Reddit reviews Democracy – The God That Failed (Perspectives on Democratic Practice)
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A systematic treatment of the historic transformation of the West from limited monarchy to unlimited democracy.
Let's think about libertarians for a minute:
☑ Fundamental belief that only the strong should survive
☑ Weird beliefs about genetic superiority
☑ Movement that consists almost entirely of white men
☑ Advocate overthrow of democratically elected government
☑ Armed militias
☑ Prone to believing in conspiracy theories
☑ Cult adherence to philosophy
☑ Belief that truth may only be found in official party documents
☑ Dismissive of actual experts and empirical evidence
☑ Identification of racial minorities as scapegoats for societal ills
☑ Rabid protection of corporate power
☑ Disdain for intellectuals and the arts
☑ Rampant sexism
☑ Advocating the suppression of labor power
☑ Obsession with central banks laced with anti-Semitic undertones
☑ Disdain for human rights and the rights of children in particular
☑ Single-leader rule preferable to democratic rule (see Hoppe)
☑ Rabid defense of reactionary and racist thought.
☑ Unwillingness to compromise
☑ Inexplicable obsession with firearms and military-style uniforms
☑ Broad connections with other right-wing and reactionary sects
☑ Appropriation of nationalist language and symbology
☑ Persecution narrative among the privileged
☑ Placing money and power ahead of human beings
Let's face it. There is a lot in common here. It's all uniquely Anglo-America-flavored. And they'll deny it up and down. But there are too many signs to ignore it completely.
Amazon link
Mises Institute page
Free PDF
Libertarians, specifically ancaps, literally started /r/EndDemocracy and wrote books like Democracy the God that Failed and articles like A Libertarian Case for Monarchy.
Whether you personally realize it or not, libertarians really do hate democracy and want to replace it with strongman dictators, or monarchs in polite terms.
A pretty radical thing to say but a thing that must be said.
Democracy is the worst form of tyranny. It fools the mob into thinking it has the might of power, when in reality that power is most concentrated and unaccountable in a democracy.
Many libertarians have already theorized on why Monarchy is even a better form of governance than Democracy. For those interested in reading more check our: http://www.amazon.ca/Democracy-Economics-Politics-Monarchy-Natural/dp/0765808684
Great video Jeff! Keep them coming please!
Daily reminder that Democracy != Freedom, and is not even technically necessary for freedom to exist.
>even if the mob does graffiti up my website on occasion.
Or jump you and steal your money.
>A 230 year old legal document that has seen every President from Richard Nixon to George Washington wipe his ass with it when he finds it inconvenient doesn't protect people from anything.
Completely true.
>Democracy is - like it or not - the only real check on government.
Laughably foolish. Democracy is the God that failed, to quote Hans Hoppe.
>The American model – democracy – must be regarded as a historical error, economically as well as morally. Democracy promotes shortsightedness, capital waste, irresponsibility, and moral relativism. It leads to permanent compulsory income and wealth redistribution and legal uncertainty. It is counterproductive. It promotes demagoguery and egalitarianism. It is aggressive and potentially totalitarian internally, vis-à-vis its own population, as well as externally. In sum, it leads to a dramatic growth of state power, as manifested by the amount of parasitically – by means of taxation and expropriation – appropriated government income and wealth in relation to the amount of productively – through market exchange – acquired private income and wealth, and by the range and invasiveness of state legislation. Democracy is doomed to collapse, just as Soviet communism was doomed to collapse.
Source (translated from German).
> Your morals in terms of what's fair and what's not are yours but in order to operate a democratic state people must abide by the laws even if some dont see them as fair
Why? In the US, Martin Luther King Jr rejected the laws regarding protest while speaking out against injustice. Rosa Parks rejected the laws about blacks riding in the back of the bus. Muhammad Ali rejected the laws on conscription. If a law is unjust, a man is not only right to disobey it, he is obligated to do so.
> The self determination right is an individual right
ONLY an individual right?
> includes infraeastructures, markets and territory that as of now are available to every European citizen, that the rest of Spain has contribute to sustain and create,
By that argument, the best approach would be a single, global govt. After all, why should the people of the US contribute to infrastructure ONLY they get to use. How can different countries POSSIBLY interact if they can't have shared infrastructure and markets.
