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 iii 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 v 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 vii i 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 ix