Taking the State wherever found, striking into its history at any point, one sees no way to differentiate the activities of its founders, administrators and beneficiaries from those of a professional-criminal class.
Albert J. NockRead
There are two methods, or means, and only two, whereby man's needs and desires can be satisfied. One is the production and exchange of wealth; this is the economic means. The other is the uncompensated appropriation of wealth produced by others; this is the political means.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote distinguishes between two ways of obtaining wealth: through economic production or political appropriation.
Albert J. Nock's quote emphasizes the dichotomy between two foundational approaches to satisfying human needs and desires: through productive economic activities or through political means, which involve taking wealth created by others without compensation. It invites readers to consider the ethical implications of how wealth is generated and distributed in society, highlighting the contrast between voluntary exchange and coercive appropriation.
Themes
WealthProductionPoliticsEconomicsAppropriation
In practice
Example use cases
Discussing economic policies in a political debate.
More from Albert J. Nock
All quotes →The State, on the other hand, both in its genesis and by its primary intention, is purely anti-social. It is not based on the idea of natural rights, but on the idea that the individual has no rights except those that the State may provisionally grant him. It has always made justice costly and difficult of access, and has invariably held itself above justice and common morality whenever it could advantage itself by so doing.
Albert J. NockRead
Another strange notion pervading whole peoples is that the State has money of its own; and nowhere is this absurdity more firmly fixed than in America. The State has no money. It produces nothing. It existence is purely parasitic, maintained by taxation; that is to say, by forced levies on the production of others. 'Government money,' of which one hears so much nowadays, does not exist; there is no such thing.
Albert J. NockRead
It is unfortunately none too well understood that, just as the State has no money of its own, so it has no power of its own.
Albert J. NockRead
The primary reason for a tariff is that it enables the exploitation of the domestic consumer by a process indistinguishable from sheer robbery.
Albert J. NockRead
As a general principle, I should put it that a man's country is where the things he loves are most respected. Circumstances may have prevented his ever setting foot there, but it remains his country.
Albert J. NockRead
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