From Minarchism to Anarchism in Ten Easy Steps: A Guide for Constitutionalists

Economics Political Theory
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Just some of my observations. There are two types of minarchists;

  1. Those who are open minded & susceptible to anarcho-capitalism, they have just never read or been shown how it could work, or that it has in the past.
  2. Those who worship the Constitution and State propaganda surrounding it. They have fallen for the “Hobbesian fear” and “We the people” are the government.

Possible ways to address these:

  1. If they have a sense of moral righteousness, rhetoric helps i.e Spooner and Rothbard. If they are a utilitarian (shame), David Friedman would be best.

Establish what the State actually is. An anti-social institution. Gang of thieves writ large. Political Elite. Class analysis: Rulers vs. Ruled. Taxation is theft. Government is the mafia. Social contract theory fails. Market can work everywhere. How can an institution purport to protect something, it must violate to exist?

  1. The Enemy of the State by Albert Jay Nock. (Constitution was a coup d’etat). And obviously Lysander Spooners work. No treason - Constitution of No Authority. Objectivists should read “Market for Liberty” by Morris Tannehill and Linda Tannehill.

Establish “We” (the people) are not the Government. “We” are the victims, not the oppressors. Minarchists always blame the people and themselves, *"*we didn’t hold them accountable [insert quote about eternal vigilence]". Yet how it is possible to stay vigilant when the victims (taxpayers) have lives and productive work to do, whilst the unproductive parasitic politicans cater to special interests and work full time to rob the populace?

  • Ask why not support the Articles of Confederation? It limits Government far more than the Constitution does.
  • If a state has to exist, a Monarchy is > than a democracy or Republic. Democracy the God that Failed by Hans Hermann-Hoppe. (Interview - audio)
  • In regards to the Hobbesian fear, point out what makes civilization possible. The division of labor and property rights.
    • Economy, Society, History by Herman Hans-Hoppe.
      1. The Nature of Man and the Human Condition: Language, Property, and Production
      2. The Spread of Humans Around the World: The Extension and Intensification of the Division of Labor
      3. The Production of Law and Order: Natural Order, Feudalism, and Federalism
  • Introduction to Natural Law by Murray N. Rothbard

Here is a nice fictional story, that illustrates many of the above points: A Fable for Our Times by Murray N. Rothbard. The following crystalizes it. The Anatomy of the State by Murray N. Rothbard

What the State Is Not
What the State Is
How the State Preserves Itself
How the State Transcends Its Limits
What the State Fears
How States Relate to One Another
History as a Race Between State Power and Social Power

Possibly ask them what books they have read on the subject? Ask for intellectual honesty. (Anarcho-Capitalism: An Annotated Bibliography by Hans-Hermann Hoppe) A nice quote might help:

“There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance. That principle is contempt prior to investigation.” ~ Herbert Spencer

Possible Objections:

The State evolved - See. (Robert Nozick and the Immaculate Conception of the State by Murray N. Rothbard)

Dictatorships will rise up out of anarchy - See. (Stateless Dictatorships video)

Hazlitt's Eco in One Lesson