All evidence points to the superiority of the libertarian ideal — private property, capitalism, international trade, laissez-faire — but something is keeping the world from embracing it. That something is a wrongheaded ideology — some philosophical error grown into a massive system of thought, an agenda that if unleashed would mutilate and crush civilization as we know it.
Murray Rothbard had a nose for such error. And when he smelled it he wrote it up, exposed its underside, refuted its logic, and obliterated its intellectual foundation. That's why he was so hated — and so loved. His relentless arguments make the reader squirm. But he also teaches and inspires.
Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature and Other Essays just might be the wildest Rothbard romp ever. Fully armed, he slices and dices crazies of all sorts, from those who would level all incomes to those who would free all peoples of the world through bombings and nuclear war. This is Rothbard providing the reader a strong dose of sanity against the hordes of ideological fanatics who care not a knit for reality or reason.
But Rothbard is not one of those thinkers who, like Russell Kirk, concludes that ideology is itself a bad thing. On the contrary, Rothbard believes that ideology is critical for the defense of liberty: we must organize our ideas to make sense of the world and to have an agenda for the future.
Thus does this book also include outstanding pieces of positive theory, including "Justice and Property Rights," "War, Peace, and the State," and "Left and Right: The Prospects for Liberty." It concludes with his rallying cry: "Why Be Libertarian?"
With all the political books out there, each with a partisan spin, it's wonderful to read a thinker who doesn't fear exposing the errors of both the Left and the Right, measuring everyone against the great benchmark of the idea of liberty.
