“Political writers have established it as a maxim, that, in contriving any system of government, and fixing the several checks and controuls of the constitution, every man ought to be supposed a knave, and to have no other end, in all his actions, than private interest. By this interest we must govern him, and, by means of it, make him, notwithstanding his insatiable avarice and ambition, co-operate to public good. Without this, say they, we shall in vain boast of the advantages of any constitution, and shall find, in the end, that we have no security for our liberties or possessions, except the good-will of our rulers; that is, we shall have no security at all.”
Murray Rothbard, Mr. Libertarian, Turns 100
On March 2, 1926, Murray Rothbard was born in the Bronx, New York, an only child of immigrant parents. His father worked as a chemist and his mother encouraged his voracious reading. Early interests in history and logic foreshadowed a career in which he relentlessly...