Introduction
So, Chaos Theory, huh?
Yeah, it's not actually about Chaos Theory, but it is a really cool title.
And the book itself may be the most important to date on anarchist theory and its possible application to the real world.
When I first read the draft of Bob's book, I was blown away by the sheer simplicity of his arguments,
and other documents, something I think is lacking in much of the existing important anarchist literature.
As simple explanations, a smart mixture of common sense and slimmed down economic theory
provide a perfect starting point for the curious non-anarchist, or a fantastic finishing point
for the committed anti-statist who has a few logistical doubts about the stateless society.
for a while now since way back when we were regular columnists on lewrockwell.com.
In May 2001 he helped me set up anti-state.com which has grown into the largest market anarchist
site on the internet, seriously.
He continues with this book his generous contribution to the next generation of anarchist evolution
which seems to have stagnated until recent months.
The continued expansion of the philosophy of non-aggression and cooperation hinges on the
ability of its supporters to bring high economic and moral theory down to the level of the
common man. Bob addresses the most common arguments against the abolition of the state
and completely obliterates them. Who will protect the borders if there's no state? Nobody,
moron. There are no borders except for those of private property, and that's defended without
What about the psycho neighbouring state who has it in for a stateless country that vastly
outperforms it economically and in every other area? Well, just because there is no state,
it does not follow that there is no defence. It's a common tactic of statists to accuse
us of wanting to abolish, say, assistance for poor people since they think that would
would be impossible without the state, but this isn't true at all. We don't want the
state to steal our money and give it to those who don't deserve it. We want the right to
our property, including all our money, and the right to help out whomever we deem deserves
it. This is consistent with the only rule of libertarianism, the non-aggression principle.
In the first section, Bob explains how a society without government would still have laws and
and Regulations. There would be no legal violations of the rights of property owners. In marketanarchy,
justice would be based on restitution, not retribution, meaning that criminals would
have to pay back their victims rather than be punished by the sadistic state.
In the second section, Bob brilliantly tackles the issue of private defense. I refuse to
To sum up my impression of the book, basically, intelligent, succinct, and, most important
of all, written in the language of the common person, without the haughty academic snobbery
so present in the currently available body of work, which tends to be a major problem
for those of us trying to popularize the movement. This is sure to become a fixture in the personal
and the classical libraries of countless libertarians and anarchists, and a classic in the realm of anarchist and Austrian economic theory.