Freedom, Society, and the State: An Investigation into the Possibility of Society without Government

416 Pages·1983·22.199 MB·English

by  David Osterfeld, William O. Reichert

FREEDOM,
SOCIETY AND
THESTATE
An Investigation into the
Possibility of Society
without Government
DavidOsterfeld
COBDEN PRESS
1800 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94102
Copyright 1986 by David Osterfeld
ISBN 0-930 439-08-2
To Emmy
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Forward by William O. Reichert xi
Preface xv
Chapters Page
I. A Political and Economic Overview 1
1. The Economic Spectrum of Ana~chis~:
Communism to Capitalism 5
a. Anarcho-Communism 5
b. Anarcho-Collectivism 6
c. Ana~cho-Syndicalism 8
d. Mutualism 10
e. Godwinism 12
f. Egoism 14
g. Philosophical Anarchism 15
h. Individualist Anarchism 16
2. The Political Spectrum of Capitalism:
Anarchism to Hyperarchism 17
a. Individualist Anarchism 17
b. Ultraminarchism 19
c. Minarchism 22
d. Evolutionary Individualist
Anarchism 24
e. Objectivism 26
f. Classical Liberalism 29
g. Conservatism 32
3. Summary 34
Part One: The Individualist Anarchist
Critique of Government 49
II. The State and Property Rights 51
1. The Distinction Between the Individualist
Anarchist and the Anarcho-Collectivist
Critiques of Government 51
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2. The Defense of Private Property:
Natural Rights Versus Utilitarianism 56
3. The Implications of Universal Private
Property 62
III. The State as a Caste Institution 73
1. The·Origin of the State 73
2. The Persistence of the State 79
3. The Gr'owth of the State 82
a. Democracy 83
b. War 86
c. Economic Intervention 87
4. The Total State 88
5. Who Rules the State? 93
6. Comments and Evaluation 95
IV. The State, Imperialism, and War 117
1. Three Theories of Imperialism 119
a. Autarky 119
b. Planned Scarcity 121
c. Inflation 125
d. Imperialism and Popular Support 127
2. Evaluations 131
a. Is the United States Imperialistic? 131
b. Analysis of the Theories of
Imperialism 135
3. Conclusion 140
Part Two: The Individualist Anarchist
Paradigm 149
VI
V. Some Justification for the State 151
1. The Argument from the Common Good 151
a. The Totalist Common Good 151
b. The Personalist Common Good 155
2. The Argument from Necessity 157
3. The Argument from Convenience 158
4. The Argument from Natural Rights 159
5. The Argument from Utility 160
6. The Argument from Liberation 165
7. The Argument from Economic Justice 168
8. Conclusion 170
VI. Philosophical Anarchism 177
1. Josiah Warren and the Outlines for
Individual Sovereignty 180
2. William B. Greene and Currency and
Banking Reform 189
3. Joshua K. Ingalls and the Ownership
of Land 195
4. Benjamin Tucker, Lysander Spooner and
the Provision of Police and Court
Services 198
5. Tucker and His Journal, "Libertyff:
Philosophical Anarchism Matured 208
6. Conclusions: The Decline of
Philosophical Anarchism 211
VII. The Politico-Economic Perspective of
Individualist Anarchism 221
V) )
1. Social Coordination 221
a. Priorities 223
b. Efficiency 224
c• Distr ibut ion 226
d. State, Economy, and Conscious
Coordination 226
2. Laissez .Faire, Power and Freedom 230
a. Power Defined 230
b. Ramifications of the Rothbardian
Influence-Attempt Taxonomy 236
c. Freedom Defined 239
3•. The PIight of the Poor 241
a. Government and the Poor 241
b. The Culture of Poverty 242
c. Poverty Statistics 243
d. Poverty Programs 244
e. The Market and the Poor 247
f. Care for the Truly Poor 250
4. Monopolies and the Free Market 250
5. Government and Utility 252
6. The Business Cycle and Depression 253
7. Government and Taxation 257
8. Democracy and the Market 260
VIII. The Areas of Anarehist-Minarchist
Agreement 273
1. Roads 273
a. Cost 274
b. Eminent Domain 275
.c. Inconvenience 278
d. Price Gouging 280
e. Safety 281
2. Education 282
3. Occupational Licensing 289
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4. ~oney 295
5. Ecology 300
a. Pollution 300
b. Conservation 306
6. "Public Utilities" 308
IX. Controlling Aggression:
Anarchism's Unique Solution 323
1. The Police and the Courts 323
a. The Rule of Law 323
b. The Courts 336
c. Police Protection 348
d. Prisons 361
2. Defense of the Nonstate 368
Conclusion 385
Index 393
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