No, what you're talking about is the cost of separation. It exists and is a discussion worth having once you recognize the group has the right to political autonomy. So hold the damn vote to see if you even need to get to that point. Maybe you're right and it will fail.
> the example of the job doesn't translate well.
Sure it does. After all, you quitting creates a cost on the company. They have to search and hire a new employee. They have to train them. The other employees will be less efficient and effective while they're finding someone new to replace you. So clearly there's a cost. You're trying to argue that there even exists a cost means that they shouldn't have the right to self-determination at all. That's a complete nonsequitur.
> Also since this is a nationalistic movement, they will drag the 49% of those who dont want that independence, even if huge chunks of them want to remain as spain or other free political organizations, calling for the unity of Catalonia (that by the way each year seems to be a bigger part of Spain for them). At the end of the day this is not about democracy or self determination, it's about nationalism
Maybe you're right. Maybe democracy is overrated.
https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Needs-Aristocracy-Peregrine-Worsthorne-ebook/dp/B0047DVIE8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539794329&sr=8-1&keywords=democracy+needs+aristocracy
https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Economics-Politics-Perspectives-Democratic/dp/0765808684/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539794369&sr=8-1&keywords=democracy+the+god+that+failed+by+hans-hermann+hoppe
https://www.amazon.com/Liberty-Equality-Challenge-Our-Time-ebook/dp/B0074B6T94/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1539794438&sr=8-1&keywords=erik+von+kuehnelt-leddihn
Geez, where to start?
First of all, since WWII there has only been one election decided by 10% or more, and that was Reagan. Every other election has been nearly 50/50 between the two parties. No matter the changes in demographics, which states voted what, which issues matter, etc. Always basically a coin toss as to who wins.
So to say "We are imploding as a country" is just hyperbolic idiocy. We are, as we have been for 70 years, divided in half. Seriously, just stop. If the election results on one hand or the "protests" on the other cause you to think anything real has changed, grab some smelling salts, grab your fainting couch, grab a Xanax, get a therapist, whatever, but seriously stop being such a drama queen. Half the county is Republican, as it has been for nearly a century, and the Democratic left is a bunch of cry babies, as they have been since 1969 at the latest. Just stop.
Second, this whole massive angst is, again, such a great example of why democracy is not a great idea. It takes EVERYTHING related to government - law, economics, foreign policy, war, whatever - and transforms it into an ideological statement about life, the universe, amd everything. It makes it such a bigger deal than it ever would otherwise be. As everyone, from democracy's supporters to its critics acknowledge. It's not that important. Just let it go.
https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-God-That-Failed-Perspectives/dp/0765808684/
If you're actually ready to question our state religion of democracy, not just joke about it, you might enjoy this 1951 book by "ultraliberal monarchist" Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn.
Short summary: it's not true that the opposite of democracy is dictatorship. The opposite of democracy is the rule of law. Dictatorship, aka Caesarism, is the first cousin of democracy and generally its most stable endpoint.
Hans-Hermann Hoppe's Democracy: The God That Failed is also worth reading, but it's not on line as far as I know.
No, the fact that these people have German names doesn't mean they're Nazis.
What I've posted.
Here you go: https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-God-That-Failed-Perspectives/dp/0765808684
You might enjoy Democracy - The God that Failed by Hans Hermann Hoppe
Sure.
Property rights include the right to own your self, your labor, real property and personal goods. Property rights mean that one has the right to sell, trade, buy, lease property with other consenting parties at their own discretion.
Democracy is a system where your neighbors claim to have the right to take your property or restrict your use of your property without your consent. To vote themselves into your pocket, and steal from you or place you into indentured servitude based on the arbitrary results of a popular vote.
Democratic government subjects free individuals to the tyranny of others. Persons holding no valid claim to the property of others vote to steal, appropriate or restrict the rights of free individuals and take their property without their consent.
Democracy in essence is a soft variant of communism. It is the belief that our property rights are subject the the whims of our neighbors, who can magically vote themselves the right to steal our property without our consent.
