Hoppe's Democracy: The God That Failed

With an ugly presidential election just three weeks away, we dive into Hans Hoppe's classic *Democracy: The God That Failed* to puncture some of the myths surrounding democracy and voting. Jayant Bhandari joins the show to discuss Hoppe's controversial thesis concerning monarchy and democracy, time preference and its manifestation in the two systems, the forces constraining monarchs, and the terrible incentives created for democratic rulers. This is a must-listen show for anyone interested in Hoppe's most famous work and its application to the problems western states face today.

[Epistemophilos]

"He has no fear of continuing to be spineless." What a great put-down!

[percyblok]

In no way, form or fashion should any government employee be able to vote. PERIOD.

[glennmiller]

5:40 "Governments are designed to be unaccountable." Truer words were never spoken!

[deathbycognitivedissonance]

Great talk. Thank you Jeff. Thank you Mr. Bhandari.

[tricksyhobbitses]

Jeff is kicking ass and taking names lately with his speeches.

[Macheako]

It is interesting isn't it. How in a Democracy....there is no concern about one's "Competence In Voting"....yet it's just ALWAYS believed that...."The Best Decisions Are Happening In A

Because of *reasons*

[ZomboJoe]

Jayant is an excellent thinker, his Capitalism & Morality conference is one of the best conferences.

[LawrenceTimme]

Physical removal squadron checking in 🚁🚁🚁🚁🚁🚁

[MindandQiR]

Wow, perfect! I just bought and started reading this great book!

[neeltheother]

Will we ever see the Mises Institute republish Democracy? It's great to see an audio book version in the works, but we need this book *read* more widely!

[UmaROMC]

The problem with 'restricting the vote to intellectuals and thinkers as much as possible' is clear to me:
LOOK AT OUR 'INTELLECTUALS' right now.
Furthermore, who would decide who is intellectual enough for suffrage?
I'm an industrial electrician. Last Friday, I was on a roof, alone, pulling cable for a new siren loop, in the rain, listening to Man, Economy and State.
I may or may not be of above average intelligence, but intellect is surely not the measure of wisdom. If wisdom were so easy to detect and select we would not have any of these problems in the first place, because we could just put those Enlightened Ones in charge directly instead of adding extra steps. That still sounds like a form of totalitarianism or 'soviet' to me man.
How about this for an answer: there is no answer. Building a stable society is impossible because change is inherent to both our environment and human action itself. Like anything, society must be continually built and maintained. Enlightened monarchy is just one bad roll of the genetic dice away from totalitarianism. Democracy is just a generation of soft, socialist fools or maddened fascist hounds away from the same.

[vannboseman]

Fun interview for me. Bhandari's views reinforced Dutton's and Hopkins' views on Indian entrepreneurs in Great Britain. His views again remind me of Dutton concerning the US being a new version of England reinforcing the idea for me.

[PeterQuentercrimsonbamboo]

Excellent interesting session - thanks muchly -

[MaximusWolfe]

Nice intro song. Age of Quarrel is a masterwork.

[brunopbch]

This title and this intro song makes me feel like I took steroids.

[CPubi]

amazing book. looking forward to the audiobook. the ones on youtube are garbage!

[homewall]

Liberty > Democracy. Democracy is fine IF AND ONLY IF government first must preserve the people's right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

[carpediemjonah]

Back in the late 1960's, I worked in a 3rd world country for two years. The petty corruption was open and, transparent. Government officials would ask for "dash" openly. Dash was a common term for, what can you offer me now to process your request?
Persons with government jobs expected to paid a dash, or you might wait days or weeks for your paperwork to be processed.
The oligarchs wee not entrepreneurial. They obtained monopoly over a resource because they were members of the ruing family or or clan. Yes. Their incomer per capita was much lower than it was during the colonial rule.

[lencumbow]

I read the book years ago. Hoppe makes a good case that Monarchy is superior to Democracy. The basic idea is that democratic leaders have little incentive to nurture society, so they loot their country indiscriminately - leading to growing corruption and eventual collapse. Leaders of Monarchies loot as well, but since they see their countries as largely their personal property they are better stewards of their countries; they are not as inclined to kill their personal golden goose - since they expect to pass that goose on to their descendants (something that leaders of democracies are not as likely to be able to do).

At a more fundamental level, Hoppe reaches the above conclusions based on (among other things) the Misesian axiom that the principle of private property is fundamental to a sustainable society. People are more inclined to care for their own property than the property of others (or owned by nobody/everybody - such as the commons). So, if everything is owned by somebody, everything will be maximally cared for.

[imulippo]

Judging democracy purely on pragmatic terms, it absolutely works since most people are happy to participate in a coercive system where they either win or lose in a short term.