Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done - On Earth (Heaven Can Wait)

The other morning, I awoke to the sound of the muezzin's call of prayer - Allah ho Akbar, which means "God is Great."

And it struck me that this does not mean "The State is Great."

Similarly, the Lord's Prayer which asks for God's Will to be done on Earth, laments the fact that down here, only men rule - arbitrarily and unjustly - and not God. The prayer asks for His Will to rule down here.

What is God's Will?

Frederic Bastiat, a devout Catholic, answered correctly when he wrote:

To believe in Liberty is to believe in God - and have faith in His creation: Man.

Man is "naturally honest." There are thieves and pickpockets - but they are a minority. In India, the State Police rob street vendors of their surpluses: huftha. They do not "maintain order." The order we see every day exists only because the vast majority are naturally honest.

Similarly, Adam Smith's "invisible hand" is nothing but the Hand of God - and he believed in "natural religion."

How does this invisible hand work?

As Smith said, all of us have been blessed by our Divine Creator with "a natural propensity to truck, barter and exchange." We are born to trade. Little children can be seen trading: Give me a bite of your chocolate and I'll give you a sip of my cola. This is their "natural propensity" at work. Because we are all possessed of this propensity, we specialise in the market economy's "division of labour" and exchange our surpluses for the surpluses of others. All these surpluses constitute our wealth. This is the way the "wealth of nations" is created.

This natural propensity to trade includes the "natural justice" of Property - for even the little child knows the difference between "mine" and "thine." It is because of this innate "sense of justice" that our bustling bazaars exhibit perfect order - a "natural order." We are all "rule-following" animals - and the basic rule we all follow is the Inviolability of Property.

If we want God's Will to rule over us, then the "artificial order" of State Power - tariffs, legislation, and the rest - must be dumped. Then, God will rule - not arbitrary men.

Bastiat penned an essay distinguishing "natural order" from "artificial order." Socialists and "social engineers" aim for an "artificial order," he said. This is why they despise the institution of Private Property. Under them, the Law becomes a thief - because the law violates Property: land acquisition, nationalisation, legislation, regulation, interventionism, immigration controls - the visa-passport regime - etc.

Further, only when Property is Inviolable, will we be possessed of Liberty. Then, the ganja farmer will be the Proprietor of his fields - and his crop will not be destroyed by State Agents "empowered" by arbitrary Legislation, which embodies the "will of a few."

This is the Freedom our ancestors fought for but could never attain, because all that the CONgress gave them was The State. It is time we realised that The State is nothing but the negation of Liberty. To be free means nothing other than to be free from State interference.

In my earlier post, I spoke of mayors who are themselves merchants running cities and towns independently using locally raised resources, presiding over the natural order of the urban catallaxy. It is noteworthy that the motto of the Olde City of London is Domini Dirige Nos - which translates to "Let God be our Guide." To achieve this, they did the obvious - and kept their king out of their City.

We must therefore beware of businessmen who depend on State Power - the cronies of the establishment. The natural order is about laissez faire. This is the "Anarchy of Competition."

Thus, if your "ship comes in" and you prosper, you say Subhaan Allah.

And if your business fails you say Insha Allah - and try your hand at some other business.

That is, you "submit" to the Will of God - and Islam means "submission." In a market economy, we all must "adjust our conduct" to the conditions of the market.

If you, on the other hand, ask The State to use its powers of compulsion and coercion to prevent your business from failing, then you will be inviting The Devil to interfere in human affairs - and the Kingdom of God will be blown away. The Devil will then manipulate the market for your benefit - while causing losses to all others: the people, the consumers, your customers. Dylan is the one who got it absolutely right when he sang:

It may be the Devil,
Or it may be the Lord,
But you gotta serve somebody.

In the market, if you want to serve the Lord, all you gotta serve is the Customer.

I have often told students that street vendors perform "social service" and are in reality "social workers."

This is the only social work we need - and "social justice" is bull. It is actually injustice - because it is financed by inflation and taxation. Do read the second volume of Friedrich Hayek's Law, Legislation & Liberty, which is titled "The Mirage of Social Justice."

In the natural order of the urban catallaxy, there is "natural justice" - Property, Contracts and Torts. This is all "private law." This is the pathway to a Kingdom of God on this earth we inhabit. We have rules - but we have no rulers, other than God, whom everyone worships in his own way.

Natural religion.

Natural law.

Natural justice.

Natural order.

