“Violent prevention and suppression of anti-social activities benefit the whole of society and each of its members. But violence and oppression are none the less evils and corrupt those in charge of their application.”
Socialism (1922), Epilogue (1947)
Context: State and government are the social apparatus of violent coercion and repression. Such an apparatus, the police power, is indispensable in order to prevent anti-social individuals and bands from destroying social co-operation. Violent prevention and suppression of anti-social activities benefit the whole of society and each of its members. But violence and oppression are none the less evils and corrupt those in charge of their application. It is necessary to restrict the power of those in office lest they become absolute despots. Society cannot exist without an apparatus of violent coercion. But neither can it exist if the office holders are irresponsible tyrants free to inflict harm upon those they dislike.
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Ludwig von Mises 62
austrian economist 1881–1973Related quotes
“Society is a self-regulating mechanism for preventing the fulfilment of its members.”
The Decline and Fall of Science (1976)
Peter Gelderloos, How Nonviolence Protects the State http://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/peter-gelderloos-how-nonviolence-protects-the-state (Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2007), 37.
“Those who suffer are not those at the top, but are the less privileged members of society.”
A.R. Kidwai in: Prime Minister of India Acting http://gulzarilalnandafoundation.com/nanda-itihas.html, Gulzarilal Nanda Foundation.
Source: Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907), Ch.4 Why Has Christianity Never Undertaken the Work of Social Reconstruction?, p. 149
Source: Constructing the subject: Historical origins of psychological research. 1994, p. 88
Source: A Theory of Justice (1971; 1975; 1999), p. 14.
Source: 1940s, Beyond the Aesthetics' (1946), pp. 38-39
