A Review of Hans-Hermann Hoppe's Democracy: The God that Failed

Among books written systematically and engagingly, with an immense depth of notes and research to accompany them, few of our time can rank alongside Hans-Hermann Hoppe's Democracy: The God that Failed. Hoppe, a professor of economics at the University of Nevada and senior fellow with the Ludwig von Mises institute, is an anarcho-capitalist of generally Rothbardian economic and political leanings. While the logic of certain of his positions may be questionable, some of the core theses of his book: the undesirability of majority rule, the natural proximity of conservatism and libertarianism, and the pervasive moral decay bred by modern social democracy, are invaluable to friends of liberty of all stripes. Hoppe eloquently dispels the deadly commonplace fallacy that liberty and democracy are mutually reinforcing, and demonstrates why, in fact, even the abuses of a monarchical tyranny pale in comparison to the modern welfare state, which exists because of, not despite the institution of majority rule.