Lew Rockwell uses just 162 pages to demolish the idea that we need the State. Covering every important aspect of the State that its apologists insist make it necessary for us to submit. That submission comes under threat of force and backed up by a history of unleashing violence to enforce that threat.
Lew tackles the Warfare State, the drug war, the assault on our liberties, how the bankers have waged war on the taxpayers, and how America really is a fascist system. His chapter on war dismantles the neocon propaganda that the various wars and military engagements since the end of World War 2 have resulted in the liberation of the oppressed, replaced by freedom and democracy. Lew Rockwell notes that because of technology, never before have we had access to so much information, yet American’s remain blind (by choice?) to the horrors perpetrated in their names.
Although he dedicates a chapter to “The Assault On Our Liberties”, this entire book is an interwoven testament to how the existing system dismantles the Bill of Rights. From the police state that has arisen with frightful speed since 9/11, to the government essentially claiming ownership of our bodies with the War on Drugs, and condemning America’s progeny to a life of debt slavery through massive money printing.
In the end, Rockwell disassembles the Minarchist idea of a limited government and explains how a free-market anarchist system would work. I’m not naive and I certainly don’t believe in utopia. It’s the world unlikely to exist anytime soon if for no other reason than the violence the current system can bring to bear to cling onto the power they’ve carved out for themselves. Nonetheless, this book should be read by anyone who even questions the status quo.