The Bible, A King, And A Mayor

We are faced with a unique situation in India as in many other nations - the collapse of The State. At times like these, there will be many calling for a "strong man" to head the political system - even a King. However, monarchs are NOT what "civil government" is all about. For that, we need mayors in all cities and towns. These mayors must be from the merchant community themselves - that is, they are members of the "bourgeoisie." This is what civil government in a market economy is all about.

First, here is something from the Holy Bible about the dangers of asking for a King. This section is from I Samuel 8, and was often quoted by Thomas Paine, Lord Acton and other classical liberals to illustrate the fact that The State is not divinely inspired:

10. And Samuel told the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king.

11. And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots.

12. And he will appoint his captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots.

14. And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.

15. And he will take a tenth of your seed...

17. And he will take a tenth of your sheep, and ye shall be his servants.

Whereas this is what any monarch is all about - war and taxes - mayors are something else. The best example to take is that of the Lord Mayor of the Olde City of London, an institution over 800 years old and still in existence, with all its civic independence intact. If we read the history of how this institution came into existence, we find that it was meant specifically to keep the King OUT of the City. The King of England, till today, cannot enter this old City without the Lord Mayor's permission, nor can his army march through it. When he does enter, invited, the Lord Mayor meets him at the entrance and "surrenders" the Civic Sword, which the King accepts by tapping it on the hilt, and only then enters. That is, this ancient tradition says: I, Lord Mayor of the City of London, Bearer of the Civic Sword, accept you as King.

This civic independence was an important clause of the Magna Carta of 1215 AD, and the then Lord Mayor of London, William Hardel, was on the Committee of Barons entrusted with ensuring that the Charter of Liberties was carried out and, if not, to raise the nation in revolt.

Note that the title "Lord" was never one given the mayor by the King; rather, it was a title given to their mayor by the citizenry. This is also true of the City of York.

The institution of Lord Mayor of London has never been an "office of profit." You did not ever make money by being Lord Mayor; rather, you spent your own money while in office, because you had to hold lavish entertainments exhibiting your grandeur at your own expense. The office was therefore only accepted by the wealthiest merchants of the city - and, over these centuries, it has been very often refused - in which case that candidate was heavily fined!

A good history of this institution can be bought here.

To conclude: As I pointed out in yesterday's post, taxation today, by both central and state governments, is sucking Precious Capital out of all our cities and towns - and sending them to the Central Planners, who are consuming it in "welfare schemes."

If all the cities and towns are to prosper, they must be able to retain their Precious Capital for investment in their own towns - in local roads, footpaths, sewerage, street lighting, etc. All these are Capital investments, and add to the Capital Value of the township.

We need to invert the pyramid - and we need to progress towards modern Capitalism rather than returning to primitive warlordism, which is monarchy.

Kings are thus not the way there. Hans-Hermann Hoppe's Democracy: The God That Failed looks at "traditional monarchies" as superior to modern democracies, but adds that the "natural order" is better still - that is, the natural order is the way of the future. This natural order is found in cities and towns - because of markets. It is in evidence in all cities and towns throughout India. To secure our future on the solid ground of this natural order, independent mayors are what we need. Not kings. And certainly not any "commanders" or "dictators."

No "commands" are to be issued upon businessmen - that is laissez faire. No Legislation is required either - and we inhabit a "private law society."

Here is something from Mises as a final thought on the subject:

History is a struggle between two principles, the peaceful principle, which advances the development of trade, and the militarist-imperialist principle, which interprets human society not as a friendly division of labour but as the forcible repression of some of its members by others.

Re-building Our Civilisation - As Our The State Collapses

I once had the good fortune to visit the ancient and well preserved little town of Esslingen in Germany - so pretty that the Allies deliberately refrained from bombing it - and, in the central square, among all the quaint wooden buildings, what struck was the one that housed the Mayor. It was the most attractive of them all.

I am now in a little town high in the mountains of the Western Ghats, bordering a national park, and in this town what strikes is that the biggest building in The Market is the Police Station!


The town itself is a shambles. There is no municipal administration. The streets are all broken and rutted. There are no footpaths. The drains are all open. Of course, the people are all nice and friendly, and there is perfect order - the "natural honesty" and "natural religion" Indians exhibit everywhere. There is an educational society established by leading citizens that runs an old school. But ask the question: Who runs the town? - and the answer you receive is "gram panchayat."


