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Libertarians And Immigration Archive
Democracy vs. Freedom (And The Nation-State)?
By Jared Taylor
Almost all libertarians (with the exception of the heroic Von Mises
Institute) want open borders because they think border control is
just one more tyrannical act of government. Hans- Hermann Hoppe, a
libertarian who teaches economics at University of Nevada at Las
Vegas, has finally set the movement right on this question. Free
immigration, he explains, is a misnomer. What the open borders crowd
are really pushing is forcible integration, a denial of the rights of
natives. This argument is just one of many that make Democracy�The
God That Failed deeply subversive, even revolutionary.
This book is a powerful critique of government, specifically of
democratic government, which Prof. Hoppe thinks is worse,
theoretically, than monarchy. It marshals the laws of economics and
human nature to explode one liberal myth after another.
For example, many people think �free immigration� and �free trade�
are necessary complements, but Prof. Hoppe points out they have
little in common. Free trade requires willing buyers and sellers of
goods, but immigrants walk across the border whether they are wanted
or not. Even if there are employers who want immigrants, it does not
mean other citizens want to share parks, shopping malls, streets, and
movie theaters with them. Therefore, if capitalists really want
foreign workers, they should keep them in self-sufficient company
towns rather than force them on the rest of us.
Prof. Hoppe points out that antipathy towards those unlike one�s own group is
perfectly natural and no obstacle to trade:
�From the fact that one does not want to associate with or live in the neighborhood of
Blacks, Turks, Catholics or Hindus, etc., it does not follow that one does not want to
trade with them from a distance. To the contrar
y, it is precisely the absolute voluntariness of human association and separation�the
absence of any form of forced integration�that makes peaceful relationships�free
trade� between culturally, racially, ethnically, or re
ligiously distinct people possible.�
Immigration policy, in Hoppe�s controversial view, is just one example of how
democracies are inferior to monarchies. A king takes a proprietary view of his
kingdom�because he owns it�and wants to increase the value of th
e estate he will pass on to his heirs. By contrast, Hoppe argues,
democratically-elected rulers act like tenants who want to get as much out of their
temporary occupancy as possible. They have to appeal to the mob to be e
lected, and once in office care more about short-term exploitation than long- term
improvements.
An owner/king has a simple immigration policy: He expels criminals and losers and
admits only productive people. Prof. Hoppe explains how presidents are different:
�[B]ums and unproductive people may well be preferred as residents and citizens,
because they create more so- called �social problems,� and democratic rulers thrive on
the existence of such problems. Moreover, bums and in
ferior people will likely support egalitarian policies, whereas geniuses and superior
people will not. The result of this policy of non-discrimination [in immigration
policy] is forced integration: the forcing of masses o
f inferior immigrants onto domestic property owners who, if the decision were left to
them, would have sharply discriminated and chosen very different neighbors for
themselves.�
It is egalitarianism�the myth behind one-man- one-vote�that Prof. Hoppe dislikes most
about democracy. �There is nothing ethically wrong with inequality,� Prof. Hoppe
explains, but democracy promotes the idea that inequal
ity is an outrage, which leads to indignation over differences of wealth and income.
Politicians win elections by promising to reduce these differences, which means one of
the central tasks of government is redistribution
of wealth by taxing away the property of one group of citizens and giving it to
another.
Transfer payments of this kind foster a spirit of larceny:
�Everyone may openly covet everyone else�s property, as long as he appeals to
democracy; and everyone may act on his desire for another man�s property, provided
that he finds entrance into government.�
Since candidates win office by appealing to covetousness, �prime ministers and
presidents are selected for their proven efficiency as morally uninhibited
demagogues.� Kings, on the other hand, were not necessarily bad peo
ple. Moreover, they didn�t believe in equality and didn�t have to win votes, so had
neither theoretical nor practical reasons to redistribute wealth.
Prof. Hoppe takes the view that cultural conservatism is not compatible with the big-
government nanny-state democracy inevitably brings. Social security and Medicare
support people in old age and makes them less dependen
t on their children, thus weakening family ties and reducing birth rates. Support for
single mothers encourages illegitimacy. All such programs subsidize irresponsibility.
Ultimately, it is inherent in the nature of government�which Prof. Hoppe defines as �a
territorial monopoly of compulsion��to increase its powers and exploit citizens. If
there must be governments, they should do nothing
more than protect property against fraud, crime, and foreign invasion, but as Prof.
Hoppe explains, they always want to do more:
�In the name of social, public or national security, our caretakers �protect� us from
global warming and cooling and the extinction of animals and plants, from husbands and
wives, parents and employers, poverty, disease,
disaster, ignorance, prejudice, racism, sexism, homophobia, and countless other public
enemies and dangers.�
In the United States, all this protection requires a Code of Federal Regulations that
takes up 26 feet of shelf space, thus �revealing the almost totalitarian power of
democratic government.� It also requires high taxes
and armies of parasitic bureaucrats.
The United States is, in fact, a perfect example of the futility of trying to limit
government. It has a plainly-written Constitution that enumerates specific federal
powers and reserves the rest to the states and the pe
ople. But presidents and bureaucrats simply ignore the Constitution.
What to do? Prof. Hoppe thinks it is pointless to tinker with policy, thereby leaving
the �territorial monopolist of compulsion� in place. He insists on outright abolition
of government, with private, competing organizati
ons assuming its few genuinely useful functions. He thinks insurance companies could
protect against crime and invasion, just as they do against natural disasters. He also
thinks that in the absence of government, natural
aristocrats would arise to arbitrate contract disputes between citizens.
Prof. Hoppe is not optimistic government can be abolished soon�indeed, it is expanding
relentlessly towards a global government that would be colossally repressive�yet he
reminds us that �every government can be brought d
own by a mere change in public opinion, i.e., by the withdrawal of the public�s
consent and cooperation.� He suggests that, after a critical mass of opinion was
achieved, a few cities might secede and form �natural order�
societies, whose success would prompt imitators.
Appealing as this vision may be, it is hard not to be skeptical of the idea of
abolishing government entirely. Insurance companies might be able to track down
burglars and rapists, but it is hard to imagine even the best-
equipped among them managing to protect libertarian statelets from greedy neighbors
with governments, armies � and potential immigrants. Abolition of government is the
sort of experiment one might prefer to watch some oth
er country try before attempting it oneself.
But whether a �natural order� society is ever established, it is refreshing to read an
author who so clearly and logically justifies the contempt for government that is
increasingly widespread. It may never be possible to
put every last bureaucrat out to pasture, and so long as even a few remain we are
well advised to heed Prof. Hoppe�s warning:
Once the principle of government - judicial monopoly and the power to
tax - is incorrectly accepted as just, any notion of restraining
government power and safeguarding individual liberty and property is
illusory.
Jared Taylor is editor of American Renaissance.
December 28, 2001
End<{{{
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