Edit: For the full breakdown, written by someone smarter than myself: https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-God-That-Failed-Perspectives/dp/0765808684
>at the end of the day if you can convince enough people to think the way you do all the reasons in the world doesn't matter anymore.
And that's the issue with democracy. Well, one of them at least.
Recommended read
Interesting, I'm an an-cap and there is a good book about how monarchy may have been preferable to democracy. It espouses a school of thought that is very much hated by the left.
https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-God-That-Failed-Perspectives/dp/0765808684
I don't find this argument very compelling - he basically just tries to form a link between progressive taxation and concepts that he assumes will elicit a favorable response from the listener (democracy and free market thinkers).
The first link is to democracy. Let's grant that progressive taxation and democracy go hand in hand. Even then, you'd still have to prove that democracy is inherently good. Which is difficult to do.
The second link is to free market thinkers. Even if we ignore the fact that he misrepresents the support of progressive taxation by free market thinkers, such support doesn't necessarily mean it's right. Just because Adam Smith or George W. Bush (really?!) spoke favorably of progressive taxation, we shouldn't take those ideas as truth. Heck, Smith and Ricardo believed in the labor theory of value, but that doesn't mean that we should too.
It's a pretty big tent. It's hard to point to one place.
There's a good community here in r/DarkEnlightenment. The learning curve for DE (AKA "neoreaction") is pretty steep, so perhaps a good place for the libertarian to start is From Mises to Carlyle.
There's also Hoppe. Many libertarians get skeptical about democracy and venture beyond libertarianism via him. Even Rothbard, in his later writings, started going in a somewhat Hoppean direction. Maybe try Democracy: The God That Failed. Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn is another along these lines.
Bertrand de Jouvenel is another gateway drug. He's a classical liberal whose description of how power works utterly undermines classical liberal ideas of sociology and anthropology. Try his On Power, and then follow it up with The Patron Theory of Politics for a tour through the illiberal consequences of his ideas.
Jonathan Bowden was a great English intellectual who gave a series of lectures on various illiberal thinkers such as Heidegger, Evola, Carlyle, Spengler, Pound, Nietzsche, and even Marx and other socialist thinkers. He functions as a sort of TL;DR for the illiberal right, and so makes for a very good introduction. His lectures are engaging and can be found on Youtube, but probably the best of them is a Q&A he gave about his own views.
https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Economics-Politics-Perspectives-Democratic/dp/0765808684
You're right.
Democracy is the god that failed.
> no, that would mean, there are market opportunities to improve something there
How so?
> That would be feudalism or maybe some sort of pure version of utilitarianism like Mill.
What I described is what many prominent right-libertarian thinkers, for [Rothbard] (https://mises.org/library/ballots-and-bullets) to [Mises.] (https://mises.org/library/mises-fascism-democracy-and-other-questions) Pretty much the entire [austrian school of economics really.] (https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Economics-Politics-Perspectives-Democratic/dp/0765808684) I can get you specific relevant quotes from any of the above if you need them.
I do agree with you though that a market completely free of government interference would rapidly turn into fuedalism, but that's not the baseline libertarian position.
Regarding the system you're describing, I would wager that the regulations you call for alone create a market that isn't truly free, but also where does the government obtain the funds to carry out this role? If it's through taxation then we're again drifting away from a free market and we bump into that taxation is theft bit too, if you believe in that. These not-for-profit government services as well, you're describing social services and or a public option, again, no longer a free market. Also, what's to stop especially rich companies from buying out the government and using these regulations and taxes that you're cool with for their benefit?
I mean, what you're describing is essentially just Keynesian social democracy.
> There is no social Darwinism here, govt ensures base survival and rights of people.
Social darwinism needn't be life or death, just a sorting of society through competition with the idea that the best folks would end up on top and the worst at the bottom, that the most innovative, intelligent, and productive companies will overtake the others. The wealth the CEOs of that company obtain is justified and right, and so is the poverty of those who go fail and go bankrupt. The market working as intended.
No one mentioned dictatorships. A highlt individualistic society with a polycentric law system is far better than both dictatorships and democracy.
Democracy is the rule of the mob and a spiral towards communism. The reason you're paying that many taxes for all the "free" shit the government gives out to "needy" people is democracy. It's because women got to vote and voted for shit that women like.
