Bob Higgs: War is the Master Key of the State

Tags: Big Government, Media and Culture, War and Foreign Policy

08/07/2015 Robert Higgs Jeff Deist

This weekend we feature part of a talk by our old friend Dr. Robert Higgs, a longtime Senior Fellow at the Mises Institute and libertarian stalwart. Bob, author of the famous Crisis and Leviathan, recently spoke at Mises University on the critical topic of war and the growth of the state. He considers war the “master key” that enables government to grow in size, scope, and power. This poignant speech is not to be missed by anyone who cares about peace and liberty.

The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.

Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.