What books would you recommend for someone who’s just given up on the state?

By David McElroy · May 20, 2011

I’d like to put together a reading list that could be useful for people who are just starting to explore the idea of life without the state, and I’d love your help compiling the list.

When an intelligent person comes to a realization about something, the first thing he normally wants to do is read more about the idea — to make sure he’s on the right track and to learn to explain his new beliefs. For those who’ve just become libertarians and want to join the political process, for instance, there’s plenty of reading material. But I’m not sure what all is out there for those who’ve decided to reject the state political process and investigate alternatives.

The first book where I encountered the notion that the nation-state was eventually going away was “The Great Reckoning,” by James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg. The book came out in the ’90s and the economic situation hasn’t played out as bleakly as the authors expected, but the book’s analysis of the future of the nation-state was an eye-opener for me.

Another book that was influential for me was Harry Browne’s classic from the ’70s, “How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World.” He was coming from such a different perspective — one outside the larger political and economic system — that it was unsettling at first.

What books have influenced you on your path toward giving up on the state? What would you recommend for others who are just starting to struggle with it and want to firm up what they believe? You can answer in the comments or send me email. I’ll compile all the suggestions and post them for everybody after I have enough to make it worthwhile.

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I haven’t posted anything new in my YouTube series about narcissism in the last couple of weeks, so some people have been asking about it. There’s nothing wrong and I’ll be back soon. The issue is simply a technical problem because of a piece of equipment that died. Here’s a brief video I posted on YouTube to explain.

On a live awards show Sunday night, one man made a joke about a female celebrity. The husband of the celebrity was offended and hit the man who made the joke. Or maybe it was staged for entertainment. Who knows? Who cares? Social media is full of discussion — and even arguments — about this idiocy today. This baffles me. Let’s assume for a moment that the event happened as reported. People have been having such idiotic fights ever since there have been humans. Half the bars in the world see such brief dustups regularly. It simply doesn’t matter. The fact that so many people believe they need to talk about this — or even need to have opinions about it — is more evidence of the bizarre media brainwashing that convinces many to care passionately about brain-dead trivia. Your life will be happier and saner if you focus on yourself, your family and your friends, not on whatever scripted (or spontaneous) bilge that the media wants to pipe into your home.

I’m in the middle of migrating this website to new servers this week. This means you might encounter some unexpected behavior until I get all the bugs worked out. Clicking on my links (including this one) might cause your browser to give you the message that it’s a site without a current security certificate. It’s not actually unsafe, but there’s something which isn’t yet set up for the security certificate. I apologize for any such errors you might encounter while the process is going on. If you notice any problems with content which didn’t migrate properly, I would appreciate you letting me know the details at davidmcelroy@mac.com. Thanks for your patience.

I often wonder what animals think when they look at us and consider the society we’ve created. Yes, I know this is fanciful and unrealistic, but what if they could? Would they be astounded at how we treat each other? Would they be disgusted by the ugliness and pettiness which fill so many of our daily interactions? The truth is that I’m feeling pretty disgusted with humanity tonight. I made the mistake of reading some online interactions that I should have avoided — and it sickened me. The people involved appeared to be vile and stupid and arrogant. I wish I could pretend they’re a tiny minority, but I know better. It’s times such as this when I most need to escape much of “civilization” and disconnect from their world. If humans are going to be worthy of “ruling this planet,” we have a lot of growth to do. And I fear that growth is nowhere in sight. So my buddy Thomas, above, and all of his friends would be right to judge us harshly — and to think, “Why do you folks get to be in charge?”

I should have expected this, but I honestly didn’t. The article I wrote last week about disagreements over treatment for autistic children brought me angry emails. You could almost call it “hate mail.” Of the five emails about it so far, two have been to tell me that I’m wrong to even listen to critics of the most popular therapy for autistic children — and the other three tell me I’m wrong for not condemning the treatment as the “obvious” abuse it is. If you read the article, you know I didn’t take a position on the issue, because I simply don’t know enough to have an opinion. But by talking about the issue, I stepped into a heated controversy. The emails from the two sides convinced me of nothing. But they did give me even more empathy for the unfortunate parents who have to figure out for themselves where the truth lies for their children.

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