Reading tip: https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-God-That-Failed-Perspectives/dp/0765808684
http://www.amazon.com/Democracy-The-God-That-Failed-Economics/dp/0765808684
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CGGuZLjy1E
There are superior alternatives to democracy. Don't fall for the myth that "it's the best thing we've got".
Let's think about libertarians for a minute:
☑ Fundamental belief that only the strong should survive
☑ Weird beliefs about genetic superiority
☑ Movement that consists almost entirely of white men
☑ Advocate overthrow of democratically elected government
☑ Armed militias
☑ Prone to believing in conspiracy theories
☑ Cult adherence to philosophy
☑ Belief that truth may only be found in official party documents
☑ Dismissive of actual experts and empirical evidence
☑ Identification of racial minorities as scapegoats for societal ills
☑ Rabid protection of corporate power
☑ Disdain for intellectuals and the arts
☑ Rampant sexism
☑ Advocating the suppression of labor power
☑ Obsession with central banks laced with anti-Semitic undertones
☑ Disdain for human rights and the rights of children in particular
☑ Single-leader rule preferable to democratic rule (see Hoppe)
☑ Rabid defense of reactionary and racist thought.
☑ Unwillingness to compromise
☑ Inexplicable obsession with firearms and military-style uniforms
☑ Broad connections with other right-wing and reactionary sects
☑ Appropriation of nationalist language and symbology
☑ Persecution narrative among the privileged
☑ Placing money and power ahead of human beings
Let's face it. There is a lot in common here. It's all uniquely Anglo-America-flavored. And they'll deny it up and down. But there are too many classic fascist warning signs to ignore it completely.
Democracy: The God that Failed
http://www.amazon.com/Democracy-The-God-That-Failed-Economics/dp/0765808684
Democracy: The God That Failed
Sounds like you might be a libertarian-leaning conservative. (Old type, before the neo-con takeover.)
Some question you should ask yourself:
What is your definition of utility, and how can the worth of a utility be measured?
When is it moral for a government to do something that it is not moral for an individual to do? Why?
How do you know Democracy is the least bad system of government? There are good arguments against it. Some examples:
http://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Economics-Politics-Monarchy-Natural/dp/0765808684
http://www.amazon.com/Notes-Democracy-H-L-Mencken/dp/0977378810/ref=pd_sim_b_8
Without answering some of those questions, and many others like them, if only for yourself, you will be working with assumptions that you aren't even aware of.
We got where we are because of Democracy.
http://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Economics-Politics-Monarchy-Natural/dp/0765808684
We have this in Germany where elections are financed by a fixed amount that is distributed to the parties based on the results of the previous elections.
I can tell you that this does not change much and our politics suck just as much.
As long as you OWS people think that corporations are the problem and it can be solved by changes in government nothing will get better in the long run.
For those willing to think for themselves and not follow the OWS hive mind I suggest reading Democracy: The God that Failed
Just what I want, Reddit running my life.
http://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Economics-Politics-Monarchy-Natural/dp/0765808684/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320015513&sr=8-1
Reactionary Thought
Chartism – Thomas Carlyle
Latter-Day Pamphlets – Thomas Carlyle
The Bow of Ulysses – James Anthony Froude
Popular Government – Henry Summers Maine
Shooting Niagara – Carlyle
The Occasional Discourse – Carlyle
On Heroes, Hero Worship & the Heroic in History – Carlyle
The Handbook of Traditional Living – Raido
Men Among the Ruins – Julius Evola
Ride the Tiger – Julius Evola
Revolt Against the Modern World – Julius Evola
Reflections of a Russian Statesman – Konstantin Pobedonostsev
Popular Government – Henry Maine
Patriarcha (the Natural Power of Kings) – Sir Robert Filmer
Decline of the West – Oswald Spengler
Hour of Decision – Oswald Spengler
On Power – Jouvenel
Against Democracy and Equality – Tomislav Sunic
New Culture, New Right – Michael O’Meara
Why We Fight – Guillaume Faye
The Rising Tide of Color – Lothrop Stoddard
Liberty or Equality – Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
Democracy: The God that Failed – Hans-Hermann Hoppe
****
Economics
Economics in One Lesson – Henry Hazlitt
Basic Economics – Thomas Sowell
That Which is Seen and That Which is Not Seen – Frederic Bastiat***
Man, Economy, and State – Murray Rothbard
Human Action – Ludwig von Mises
****
​
I would recommend one of three books to persuade your friend (you can read more about them to choose what you think may be the best). Hope you find a decent gift among the list:
Democracy, you say?
https://www.amazon.com.br/Democracy-God-That-Failed-Economics/dp/0765808684
I would suggest you look into how radically successful Rwanda is right now.
