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Murray Rothbard

Murray Rothbard Quotes

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Famous Murray Rothbard Quotes

“I see no other conceivable strategy for the achievement of liberty than political action. Religious or philosophical conversion of each man and woman is simply not going to work; that strategy ignores the problem of power, the fact that millions of people have a vested interest in statism and are not likely to give it up.... Education in liberty is of course vital, but it is not enough; action must also be taken to roll back the State.”

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Author:Murray Rothbard
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“So: if the chronic inflation undergone by Americans, and in almost every other country, is caused by the continuing creation of new money, and if in each country its governmental "Central Bank" (in the United States, the Federal Reserve) is the sole monopoly source and creator of all money, who then is responsible for the blight of inflation? Who except the very institution that is solely empowered to create money, that is, the Fed (and the Bank of England, and the Bank of Italy, and other central banks) itself?”

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Author:Murray Rothbard
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“In fact, the libertarian would reason that the fact that human nature is a mixture of both good and evil provides its own particular argument in his favor. For if man is such a mixture, then the best societal framework is surely one in which evil is discouraged and the good encouraged. The libertarian maintains that the existence of the State apparatus provides a ready, swift channel for the exercise of evil, since the rulers of the State are thereby legitimated and can wield compulsion in ways that no one else is permitted to do.”

IfsMenWayHumansStatesReasonFactsEvilExistenceHuman NatureParticularReadyExerciseArgumentLibertarianFavorsGood And EvilRulersMixturesDiscouragedFrameworkCompulsion
Author:Murray Rothbard
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“What do intellectuals and opinion makers get from big government? An increasing number of cushy jobs in the bureaucracy, or in the government-subsidized sector, staffing the welfare regulatory state, and apologizing for its policies, as well as propagandizing for them among the public. To put it bluntly, intellectuals, theorists, pundits, media elites, etc. get to live a life which they could not attain on the free market, but which they can gain at taxpayer expense.”

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Author:Murray Rothbard
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“The modern welfare state, highly touted as soaking the rich to subsidize the poor, does no such thing. In fact, soaking the rich would have disastrous effects, not just for the rich but for the poor and middle classes themselves. For it is the rich who provide a proportionately greater amount of saving, investment capital, entrepreneurial foresight, and financing of technological innovation that has brought the Unites States to by far the highest standard of living - for the mass of the people - of any country in history.”

PeopleDoeCountryStatesFactsPoorClassRichGreaterModernMiddleEffectsAmountHighestMassStandardsInnovationInvestmentSavingWelfareMiddle ClassTechnologicalEntrepreneurialForesightStandards Of LivingWelfare StateFinancingSoaking
Author:Murray Rothbard
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“[W]hich category of crimes does the State pursue and punish most intensely? [T]hose against private citizens or those against itself? The gravest crimes in the State's lexicon are almost invariably not invasions of private person or property, but dangers to its own contentment, for example, treason, desertion of a soldier to the enemy, failure to register for the draft, subversion and subversive conspiracy, assassination of rulers and such economic crimes against the State as counterfeiting its money or evasion of its income tax.”

PersonsDoeStatesEnemyEconomicCrimeDangerExampleCitizensTaxesPropertySoldierIncomePursueContentmentCategoriesConspiracyRulersInvasionRegisterIncome TaxTreasonAssassinationSubversiveEvasionSubversionLexiconDesertion
Author:Murray Rothbard
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“Libertarians regard the state as the Supreme, the eternal, the best organized aggressor against the persons and property of the mass of the public. All states everywhere, whether democratic, dictatorial, or monarchical, whether red, white, blue or brown.”

PersonsStatesWhiteEternalMassRedRegardBluePropertyDemocraticLibertarianSupremeOrganizedBrownAggressorsAll State
Book:For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto
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“The libertarian creed...offers the fulfillment of the best of the American past along with the promise of a far better future. Libertarians are squarely in the great classical liberal tradition that built the United States and bestowed on us the American heritage of individual liberty, a peaceful foreign policy, minimal government, and a free-market economy.”

