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The State has invariably shown a striking talent for the expansion of its powers beyond any limits that might be imposed upon it.
Murray Rothbard
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote critiques the tendency of governments to increase their authority without regard to legal or ethical limits.

Murray Rothbard's quote highlights a fundamental skepticism towards the state's propensity to expand its power unchecked. He suggests that throughout history, governments have consistently demonstrated a capability to extend their reach beyond the bounds that society might attempt to establish, posing dangers of authoritarianism and loss of individual freedoms.

Themes

GovernmentPowerAuthorityFreedomPolitics

In practice

Example use cases

During a political debate, one could use this quote to emphasize the need for checks on government power.

More from Murray Rothbard

Human life is not some sort of race or game in which each person should start from an identical mark. It is an attempt by each man to be as happy as possible. And each person could not begin from the same point, for the world has not just come into being; it is diverse and infinitely varied in its parts. The mere fact that one individual is necessarily born in a different place from someone else immediately insures that his inherited opportunity cannot be the same as his neighbor's.
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Ultimately, there is no entity called 'government'; there are only people forming themselves into groups called 'governments' and acting in a 'governmental' manner.
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In the market, the fittest are those most able to serve the consumers; in government, the fittest are those most adept at wielding coercion and/or those most adroit at making demagogic appeals to the voting public.
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The 'boom-bust' cycle is generated by monetary intervention in the market, specifically bank credit expansion to business.
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No one may threaten or commit violence ('aggress') against another man's person or property. Violence may be employed only against the man who commits such violence; that is, only defensively against the aggressive violence of another. In short, no violence may be employed against a non-aggressor. Here is the fundamental rule from which can be deduced the entire corpus of libertarian theory.
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If government manages to establish paper tickets or bank credit as money, as equivalent to gold grams or ounces, then the government, as dominant money-supplier, becomes free to create money costlessly and at will. As a result, this 'inflation' of the money supply destroys the value of the dollar or pound, drives up prices, cripples economic calculation, and hobbles and seriously damages the workings of the market economy.
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