Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War

The specific purpose of this book is to refute the mythology of an omnipotent dictator, who guides better than can markets. Unlike his other books, Mises relies more on history than theory to make his case. Omnipotent Government examines modern European history in an effort to explain the problems of twentieth century Europe. Understanding the problems of Europe requires inquiry into the history of events and the history of ideas both. Liberalism is the policy of international peace, yet somehow people came to embrace particularly aggressive forms of nationalistic socialism (i.e. Nazism). Since the free trade policies of Europe are central to peaceful international relations, hostility between socialist nations (i.e. the Nazi and Soviet nations) is hardly surprising. The productivity of modern industry hinges upon the international division of labor. Without international trade, productivity would fall to the point where only a fraction of the world population could survive. The consequences of National Socialism, and even protectionism, are therefore dire. The analysis in this book is not entirely new. Mises got into some of this material in his 1922 book Socialism, and Economic and Sociological Analysis. Lionel Robbins also did similar work in his Economic Planning and International Order. Omnipotent is the most historical of Mises' books. This book is important as a historical work. It is also important because it explains the international aspects of the calculation critique of socialism better than his other works. Omnipotent Government also shows that Mises was not anti-empirical. Mises stressed the importance of theory because he rejected empirical analysis. Mises stressed the need for logically valid theory as the means of understanding history. As Mises notes towards the end of this book, the Classical Liberal program of free trade was rejected because people did not understand the importance of international division of labor. To put it simply, this book serves as an example of how history should be done.

Ludwig Von Mises, one of the last great Austrian liberal economists, had escaped from Nazi and Communist aggression in continental Europes at the time the book was written. Mises had arrived at the conclusion, made famous by his former student Friedrich Hayek, that fascism was simply a logical extension of the socialist philosophy. The need to engage in violent conquest was a result of socialism's attempts to raise national living standards while avoiding the "plague" of international capitalism. The only alternative for nations such as Germany, which had already embraced autocratic socialism under the Bismark, was to launch an unending series of military assults against their neighbors in order to avoid national starvation and impoverishment. The true irony of socialism is that it creates conditions that are completely opposed to its stated goals i.e. militarism instead of peace, poverty instead of plenty, and the destruction of freedom instead of an increase in human growth and potential.

This book deserves a 10 for its ideas but is hard reading. Well worthwhile especially for disspelling the myth that fascism is some form of 'Ubercapitalism.' The author's brilliance clearly shines through the difficult writing