Reddit mentions of Anatomy of the State

Sure! Here’s 3 really good ones:

The Machinery of Freedom

Anatomy of the State

The Problem of Political Authority

If you have doubts about why the state is so bad, and want to understand more what the state is Anatomy of the State by Murray Tothbard is a great read, got me into libertarianism in general

If you are looking for more current anarcho-capitalist theory and it’s logistics, a great read is The Machinery of Freedom by David Friedman.

Anatomy of the state is a great introduction of about ~50 or so pages while The Machinery of freedom goes into a lot more detail, ~350 pages and is the book I would choose.

Hope this helps!

>nobody has to give rich people power

Yes

>wealth is power

Yes

>in the absence of checks on power

Absence of a state isn't an absence of checks on power, they're simply privatized and organized so that a profit will come to thkse who check power most effectively (private arbitrators and REAs)

>the only check on power is government

No, government is the consolidation of power for the purpose of the most effective exploitation of people.

Wealth may only be gained in two ways, the economically or politically. Economically is to buy, sell, trade, or create wealth in some way. Politically is to use force to take what you want.

The government is nothing more than a parasite on those who produce wealth economically by those with power who wish to extract said wealth politically.

Nobody will work for free, but if you tell them it goes towards roads, or healthcare, etc, they will pay to have peace of mind, even while their wealth is being pocketed. Government is organized parasitism on the grandest scale with the goal of extracting maximum wealth for as long as possible.

>wealth has to ask permission

Wealth buys permission. Look at the industries government has molested and it's effects. Throughout history it coughs up monopolies and protectionism to who ever will pay them to do it. Look at railroads, airlines, healthcare, first class mail, oil, pharmaceuticals, steel/aluminum, etc. They all were once competitive markets that were choked after some rich fuck slipped blank checks under politicians' doors.

>standing armies with the worst things imaginable

The united states military drone strikes third mud huts and brushes off the civilian and child collateral like it's nothing, we turned two cities to dust, and forced hundreds of thousands of men into a service over a lie. This assertion seems to have already taken shape.

>Anarcho-whateverism

My favourite brand!

If you enjoy political literature you might enjoy this

An anti-government book which paints the state as oppressive and inherently against freedom, as well as an overall negative force for the well-being of the nation.

The Mises Institute (an offshoot of the Cato Institute) is behind it, which advocates a rather unique form of Libertarian principles, at times critical of democracy for pandering to voters and starting wars. They have some reasonable points on the flaws of captialism, but their solution of an anarcho-capitalist state is a stretch.

They believe that everything is better off privately funded. It is like an anti-utopic ideal: great for those who end up at the top, not so much for those who don't.

Someone who buys into the criticisms presented in Anatomy of a State would reasonably buy into the view that the FCC should not require ISP regulation to restrict their ability to throttle, set up premium plans, and essentially pick apart their customers while maintaining a monopoly and preventing competitors from entering the fold.

It's worth reading into the benefits that the state has provided us (reviews on Amazon, ironically enough):

https://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-State-Murray-Rothbard/product-reviews/1607967723/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_hist_1?ie=UTF8&filterByStar=one_star&reviewerType=all_reviews#reviews-filter-bar