Political Theory

From Human Action: A Treatise on Economics. Pages 11-29 in the text. Narrated by Jeff Riggenbach.

But people in a society do not find themselves in such a "one-shot Prisoner's Dilemma." Quite the contrary, they must deal with one another repeatedly.

Our present institutional arrangements are characterized as socialistic.

"You libertarians are really nuts. … Why depend on the willy-nilly whims of some capitalist exploiter when the state is there to provide this wonderful service for free?"

Pages 1-10 in the text.

Taxes are the price we pay for civilization.

Whether one calls oneself a Communist, Socialist, New Dealer, or just plain "democrat," one begins with the premise that the individual is of consequence only as a servant of the mass idol.

Central economic planning and laissez-faire capitalism are completely incompatible concepts — by definition.

Konkin cripples libertarian effectiveness by creating moral problems where none exist: by indicting as nonlibertarian or nonmarket a whole slew of institutions necessary to the triumph of liberty: organization, hierarchy, wage work, granting of funds by libertarian millionaires, and a libertarian political party.

Study of the past, it is assumed, discloses the shape of things to come. Any attempt to reverse or even to stop a trend is doomed to failure.