Freedom, Society, and State - Ludwig von Mises Institute

sents the possibility of loss. This means that the ent
rep r e n e ureou 1d neve r reI a x • Nos00n e r wo u I d he t r i ­
umph over one competitor than he would be met by others
i n ten t u p 0 n cut tingin t 0 his s hare 0 f the rna r ke t • No
sooner would he uncover a lucrative area for returns on
investment than other entrepreneurs would follow suit,
the increasing production forcing the profit rate down.
And ass 00 n ash e wo u I d fa i Ito t a ke a d van tage 0 f the
latest investment opportunities or .adopt the latest
met hod s 0 f produe t ion he wo u I d r iski 0 sing his i nves t ­
men t tot h 0 sewhod i d. And beh i nd a I I of th i s t he r e
is, of course, the ever present possibility of entrepreneurial
error. Since the first concern of the capitalist
is to realize a profit, and since the rigors of
the market mean that this is a difficult and perpetual
struggle for an ever elusive object, the capitalist has
n 0 con c ern for the rna r ke t, .ass uc h • Hen c e i t wa son I y
natural for him to turn, whenever possible, to the
state which, with its monopoly on the use of force,
could institutionalize profits by implementing various
statist measures such as tariffs, subsidies, licensing
res t ric t ion s, etc., inor de r to ke e p 0 uteompet i t ion,
r a i s e p ric e sand ke e p wa gerat e s I ow . The f r e e rna r ke t
anarchist is therefore in complete agreement with the
anti-statist Albert Jay Nock's contention that, contrar
y t 0 con ve n t .ion a 1 wi s d 0 m, " Arne r i can bus i ness never
followed a policy of laissez faire, never wished to
follow ii, never wished the State to let it alone."(43)
In other words, the individualist anarchist believes
that there is a natural affinity between wealth
and power. Those who have political power can use it
too b t a i n we a 1 t h • On the 0 the r hand, the we a I thy are
able to use their wealth to obtain political power.
Once in control of the state, they are in a position to
use the pol i tical means to perpetuate and even enhance
the i rown p 0 sit ionsin the soc i 0 - e con om i chi era r c hy •
As the individualist anarchist sees it, this creates a
vicious circle: wealth can be used to acquire political
power which in turn can be used to acquire more
wealth. While the circle is not completely closed, its
opening is certainly quite small. The "rise to the
top" by tho s e fro m the lower e con om i cst rat a i s not
ruled out completely. However, its occurrence which
would be difficult under any circumstances is made even
more so by the artificial obstacles imposed by the
elite. Such, in brief, is the individualist anarchist
theory of the state as an instrument of elite rule.
94