Hans-Hermann Hoppe: Public Sector Employees are "Parasites"

German-American libertarian philosopher and Austrian economics expert Hans-Hermann Hoppe(I use his full name to distinguish him from the Georg-Büchner-Preis winner Felicitas Hoppe) was interviewed recently in connection with the publication of his book Wettbewerb der Gauner in Germany.  In the interview Hoppe attacks the evils of democracy, which for him is just a form of communism:

Und vielleicht setzt sich dann auch endlich die Einsicht durch, dass die Demokratie, in deren Namen all diese Sauereien geschehen sind, nichts anderes ist als eine speziell hinterlistige Form des Kommunismus; und dass die Politiker, die diesen moralischen und wirtschaftlichen Irrsinn angerichtet haben und sich an ihm persönlich bereichert haben (und doch nie für den von ihnen angerichteten Schaden haften mussten!), nichts sind als ein verachtungswürdiger Haufen kommunistischer Gauner.

(And perhaps finally it will sink in that all of these awful things are done in the name of democracy, the most insidious form of communism. And the politicians who enrich themselves with this moral and economic madness (and for which they are never held accountable( are nothing more than a contemptible band of communist crooks.)

Anyone who earns a paycheck from the public sector - public school teachers, fire fighters, police officers, town managers, etc. - are "parasites" who are stealing the wealth of the property owners - the natural elite.  Once again it is democracy that is at the root of this monumental fraud and theft:

Ich behaupte und habe dies in meinen Werken auch vielfältig zu belegen versucht, dass die Demokratie für diesen fatalen Zustand sogar ursächlich verantwortlich ist. Die Zahl produktiver Personen nimmt ständig ab, und die Zahl derjenigen Personen, die von dem durch die ersteren erarbeiteten Einkommen und Vermögen parasitär zehrt, nimmt ständig zu. Das kann auf die Dauer nicht gut gehen.

(I have attempted to show in my work that democracy is responsible for this fatal situation. The number of productive individuals is on the decline, while the number of people who are parasites on the income created by the former continues to grow.  That can't be good in the long run.)

The joke of course is that Hoppe's salary and pension are paid for by the taxpayers of the state of Nevada. 

What would replace democracy in Hoppe's brave new world?  In his book Democracy: The God that Failed, Hoppe extols the virtues of feudal monarchies over the modern pluralistic states and societies.  The natural elite aristocrats of yore had a superior, long-term "time preference" in contrast to the parasitic political class that control democracies.  I'm guessing then that Hoppe's contempt for Germany and the United States is matched with admiration for Saudi Arabia, whose royal family certainly has a long-term "time preference."

Hoppe's diatribe against democracy is echoed again this month in the libertarian magazine eigentümlich frei which includes an editorial by Andreas Tögel attacking democracy:

Wahr ist vielmehr: Freiheit und Demokratie passen schlecht zu einander, ja – sie schließen einander aus!

(The truth is: freedom and democracy don't belong together - indeed, they cancel each other out. ) 

 

Comments

[Hattie]

Darn. When will the masses learn to bow down before their overlords?

[koogleschreiber]

Hilarious. If freedom and democracy cancel each other out, the opposite must also be true. Freedom and tyranny belong together. And the tiger will lie with the prey.

[michijo]

His views are the Northern European's desire of a return to feudalism and landed estates. In a sense, that is what we have returned to already, a sort of capitalist-feudalism - in which case his Germanic perversity is merely confusing issues, unable to deal with the present reality of capitalist-feudalism.

[michijo]

This made me realize something: Nevada is a hotbed of Libertarian nuts like Wayne Root. I formerly didn't associate Nevada specifically with Libertarians. Now I see the pattern there.