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Aug 2020
1h 22m

1. Monarchy and Democracy

Dr. Saifedean Ammous
About this episode

Main points on Monarchy vs Democracy:

1. Time preference
2. Security of property
3. War
4. Democracy has perverse selection
5. Democracy legitimates government
6. Kings don't owe anybody anything
7. Rise of civilizations under monarchy

Relevant quote from Hoppe: "Traditional monarchies only resemble dictatorships superficially. Instead, dictatorships are a regular outgrowth of mass democracy. Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, and Mao were distinctly democratic rulers as compared to the former Emperors of Russia, Germany, Austria, and China. Indeed, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, and Mao (and almost all of their smaller and lesser known successors) were outspoken in their hatred of everything monarchic and aristocratic. They knew that they owed their rise to democratic mass politics, and they employed democratic politics (elections, referenda, mass rallies, mass media propaganda, etc.) throughout their reign."

Further Readings:

Hoppe, Democracy: The God That Failed

Hoppe, Political Economy of Monarchy and Democracy

Hoppe, The Myth of National Defense

Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Monarchy and War

Leland Yeager, A Libertarian Case for Monarchy

 

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