard's arguments on the superiority of PRIVATE COURTS and PRIVATE POLICE, I rather dogmatically assumed he had to be wrong. I could accept libertarian solutions to almost everything, being a classical liberal n' all that, but private courts? Private police?!? Come on... but even here, Rothbard is consistent where the classical liberal is not, and most importantly I found his arguments to be unassailable after long, careful, agonizing consideration. It is easy enough to agree that taxation is robbery, yet think taxing people to pay for socialized police services is legitimate just because "it has to be that way." But Rothbard attacks this inconsistency and demonstrates that socialized courts and police DON'T WORK, anymore than the post office, the Department of Education, or whatever, and government services are immoral anyway.
Needless to say, I am a Rothbardian now. People will say "Rothbard's solutions are impractical", which is simply false. What is impractical is the government, and liberty is the most practical solution of all. Not only that, but more important liberty is JUST. Let this book show you why -- it is the best introduction to libertarian-anarchism, along with another charming book by Dr. Mary J Ruwart called _Healing Our World_.
Rothbard makes a strong case that government has become too powerful and intrusive. I agree with a lot of what he says in the book. But there's just no way around the fact that he goes way too far. He advocates disbanding the military, police, courts, etc. and privatizing them all. I just don't see that as a viable solution. The title is misleading it's an anarchist manifesto, not a libertarian one. I don't think a society could function in this anarchist paradise. He carries a legitimate philosophy into political lunacy. Even Ron Paul, the closest Congress has to a libertarian today, wouldn't go nearly as far as Rothbard in dismantling the government.
It's difficult to figure how many stars to award this book, because it entails both the very good and the very bad, and descends into the very ugly.
The good first Rothbard's book is a classic of libertarian thought, and anyone with a serious interest in libertarian ideas should read this at some point. It is well- written in that it is quite readable, very interesting, and in many respects nicely argued. Whether you agree with him or not, Rothbard has very interesting perspectives on many issues and lays out what is a mostly self-consistent system of addressing problems using the free market instead of government. In short, he identifies serious problems with government action in various spheres, and proposes alternative free market/nonstate solutions. His defense of individual liberty is important reading. He takes on supposedly difficult cases for the market, such as provision of education, roads, and police and judicial services. Some of these are quite thought-provoking, and whether one finds them convincing or not, they are certainly worth reading. Rothbard essentially concludes that a stateless society based on anarcho-capitalism would be far superior to any state. This is crucial reading for anyone interested in understanding the anarcho-capitalism variant of libertarianism.
The bad In some places Rothbard's analysis is quite shallow, so much so as to almost make him seem silly. He basically ignores the public goods problem in economics, essentially by denying it exists. This is a serious error, since the primary argument for having government at all is based on this. His analysis is entirely inadequate and unconvincing. Similarly, in his discussion of private police and defensive agencies (his solution to replace the state) he responds to the challenge that such agencies would fight among themselves like mafias -- his response is to simply assert that they would find it too costly to fight. Well, that's a nonsensical response. One might as easily make the same argument about states to "prove" that wars never occur. If a profit-maximizing private defensive agency in stateless society decided it could make more by killing off its competitors and stealing their assets, why wouldn't it? It's a legitimate and obvious question, and Rothbard has no answer at all.
It gets worse...the ugly By the time he gets to foreign policy, Rothbard has been on such a jihad against the state, and the U.S. government in particular, that he goes berserk and accuses the United States of being the bad guys in the (then ongoing) Cold War. In the First Edition (1973) he went so far as to attribute to Stalin a libertarian foreign policy, alleging the USSR practiced non-interventionism. When it was pointed out to him that the USSR invaded Finland, Rothbard added to his Second Edition a defense of Stalin's attack, arguing that Stalin only wanted to reclaim traditionally Russian Karelia and liberate all the Russians supposedly living there. All of that is a-historical nonsense and Rothbard simply invented it. The Soviets planned to capture all of Finland and had even assembled a new Marxist government they hoped to install in Helsinki. But even if it were true, how can Rothbard justify on libertarian grounds the bloodiest dictatorship in history attacking a free country in an effort to get "its" land and people back? It makes no sense, but Rothbard's only concern is to defend his indefensible claim that the United States surpasses the rest of the world in doing evil. Well before the First Edition came out there was ample evidence that the Stalin and other Soviet leaders engaged in interventionism all around the world, often quite bloodily (Katyn Forest anyone?) Rothbard's "libertarian" defense of Stalin is despicable and intellectually dishonest -- and that's the real problem with this book. Rothbard pretends that he's doing careful analysis and finding the state wanting, while showing that his own anarcho-capitalist system shines. But in fact, no argument is so bad, no intellectual sleight-of-hand too dishonest, if it will get Rothbard to his pre-chosen conclusion.
I appreciate Rothbard's fierce devotion to individual liberty in this book and there are many interesting ideas, but his willingness to make bad and even dishonest arguments in its defense lead me to conclude two stars. Frederic Bastiat argued "The worst thing that can happen to a good cause is, not to be skillfully attacked, but to be ineptly defended," so by that standard I'm letting Rothbard off easy.
0 Response to "[PU4]⋙ Descargar Gratis For a New Liberty The Libertarian Manifesto edition by Murray N Rothbard Politics Social Sciences eBooks"
Post a Comment