Busting Myths About the State and the Libertarian Alternative

by Zack Rofer

In non-technical terms, the libertarian is simply someone who is against the use of force against peaceful people in civil society. You would think that this would be a universally accepted idea, but to believe in government as we know it is to be at odds with this idea. There are many popular myths that are used to try to justify the existence of the state, and also many popular myths about libertarianism and the free market. This book explodes both sets of myths, and is both a primer for those taking a first look at these topics, as well as a tool for libertarians looking to sharpen their advocacy.

Genres: Politics, Economics

227 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 7, 2018

Reviews

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm swinging back and forth on rating this book for me or for others. For myself at this precise moment in time, it's probably only 3 stars, because there is literally not a single argument in this book that I am not already familiar with, though of course it's nice to have them reformulated from time to time. For others though, I'd struggle to think of a more effective primer into the radical and True(TM) libertarian philosophy, i.e. anarchist, free market. Those unfamiliar with the arguments may have their minds blown.

[Paul Fogel · Rating 5 out of 5]

How Would a Stateless Society Work?

The author goes into some length explaining the morality of the stateless society and the immorality of statist societies. Then he outlines how a stateless society would most likely function, using examples from history and from current voluntary arrangements. The arguments presented are so well thought through and comprehensive. This book is a big, genuine contribution to libertarian theory and practice.

[Andrew Allison · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author takes on an enormous task and should be applauded for the breadth of topics discussed. This breadth, however, lead to the book's downfall as Rofer was unable to apply consistent (or even libertarian) definitions of items such as "the state" "the free market" or "anarchy". While I agree with every conclusion Rofer comes to, almost every argument rested upon unstated assumptions or unexplained theories. I have no doubt that Rofer is fully acquainted with these theories but is unable to give them proper treatment since he was limited to such a small amount of space for each topic. For example, while I agree with his description of money and credit, he does not give much more of an explanation of the boom-bust cycle other that a summary analysis and a mention of Mises and Hayek.

One great thing I took away from this book was the spirit of little wins in libertarianism. As noted in the conclusion we need not be only satisfied with "all or nothing". The end of Chapter 5, on how to help avoid the state in your own life, I thought was particularly inspiring and offered me ideas I myself had not previously heard of. It is reminiscent of Jeffery Tucker's "Bourbon for Breakfast" and I would recommend any libertarian read this section.

Overall, I would not recommend this book to any newcomer to libertarianism and would certainly not recommend it to a more veteran reader although I would guess that the former was the intended audience. Given it's "low-rigor" style of analysis and definitions inconsistent with that of mainstream libertarian thinkers, I am curious why the LvMI published this book.