bripat9643
Diamond Member
- Apr 1, 2011
- 170,163
- 47,312
Hoppe's books are very interesting and a good read. I recommend them to all freedom loving people. Of course, liberals will not be able to get through the first chapter without throwing up, so keep your heads buried in the sand.
Has Democracy Failed Capitalism? | JR Nyquist | FINANCIAL SENSE
Has Democracy Failed Capitalism? BY JR NYQUIST07/22/2013 Print More Sharing Services Readers who enjoy the works of Ludwig von Mises might enjoy reading Hans-Hermann Hoppes book, Democracy: The God that Failed. Hoppe is a distinguished fellow of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, a libertarian theorist and economist of the Austrian School who worries that democracy is destroying freedom and civilization. For in Hoppes view, economic freedom and property rights are essential for the preservation of civilized order. Hoppe explained his idea as follows: The process of civilization [is] set in motion by individual saving, investment, and the accumulation of durable consumer goods and capital goods . Stagnation and decline, he wrote, can be brought about only if property-rights violations become institutionalized .
Hoppe argues that latter-day democracy is progressively institutionalizing property-rights violations. In fact, he says that democracy is worse than monarchy in this regard because if the government is privately owned (under monarchical rule), the incentive structure facing the ruler is such that it is in his self-interest to be relatively farsighted and to engage only in moderate taxation and warfare. Under a government which is publicly owned, however, the incentives are different. According to Hoppe, the decivilizing effects of [democratic] government can be expected to grow strong enough to actually halt the civilizing process, or even to alter its direction and bring about an opposite tendency toward decivilization: capital consumption, shrinking planning horizons and provisions, and progressive infantilization and brutalization of social life.
Therefore the transition from monarchy to democracy, says Hoppe, represents not progress but civilizational decline. Democracy, in fact, opens avenues for the violation of property rights and state interference that monarchy with its more limited sense of power over society wouldnt have dared. Indeed, there is a kind of relativism in democracy wherein a majority vote forever menaces the market. With the advent of pressure-group politics increased welfare expenditures are inevitable. Ever-growing regulation also occurs, along with the encouragement of a permanent indigent class. The bankruptcy of the system is therefore built-in. The eventual collapse of civilization, sudden or gradual, is guaranteed.
Has Democracy Failed Capitalism? | JR Nyquist | FINANCIAL SENSE
Has Democracy Failed Capitalism? BY JR NYQUIST07/22/2013 Print More Sharing Services Readers who enjoy the works of Ludwig von Mises might enjoy reading Hans-Hermann Hoppes book, Democracy: The God that Failed. Hoppe is a distinguished fellow of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, a libertarian theorist and economist of the Austrian School who worries that democracy is destroying freedom and civilization. For in Hoppes view, economic freedom and property rights are essential for the preservation of civilized order. Hoppe explained his idea as follows: The process of civilization [is] set in motion by individual saving, investment, and the accumulation of durable consumer goods and capital goods . Stagnation and decline, he wrote, can be brought about only if property-rights violations become institutionalized .
Hoppe argues that latter-day democracy is progressively institutionalizing property-rights violations. In fact, he says that democracy is worse than monarchy in this regard because if the government is privately owned (under monarchical rule), the incentive structure facing the ruler is such that it is in his self-interest to be relatively farsighted and to engage only in moderate taxation and warfare. Under a government which is publicly owned, however, the incentives are different. According to Hoppe, the decivilizing effects of [democratic] government can be expected to grow strong enough to actually halt the civilizing process, or even to alter its direction and bring about an opposite tendency toward decivilization: capital consumption, shrinking planning horizons and provisions, and progressive infantilization and brutalization of social life.
Therefore the transition from monarchy to democracy, says Hoppe, represents not progress but civilizational decline. Democracy, in fact, opens avenues for the violation of property rights and state interference that monarchy with its more limited sense of power over society wouldnt have dared. Indeed, there is a kind of relativism in democracy wherein a majority vote forever menaces the market. With the advent of pressure-group politics increased welfare expenditures are inevitable. Ever-growing regulation also occurs, along with the encouragement of a permanent indigent class. The bankruptcy of the system is therefore built-in. The eventual collapse of civilization, sudden or gradual, is guaranteed.
