Robert Klassen

Political Government Robert Klassen

Social philosopher Spencer Heath maintained that we cant recognize atrocity for what it is until we can entertain an alternative. The example he gave was chattel slavery in the ancient world; few questioned it and fewer still raised their voice against it. Having already outlined the natural alternative to political (i.e. tax-based) government in his companion book, Economic Government, Klassen now articulates with rare clarity why political government is atrocity. He calls this book the end of my foray into criticism of political government. I welcome this implied emphasis on the health of society rather than its pathology. But if articulation of the pathology is called for, Klassen has done it with skill and clarity, dispassionately, and with forbearance. Connoisseurs of political behavior will deepen their understanding and strengthen their analytical skill when they recognize that the subject of their study is social pathology and they themselves are pathologists; for a pathologist can only understand his subject matter in the light of social health. That is the contribution of this book and its companion book, Economic Government. Spencer H. MacCallum, social anthropologist and author of The Art of Community.