Here's a start:
http://specific-gravity.blogspot.com/2015/12/out-of-africa.html
Furthermore, democracy in America post 1947 illustrates why democracy is a failed utilitarian concept in my view. Most of what you cite as a positive is challenged rather succinctly by how history has unfolded.
http://www.amazon.com/National-Security-Government-Michael-Glennon/dp/0190206446
http://www.amazon.com/Democracy---God-That-Failed-Perspectives/dp/0765808684/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1449086577&sr=1-1&keywords=democracy+the+god+that+failed
https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Economics-Politics-Perspectives-Democratic/dp/0765808684
Huemer is the most persuasive to me currently, simply by defeating all rival statist positions so completely (and without requiring you to accept some universal moral system), but if you're coming from a monarchist perspective, I would be derelict in my duties not to emphatically recommend Hoppe's Democracy: The God That Failed. He positions enlightened absolute monarchism as a solution only 2nd best to his "natural order" private property system (market anarchism). His perspective on shortening time preference, degeneration of morals and ethics (decivilization), revisionist history, critiques of democracy, etc. as the western world moved from monarchy to democracy are recommended.
You believe in democracy?
Democracy--The God That Failed
This
Try reading for once.
https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Economics-Politics-Perspectives-Democratic/dp/0765808684
Democracy is so flawed, one of its flaws is that it leads to a large state as the people keep voting for more stuff.
Whilst we may all be equal in the eyes of God we are not all equal in our attributes, so how is it that we all have an equal vote? majority rule is a dictatorship of the mob. How is it that 50.1% of people can impose their collective will on the rest?
Democracy the God That failed
Não acharia má idéia não, melhor que o sistema atual.
A idéia retardada de idade média de ter um cargo definido por herança é colocar um incentivo em alguém para essa pessoa pense em termos mais perenes de país, e não se preocupe tanto em ganhar as eleições.
O argumento tá mais dissecado aqui
https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Economics-Politics-Perspectives-Democratic/dp/0765808684
No entanto, sendo honesto, eu não li esse livro, então não posso dizer se concordo com tudo que está lá ou se eu fiz juz a argumentação apresentada neste livro.
https://mises.org/library/introduction-democracy-god-failed
ill start with this and see where it gets me.
judging from amazon reviews, I don't think itll do anything good reading the book, as I disagree with monarchy and his preference for aristocracy.
reviews
Secretly?
What's logical about allowing corruption to infiltrate the halls of power on the grounds of fairness and democracy? How about a constitutional monarchy. California wouldn't be a deficit state if Jeff bezos was the lord of the east coast
Low taxes, stupid shit like marijuana wouldn't be illegal, no national military means we won't be isreals kebab removalist
I don't see what isn't logical about wanting to go to a system less retarded than ours is right now. read real 21st century literature
A republic is a more effective form of government though. Someone really should tell the protesters...
http://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Economics-Politics-Monarchy-Natural/dp/0765808684
"... wealth created by labor is not returned to the laborer."
This is a fallacious argument. Wealth is indeed proportionately returned to laborers. Honestly, this is a juvenile position which serves to highlight a fundamental lack of economic understanding.
As a business owner, I personally bear all the responsibility and risks of owning my business. A worker does not. It was me, and only me, who put up the money, found my building, and built it out to serve my needs with my own planning and labor. I personally purchased my gear and did the research that led to these decisions. I personally decided on how my business would be presented to the market. I spent my own money on advertising. I can keep going, but you should get the point. If my business had failed, no one would lose any money but me. An employee of mine risks nothing, while I risk everything. That should be very obvious. I am entitled to the lion's share of the rewards for those risks. Businesses don't exist to provide people with jobs. They exist to create wealth for their owners/investors. In fact, labor is very expensive and is kind of a last resort expense for employers. This is very basic economics. You should read some Milton Friedman, Murray Rothbard, and Thomas Sowell. Only a young person with little to no real-world business experience would give any credibility to these marxist ideals you're playing with. Successful small business owners are rarely marxists, and you would do well to exorcise this stuff from your worldview asafp.
