Assume the Federal Government is Abolished

Assume the Federal Government of the US is abolished, and power is left to the States.  Are we one step closer or one step further from Ancap Society?  How many layers of government need to be abolished before we get there?  Federal? States? County? City? All of the Above?

“Once one concedes that a single world government is not necessary, then where does one logically stop at the permissibility of separate states? If Canada and the United States can be separate nations without being denounced as being in a state of impermissible “anarchy,” why may not the South secede from the United States? New York State from the Union? New York City from the state? Why may not Manhattan secede? Each neighborhood? Each block? Each house? Each person? But, of course, if each person may secede from government, we have virtually arrived at the purely free society, where defense is supplied along with all other services by the free market and where the invasive State has ceased to exist.” - Rothbard

To have a free ancap society every level of government must be gone.  If the federal government were abolished I don't know if things would be better or worse.  They have the potential to be better but I fear it would only be a matter of time before we found outselves right back where we started.  That's the nature of government.

Don Roberto:

- Rothbard

Nice.  Which of his works is this derived from?  

It's from the first chapter of "Power and Market", Defense services on the free-market.

It would definitely be a step closer. Without the federal government, it would be much easier for people to move from states with high taxes and a large welfare system to states without these things. Thus, the former would fall apart and the latter would prosper unless they changed their ways. And this easier competition between governments would reduce the scope of the state overall.

Harksaw:

It would definitely be a step closer. Without the federal government, it would be much easier for people to move from states with high taxes and a large welfare system to states without these things. Thus, the former would fall apart and the latter would prosper unless they changed their ways. And this easier competition between governments would reduce the scope of the state overall.

Yep. Today, trade agreements already make sure to "keep in line" countries that try to be economically competitive. And there are people that aren't satisfied with that and want stuff like global minimum wages to avoid flux of economic activities. If all federal mandates on the states were gone and yet they kept trade free among them, you'd see a lot of the competition you mention.

ViennaSausage:

Assume the Federal Government of the US is abolished, and power is left to the States.  Are we one step closer or one step further from Ancap Society?  How many layers of government need to be abolished before we get there?  Federal? States? County? City? All of the Above?

The collapse of the Federal US government will almost definitely coincide with the collapse of individual state governments.  Currently, states are barred from issuing their own money and must use Federal Reserve Notes as money.

When the Federal government collapses, state governments will have no money.  They will be unable to pay their employees and that will be the end of state governments as well as the Federal government.

It would depend heavily on how it happens. If the FedGov just fell apart or went bankrupt or something, it might not have any permanent result; the surviving State governments would simply form a new Union.

But if the States instead seceeded successfully, then the very premise of government would have been undermined entirely, as Rothbard pointed out... and that could be a fatal wound for statism.