All libertarians know about Crisis and Leviathan

All libertarians know about Crisis and Leviathan – not just the great book by Robert Higgs, but the

simple principle too: when bad things happen, government almost always benefits, and further, the

“ratchet effect” makes it so that when government power grows it is nearly impossible to get the lost

liberty and money back – nevermind the lives, death is pretty much permanent.

This principle applies not just to the domestic powers of government over us, but, of course, to the

subjects of our foreign empire as well. Once you’ve expanded your military “footprint,” it is much

easier to get away with getting involved in the next conflict in the region.

The trouble is, politicians have also figured this out, and they will sometimes go to great lengths to

trigger the next crisis themselves in order to play the victim and get their dirty work done. Once the

US Air Force occupied all those wonderful bases in Saudi Arabia from which to launch the continual

“no-fly zone” bombings, it was only a matter of time before individuals working for the State would

come up with a way to move some of those bases North.