As for the left/right stuff...
This is so important to understand -
The left/right divide is biological, and people really only 'switch sides' when they experience an epigenetic change. The left/right divide in politics is not what it seems; it's not a game where there's a 'team' that you pick because you like their uniforms or whatever. Politics are actually the manifestation of a literal war between competing gene sets. It is a struggle for survival, just like you observe in all of nature - our war is over the management and distribution of resources. Biologists recognize two different reproductive strategies in all organisms on Earth. One is called the r-strategy, and the other is known as the K-strategy. You are aware of these strategies, even though you've very likely never heard of r/K selection theory. Leftists/marxists are from the more r-selected camp, while conservatives/libertarians represent the K-selected end of the spectrum. You know, instead of me trying to fit all of r/K selection theory into a Reddit comment, I'll just provide a link to part one of a three-part presentation of it. This is probably the best introduction to this idea that I've ever seen. https://youtu.be/W8N3FF_3KvU
Highly recommended if you want to have an advanced understanding of what human society really is. I can't recommend that enough, honestly. (This link might drop you in the middle of the video, but definitely start it from the beginning)
Also, you should really read these books:
The Economics and Ethics of Private Property: Studies in Political Economy and Philosophy https://www.amazon.com/dp/0945466404/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_8tZ.zbEJ35P6A
Democracy – The God That Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy and Natural Order (Perspectives on Democratic Practice) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0765808684/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_QuZ.zbBN0PT33
https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-God-That-Failed-Perspectives/dp/0765808684
Bonus: why monarchy is better than democracy. I'm not really embarrassed to have this on my bookshelf, but I'm not exactly proud either.
The biggest weakness of libertarian ideologies is the understanding of history and historical contexts. In a bubble, many of the ideas are consistent and logical, and in most cases admirable. In reality they are a bunch of conservative talking points with no increase in actual freedom for most people.
I don't have to imagine it. He had the power to destroy everyone on earth at the push of a button. It's true that he could only do it for 8 years, but maybe there could be a system that doesn't even give "nucular" codes to such a monster in the first place.
Here's the book whose arguments I'm referring to, by the way.
https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-God-That-Failed-Perspectives/dp/0765808684
Have you ever taken statistics? Have you ever seen or used a pie chart?
If every reddit account EVER CREATED voted for Jill Stein -instead of Obama- he would lose ~2% of the popular vote.
In fact, if humanity is truly this vast and stupid then I should just stop trying.
I highly recommend this if you haven't already read it.
Democracy – The God That Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy and Natural Order (Perspectives on Democratic Practice) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0765808684/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_YQLPBb5KYSYRD
http://www.amazon.com/Democracy-The-God-That-Failed-Perspectives/dp/0765808684
Or perhaps we should entertain the possibility that democracy is not such a great thing.
Nothing on this earth will ever be perfect, but democracy is one of the worst forms of what we have had. Hans-Hermann Hoppe did whole book on the topic.
https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Economics-Politics-Perspectives-Democratic/dp/0765808684
There are more compelling arguments for why democracy is an unworkable paradigm.
As Hans-Hermann Hoppe hinted in his Democracy: The God That Failed, in monarchies the character of the leader can be good or bad, it is random and determined by sheer lucky; in dictatorships, the leader will come into scene because he is power hungry and generaly competent to conquer and maintain that power; but in democracies, on the other hand, the best liars and manipulators are the ones that tend to be consistenly elected, with no relation whatsoever to their competence and actual responsibility toward the country...
When I read that book perhaps a decade ago, Hoppe's ideas looked intelligent but mildly crazy. As the years passed, though, the book became ever more prophetic in retrospect...
This
This
This
This
relevant link http://www.amazon.com/Democracy-The-God-That-Failed-Economics/dp/0765808684