Anatomy of the State - Murray M. Rothbard
Anatomy of the State is like a pamphlet handed out by an obscure clubs at freshman orientation - short, provocative, and meant to get you in the door. In this case that obscure club is anarcho-capitalism.
For Rothbard, the government does not exist to serve citizens, it only serves itself and does what is necessary to protect its own interests. While free people gain money and wealth through free trade and ingenuity, the state gains by seizing the wealth and rights of others. The state is predatory and should be replaced entirely by private agencies.
Beyond the fact that nearly all of this opposes my world view, there is an underlying anger towards government here that I found distracting. Some of the periphery points about government are actually useful for a city-dwelling liberal like me to hear: like that the state is often self-interested and does things to preserve its own power. I’ve seen this first hand, and those self-interested motives can be detrimental to citizens’ best interest. That is usable criticism. But the underlying sentiment that the state serves no purpose and has no authority seems childish and unproductive. In a democracy where politicians on both sides of the aisle are trying to solve incredibly complex societal problems (albeit with very different strategies), Rothbard seems like the kid sitting on the sidelines of game he doesn’t like lamenting that “this game is stupid.”