printNot a word has the non-libertarian mainstream media said about the spontaneous order that has sprung from the disorder in Egypt. I’m referring to what Hans-Hermann Hoppe calls “the private production of defense”:
“Private-property owners, cooperation based on the division of labor, and market competition can and should provide defense from aggression.” (http://mises.org/journals/scholar/hoppe.pdf)
No sooner had the chaos erupted in Egypt than individuals acted to protect their families and private property.
Volunteers formed neighborhood watch groups to patrol the streets. They also set up checkpoints to stop criminals and mischief-makers from gaining access to private property.
Having endured the disparaging comments of an American policeman while he was fingerprinting me when I applied for my firearm license—I was amazed by the response of the Egyptian military to an armed, proactive citizenry:
“‘The military encourages neighborhood youth to defend their property and their honor,” the army said in a statement.
Honor is central to the macho Arab culture. “It is better to die with honor than live with humiliation,” goes an Arab saying. It is considered cowardly to fail to protect one’s kin and possessions. These, naturally, are timeless truths and values that transcend culture and religions. But men in the US have been neutered (often by their left-liberal women). Some liberal men would sooner see their homes robbed and their women imperiled than abandon pacifism. The most the typical Western man will do to defend hearth and home is to dial 911… and wait… and wait… . (And when tragedy strikes, they become eloquent spokespersons for everything but self-defense.)
There is almost nothing more immoral and unnatural than a liberal male.
As night follows day, the progressive policies enacted by such people lead to a regressive society.
UPDATED (Feb. 2): To the “contemplationist” who is horrified by Hoppe: I’m a minarchist as was Nozick, but I’m also a big Hoppe fan. Hoppe’s writings don’t horrify me; they delight.
I told my godfather the other day that the best way to weather a societal collapse/zombie apocalypse/whatever is to have a working network of people (most likely relatives and close friends) agree to share the responsibility of defending each others’ turf, women and children–BEFORE the collapse happens.
Many fantasy disaster scenarios imagine one crazed lunatic standing alone with his rifle and ginormous cache of ammo and some emergency supplies. That’s fine, he may last a few days, but in the end he’s one man and no one has his back. Plus, if a team takes him out they can simply loot his munitions.
The Egyptians have been hiring their own security forces for years to stop the theft by the police and police supported gangs. “http://www.freedominourtime.blogspot.com/” According to some of the articles written by William Grigg of Pro Libertate,(Too many articles about criminal police in the US to list here, check his archives) the US businesses need to start hiring “protection racketeers’ to protect them from ‘police protection.’
It sounds like the people of Mexico could take a lesson from the Egyptians. They are afraid of the police and even more afraid of the narcos. They’ve lost control of many neighborhoods. They are wholly incapable of defending themselves because they have succumbed to the idea that regular citizens should not have guns. Thus, they are at the mercy of the criminals (including the ones with badges).
“There is almost nothing more immoral and unnatural than a liberal male.” – quite true.
Thanks for the link to the article on defense…what an excellent treatise. Further, (non-neutered) men have an innate drive to protect family, friends, and even strangers. Any aggressor would instantly be outnumbered and out gunned.
What a near paradise the “free territories” would be!
I’m shocked! I searched the entire Hoppe treatise on defense for the word “Nozick” and 0 results were found! Anyone grappling with this question must wrestle with and defeat Nozick’s brilliant arguments in Anarchy, State and Utopia.
Where did I say I was horrified? I admire Hoppe. I was just saying that anyone publishing after Anarchy State and Utopia cannot ignore Nozick’s arguments against private production of defense, that’s all.