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Notable Quote

"Social power is the power over nature, the living standards achieved by men in mutual exchange. State power is the coercive and parasitic seizure of this production: a draining of the fruits of society for the benefit of nonproductive, actually antiproductive, rulers."

— Rothbard, Murray event 1974

From Anatomy of the State

Context: From Anatomy of the State (1974). Rothbard contrasts the productive power that arises from voluntary cooperation with the parasitic power of the State, which lives off what social power has already created rather than producing anything itself.

Topics

policy Theory of the State military_tech Power apartment Society