mises on secession - lud...von mises - mises daily

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Mises on Sec ession

Mises Daily: Friday, Oct ober 19, 2012 by Ludwig von Mises (ht t p://mises.org/daily/author/280/Ludwig-von-Mises) andHans-Hermann Hoppe (ht tp://mises.org/daily/author/164/HansHermann-Hoppe)

(http://mises.org/store/Product.aspx?Prod uctId=280)

A nat ion, t herefore, has no right to say t o a province: Youbelong to me, I want t o take you. A province consists of it sinhabit ant s. If anybody has a right to be heard in t his case it isthese inhabitant s. Boundary disputes should be sett led byplebiscite. ( Omnipotent Gov ernment(http://mises.org/document/5829/Omnipotent-Government-The-Rise-of-the-Total-State-and-

Total-War) , p. 90)

No people and no part of a people shall be held against its willin a political association that it does not want. ( Nation, State,and E conomy (http://mises.org/document/1085/Nation-State-and-Economy) , p.

34)

Liberalism knows no conquests, no annexat ions; just as it is indifferent t owards the st at e it self,so the problem of t he size of the st at e is unimportant to it. It forces no one against his willinto the struct ure of the stat e. Whoever want s to emigrate is not held back. When a part of the people of t he state want s to drop out of the union, liberalism does not hinder it fromdoing so. Colonies t hat want to become independent need only do so. The nation as an organicent ity can be neit her increased nor reduced by changes in stat es; the world as a whole canneither win nor lose from them. ( Nation, State, and E conomy (http://mises.org/document/1085/Nation-

State-and-Economy) , pp. 3940)

The size of a states territory therefore does not matt er. ( Nation, State, and E conomy (http://mises.org/document/1085/Nation-State-and-Economy) , p. 82)

The right of self-determinat ion in regard to t he quest ion of membership in a state thus means:whenever t he inhabit ants of a particular territ ory, whet her it be a single village, a wholedistrict , or a series of adjacent district s, make it known, by a freely conducted plebiscite,

that they no longer wish t o remain united t o t he state t o which they belong at t he time, butwish either to form an independent st ate or to at t ach themselves to some ot her state, theirwishes are to be respected and complied wit h. This is t he only feasible and effective way of preventing revolutions and civil and international wars. ( Liberalism(http://mises.org/document/1086/Liberalism-In-the-Classical-Tradition) , p. 109)

If it were in any way possible to grant t his right of self-determination to every individualperson, it would have t o be done. ( Liberalism (http://mises.org/document/1086/Liberalism-In-the-Classical-

Tradition) , pp. 10910)

The sit uat ion of having to belong to a state t o which one does not wish to belong is no lessonerous if it is t he result of an election than if one must endure it as t he consequence of amilitary conquest . ( Liberalism (http://mises.org/document/1086/Liberalism-In-the-Classical-Tradition) , p. 119)


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(ht t p://mises.org/st ore/Product .aspx?ProductId=53)

all point out that all essential defensive services can bebet t er performed by firms in the market . We can call t hesefirms government if we want t o.

Comment on this article.

Ludwig von Mises was t he acknowledged leader of the A ustrian School of economic thought , aprodigious originator in economic theory, and a prolific author. Mises's writ ings and lecturesencompassed economic theory, history, epistemology, government, and polit ical philosophy. Hiscont ribut ions t o economic theory include import ant clarificat ions on the quant ity theory of money, thetheory of the trade cycle, the int egration of monetary t heory with economic t heory in general, and ademonstration that socialism must fail because it cannot solve the problem of economic calculation.Mises was the first scholar to recognize that economics is part of a larger science in human action, ascience t hat Mises called "praxeology." See Ludwig von Mises's art icle archives(http://mises.org/daily/author/280/Ludwig-von-Mises) .

You can subscribe to future art icles by Ludwig von Mises via t his RSS feed (http://mises.org/Feeds/articles.ashx?AuthorId=280) .

Copyright 2012 by the Ludwig von M ises Instit ut e. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is herebygranted, provided full credit is given.

mises on secession - lud...von mises - mises daily

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