Anarchism, Reason, and History [1]:...

Anarchism, Reason, and History: "Hoppe is only the latest thinker in the tradition of philosophical anarchism. His mentor, the late Murray Rothbard, was another. Both owe their ideas to a great but little-known nineteenth-century American, Lysander Spooner. Spooner's position was simple. There is a moral law, which in essence we all learn in early childhood, even before we know our math tables. Basically it is this: Don't harm other people. The principle is simple, even if its applications may occasionally be difficult. From this, Spooner reasoned, it follows that no state should exist. Nobody can claim the power to change the moral law or a monopoly of the authority to enforce it. But the state claims the right to do both. It tries to change the moral law by legislation, which is falsely thought to add to the moral duties of its subjects; and it insists that only it may define, outlaw, and punish wrongs. The results of the state's claims include war, tyranny, slavery, and taxation. Human society would be better off without the state."