StatesGovernmentPastIndividualUnitedLibertyUnited StatesEconomyEconomicPolicyPromiseOffersBuiltEconomicsTraditionLibertarianPeacefulFulfillmentHeritageForeign PolicyCreedsFree MarketBetter FutureIndividual LibertyMarket Economy
Author:Murray Rothbard
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“Since leaving office in 1977, Dr. Kissinger has continued to play a highly influential role in U.S. politics, in the U.S. media, and in the Rockefeller world empire. It was Kissinger, along with David Rockefeller, who was decisive in the disastrous decision of President Carter to admit the recently toppled Shah of Iran, old friend and ally of the Rockefellers into the United States, a decision that led directly to the Iranian hostage crisis and to Carter's downfall.”

WorldStatesPlayPresidentDecisionUnitedRolesUnited StatesMediaOfficeCrisisLeavingEmpiresIranManipulationAlliesDrsInfluentialCarterOld FriendsIranianHostageDownfallKissingerPresident CarterHostage Crisis
Author:Murray Rothbard
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“Briefly, the State is that organization in society which attempts to maintain a monopoly of the use of force and violence in a given territorial area; in particular, it is the only organization in society that obtains its revenue not by voluntary contribution or payment for services rendered but by coercion.”

StatesUseGivenForceViolenceParticularAreasOrganizationContributionAnarchyRevenueMonopolyPaymentCoercionTerritorialUse Of Force
Book:The Anatomy of the State
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“I define anarchist society as one where there is no legal possibility for coercive aggression against the person or property of any individual. Anarchists oppose the State because it has its very being in such aggression, namely, the expropriation of private property through taxation, the coercive exclusion of other providers of defense service from its territory, and all of the other depredations and coercions that are built upon these twin foci of invasions of individual rights.”

PersonsStatesIndividualFocusRightsPossibilityBuiltPropertyDefenseTerritoryAnarchyAggressionTwinsTaxationInvasionCoercionAnarchistPrivate PropertyExclusionProvidersIndividual Rights
Author:Murray Rothbard
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“Once one concedes that a single world government is not necessary, then where does one logically stop at the permissibility of separate states? If Canada and the United States can be separate nations without being denounced as in a state of impermissible ‘anarchy’, why may not the South secede from the United States? New York State from the Union? New York City from the state? Why may not Manhattan secede? Each neighbourhood? Each block? Each house? Each person?”

IfsWorldMayPersonsDoeStatesGovernmentHouseNationsUnitedCitiesUnited StatesNew YorkUnionsSouthBlockCanadaNew York CityAnarchyManhattanWorld GovernmentNeighbourhoodsNew York StateCanada And The United States
Book:Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market, Scholar's Edition
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“All of the services commonly thought to require the State-from the coining of money to police protection to the development of law in defense of the rights of person and property-can be and have been supplied far more efficiently and certainly more morally by private persons. The State is in no sense required by the nature of man; quite the contrary.”

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Author:Murray Rothbard
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“It would be an instructive exercise for the skeptical reader to try to frame a definition of taxation which does not also include theft. Like the robber, the State demands money at the equivalent of gunpoint; if the taxpayer refuses to pay, his assets are seized by force, and if he should resist such depredation, he will be arrested or shot if he should continue to resist.”

IfsShouldTryingDoeStatesWould BeForcePayReaderExerciseDemandShotsDefinitionsRefuseAssetsTaxationTaxpayersSkepticalTheftArrestedRobbers
Book:The Ethics of Liberty
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“The libertarian sees the State as a giant gang of organized criminals, who live off the theft called "taxation" and use the proceeds to kill, enslave, and generally push people around. Therefore, any property in the hands of the State is in the hands of thieves, and should be liberated as quickly as possible. Any person or group who liberates such property, who confiscates or appropriates it from the State, is performing a virtuous act and a signal service to the cause of liberty.”

PeopleShouldPersonsStatesUseHandsCausesLibertyGroupsPropertyLibertarianCriminalsRevolutionaryPerformingGiantsOrganizedVirtuousThievesSignalsTaxationGangTheftLiberated
Author:Murray Rothbard
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