Like we Libertarians say:
"Democracy is good, but freedom is better."
From the article:
"Suppose there existed a world democracy with one vote for each person in the population. Is it not obvious, as Hans-Hermann Hoppe points out, that the world would adopt a flagrantly favorable policy towards China and India at everyone else's expense?
On the other hand, suppose two robbers break into a house and start ransacking the place. When the owner comes down to protest, the robbers, if abiding strictly by the rules of democracy, could simply hold an election to determine whose property the belongings actually are, and with their superior numbers, outvote the legitimate owner.
These examples may seem theoretical, but our government today abides by this exact philosophy. As Murray Rothbard said, "On the free market, everyone earns according to his productive value in satisfying consumer desires. Under statist distribution, everyone earns in proportion to the amount he can plunder from the producers."
Indeed, it is not capitalism that leads to exploitation as the Left contends; it is democracy. Government housing projects benefit well-connected developers, bureaucrats, and insurance companies while the poor end up in dilapidated, crime and drug-infested neighborhoods. Business leaders support the Export/Import Bank, the IMF, the World Bank, farm subsidies, and war because these institutions insulate them from competition and provide them with lucrative contracts. Important congressional chairmen get the best roads and public works projects through their districts, regardless of actual need. In each case, taxpayers foot the bill.
To those who say that this is not plunder, but compassion, I ask, is it right to pick-pocket your neighbor if you give that stolen money to the poor? To those who say that government is voluntary and that taxes are equivalent to rent, I ask, what will happen if you attempt to secede from the government and refuse to pay your income tax?"
AND:
"Only in a society where all services are provided through voluntary association, where consumers hold ultimate sovereignty by providing the most efficient producers of necessary and luxury goods with profits can rule of law, individual liberty, and property rights be upheld. Such a society is not in a state of anarchy; authority is simply decentralized to the lowest possible and most just level â the business, the community, the family."
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The article states that it was written last week, but if you had just showed me the above material and told me it was all personally written by Ayn Rand herself- I'd have believed you.
He even threw the word "statist" in there for good measure!
Good to see a modern writer following so closely in Ayn's footsteps...
