Freedom, Society, and State - Ludwig von Mises Institute

FOOTNOTES
{I )Alexander Berkman, ABC of Anarchism (London:
Freedom Press, 1973), p. 9.
(2 )Peter Kropotkin, "Law, the Supporter of Crime,"
Patterns of Anarchy, eds. Leonard Krimmerman and
Lew i s Per r y ( New Y0 r k : Do ubI e day and Co., 19 68 ), p •
292.
(3)Peter Kropotkin, The Conquest of Bread (New
York: Benjamin Bloom, 1968),p. 18; Berkman,pp. 74-75.
(4)Peter Kropotkin, "A Scientific Approach to
Com m u n i s t Ana r chi s m," Pat terns of An arc h y, e d s •
Leonard Krimmerman and Lewis Perry (New York: Doubleday
and Co'., 1968), p. 226. .
( 5) Be r kma n, p. 31.
(6)Richard and Ernestine Perkins, Precondition for
Peace and Prosperity: Rational Anarchy (Ontario:
Private Publication, 1971), p. 9.
( 7 ) L u dwig von Mis e s, Soc i ali s m ( London: J. Cape ,
1969), pp. 37-42. And Murray Rothbard, Power and
Market (Menlo Park, Calif.: Institute for Humane
Studies, Inc., 1970), p. 139.
(8)Friedrich A. Hayek, The Road to' Serfdom
(Chicago: Phoenix Books, 1967). See especially Chapter
Ten, "Why the Worst Get on Top," pp. 134-52. For a
reply to Hayek see Herman Finer, The Road to Reaction
( B 0 s ton: Lit tie, Brownan d Co., 1945). Wh i Ie Hayek
sees corruption and the abuse of power as endemic to
po lit i cs, Finer sees them as largely a funct ion of \he
type of political order and, in a democracy at least,
the ex c e p t ion rat her t han the r u Ie. Robe r t Ni s be t ,
however, has recently advanced the interesting proposition
that, if anything, these things would occur with
greater regUlarity in a democracy than in other political
orders: "Democracy, with its tacit responsibility
to the electorate, with its accountability in some deg
r e e to leg i s I a t u res, pre s s, and pub 1 i c, ca r r i e s a
larger 'potential for deception than is likely in other
forms of government simply by virtue of this accountabiii
t Y • " The Tw iIi g h t 0 f Aut h 0 r i t Y (N ew Yo r k: Ox ford
University Press, 1975), p. 17. Regardless of whether
one subscribes to the Hayekian and Finerian explanation
of political corruption and abuse of power, empirical
documentat ion of these phenomena in this country is
certainly abundant. Watergate, of course, comes first
to mind. Of the legions of books now written on the
sub j e c t, The 0 d 0 r e Whit e 's The Brea c h 0 f Fa i t h ( New
York: Dell, 1975) is the most balanced and reflective
t 0 a p pea r t h u s far. Someat t em ptis now be i ng rna d e to
place Watergate in historical perspective. Jarol
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