One Is a Crowd

This is a treasure: One Is a Crowd. It collects Frank Chodorov’s most profound essays on the topic of individualism, many of which have otherwise been unjustly lost to history.

The reader will be riveted by his biographical essay on the meaning of his own Jewishness to his life and beliefs. His piece on what educational institutions should do is unforgettable.

When an essay from this book on the American Revolution hit Mises.org, it soared up as one of the most widely read pieces in the history of Mises.org.

“The Americans, however, insisted that in the nature of things all rights inhere in the individual, by virtue of his existence, and that he instituted government for the sole purpose of preventing one citizen from violating the rights of another. Sovereign power, they said, resides in the individual; the government is only an agency of his will. If it fails to carry out its duties properly, or if it itself presumes to invade his rights, then the moral thing to do is to kick it out.”

This book contains essays such as “Misguided Patriotism,” “Socialism by Default,” “The Myth of the Post Office,” and “The Need of a Golden Calf,” in which he writes, “Is not the State an idol? Is it not like any graven image into which men have read supernatural powers and superhuman capacities? The State can feed us when we are hungry, heal us when we are ill; it can raise wages and lower prices, even at the same time; it can educate our children without cost; it can provide us against the contingencies of old age and amuse us when we are bored; it can give us electricity by passing laws and improve the game of baseball by regulation. What cannot the State do for us if only we have faith in it? And we have faith. No creed in the history of the world ever captured the hearts and minds of men as has the modern creed of Statism.”