Democracy
The core of this book is a systematic treatment of the historic transformation of the West from monarchy to democracy. Revisionist in nature, it reaches the conclusion that monarchy is a lesser evil than democracy, but outlines deficiencies in both. Its methodology is axiomatic-deductive, allowing the writer to derive economic and sociological theorems, and then apply them to interpret historical events. A compelling chapter on time preference describes the progress of civilization as lowering time preferences as capital structure is built, and explains how the interaction between people can lower time all around, with interesting parallels to the Ricardian Law of Association. By focusing on this transformation, the author is able to interpret many historical phenomena, such as rising levels of crime, degeneration of standards of conduct and morality, and the growth of the mega-state. In underscoring the deficiencies of both monarchy and democracy, the author demonstrates how these systems are both inferior to a natural order based on private-property. Hoppe deconstructs the classical liberal belief in the possibility of limited government and calls for an alignment of conservatism and libertarianism as natural allies with common goals. He defends the proper role of the production of defense as undertaken by insurance companies on a free market, and describes the emergence of private law among competing insurers.
Stats for nerds
14recommend
32mentions
22people
2008–2025years
63% recommend34% neutral3% critical
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- >On paper it should be a good thing
Not really. Most people have terribly low time preference. Democracy for example is a very bad idea when you account for that (read Hoppe for a detailed explanation). Public company ownership is much better because it doesn't suffer from one vote per person, but still susceptible to much of the same management problems, specially in a society that already favors lower time preference by other means.
- Here's a good one: https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Economics-Politics-Perspect..., but there are many.
- Democracy: The God That Failed by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
Typically read by anarchists and libertarians, I'm not recommending it to change your politics, but rather as a philosophical exercise. It does an amazing job at taking something so ingrained and obvious to us and then flipping it on its head and forcing you to use your own logical faculties to prove whether or not what you always believed is actually logically correct.
A paradigm shifting book regardless of your politics or philosophical belief system.
- Democracy: The god that failed
- democracy: the god that failed
- Hans-Hermann Hoppe - Democracy: The God That Failed
This is a seriously mind bending book. You will never again see the world the same way. Not an easy book to read though. You will need to follow the references (and they are many), as otherwise you will refuse to believe what you are reading. Also, it is not a "pleasant" book to read. The author is not a great writer, only a great scholar.
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