The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

210 THE FREEMAN Apriltradition was a strictly limitedconcept.Before this ideal could be fullyimplemented, it began, like mostideals, to be abused. As suffragewas extended - which was not necessarilyinimical in itself - thisdemocr~cy became ever less limited.In exchange for votes, the politiciansbegan to promise moreand more. The function of thestate, accordingly, could no longerbe restricted to the protection ofthe life, liberty, and property ofits citizens. The interventioniststate thus began to supplant thelaissez-faire state, even before thelatter had been fully established.These statist measures were, inmany cases, humanitarianly motivated,that is, aiding the poor, assistancefor the jobless, and so on.Nevertheless, the inevitable corollaryof this proliferation of governmentintervention was the precipitationof aggressive nationalism.It was the inevitable result ofan ethos that sanctioned the extensionof government into allphases of life. It was, in short, theemergence of the total state.Whether it came as autocracy oras the "despotism of the majority"was irrelevant.Significance of National BoundariesIn a planned, autarchic economy,territorial boundaries are ofsupreme importance. An isolatednation must possess all of its requirednatural resources. Thelarger the area under control, thebetter it can provide for its wantsand needs. Yet, no country isblessed with a position of completeeconomic self-sufficiency. Autarchy,accordingly, must manifestitself in aggressive nationalism,in the desire of every country forthe control of ever larger areas.What is required to make peaceviable, therefore, is a lessening ofthe significance of boundaries.This could only be attained,however, if the governments of theworld were confined in their activitiesto protecting the life, liberty,and property of their citizens.Only then would internationalboundaries lose their significance.It would then make no differencewhether a nation were large orsmall; its citizens could derive nobenefit or sustain any damagefrom the extension or loss of territory.Under a laissez-faire system,where all transactions wouldtake place between individuals unimpededby government, the sizeof a nation would not matter. Noone would be aided or hurt by atransfer of territorial jurisdiction,since all property would be held byindividuals and all transactionswould take place between individuals.If the primacy of private propertyand free trade were the rule,