Last evening, I stopped at a small - very small - "wine shop" in the market and enjoyed a few small beers. No wine in these Indian wine shops, of course; the people all quaff the harsh grogs of IMFL (Indian Made Foreign Liquor) in 180ml bottles. These bottles, which deliver three large pegs, cost far less than a small beer.

On the wall was a framed "license" from the Excise Department that revealed that the proprietor of the establishment had paid over 4,00,000 rupees for this permission - that too, valid for just one year. Now, 4,00,000 rupees in this place is very big bucks indeed. I asked around for a plot of land - and was told it would cost about 3,00,000 rupees.

It therefore follows that if this sort of licensing was abolished - if Liberty prevailed - then those who wish to invest in such shops would be able to preserve their Precious Capital for actual Investments. Instead of a tiny shop, you would have very large shops and bars, with more space and comforts for the Customer. This Capital would therefore be invested in the town itself, thereby adding to the Capital Value of the township. 

Now, if the Capital of the people is invested in their own town, there would emerge a class of wealthy merchants who could easily form a civic association dedicated to running the town well - that is, a mayoral system. They could raise their own resources - and invest these in their own town, thereby building good roads, with footpaths, drainage, sewerage, garbage collection, and so on. All these locally collected resources would therefore add to the Capital Value of the town.

The fact is that this town lies amidst truly spectacular natural beauty. If it is run as it should be run, then it could become a great "hill station" - thereby attracting settlers from outside. More properties would be built. Tourists would come too - and add to the local economy. In time, this would become a great place to live and to visit.

So much for the gram panchayat. Let us now turn to the police.

In the West, mayors may be "authority figures" - but they are not "authoritarian figures." Here, the police are precisely the latter. A young lad revealed to me that the ruling deity of the town is Shiva - but I cannot obtain ganja anywhere! Only because of the police. And Central Legislation.


Urban local self-government is the corner-stone of Western civilisation. In Europe, independent cities with their own police under their own mayors have long been in existence. Indeed, when Sir Robert Peel established the London Metropolitan Police - the "Bobby," who is unarmed - it is an interesting fact that the Olde City which has had a Lord Mayor for over 800 years responded by raising their own police force - and kept the harmless Bobby out. That is true "civic independence."


Our centralised, socialist "democracy" is nothing but Tyranny writ large. Combined with total misgovernment. This is "malgovernment." Taxation here is nothing but theft - misappropriation of the Precious Capital of the people. The sweet word "Liberty" does not exist. Nor does the other sweet word - the one these socialists despise - Property.

There is Tyranny also in the vital field of education - and the gentleman running the educational society told me of how The State insists on shoving its curriculum, which includes "compulsory languages," down the throats of all the children.


As I wander about here, in far-away Nude Elly, the Empire is crumbling to the dust, as all empires built on the Fuhrer Principle must. This should be seen a good thing - for it will enable us to build our country anew, bottom-up, based on the Principle of Subsidiarity, resting on urban self-government in all our towns and cities. There need not be any "chaos" because of the collapse of The State - because the "natural order" is very much in evidence, as is the fact that whatever we see of The State is either a "client" - like the gram panchayat - or else an instrument of State oppression, like the police, the excise department, and the department of education.

Interestingly, I could drink my beers here on the road outside the tiny wine shop. You cannot do this in Nude Elly. There, all such shops are State-owned - and if you drink in public, the police get after you. Here, even the poor are better housed than in Nude Elly, where over 50 per cent of the population lives in slums. The Fuhrer has destroyed his own Capital City!


I really like it here. Greenery. Mountains. Forests. Coffee plantations. Good people. Good food. And "the weather suits my clothes." 

Mornings are misty. Evenings are cool, a little chilly. And I am looking forward to the monsoons.

The Evil Alchemist

We read of ancient alchemists who wasted their entire lives trying to find a way to turn lead into gold. But here in India, we have another kind of alchemist, who turns gold into lead. I refer to our "educrats," the State personnel who have been directing all activities in this area since 1947, and who continue to do so, because public opinion has not yet opposed State education. I earnestly hope they will do so now.

I arrived at this thought while spending a few days in Manipal, a private university town, with many colleges imparting "training" (and this cannot be called "education") in disciplines such as medicine, engineering and hotel management. Education, of course, is something else - which prepares you for life as a citizen. Doctors, engineers, hotel managers and the like are rarely able to comprehend the gobbledygook that manmohan and montek spew. They can never understand what is wrong with "central economic planning" or what "monetary policy" or "trade policy" are all about. And therein lies the rub.

A chance conversation with some young doctors - during which they revealed complete ignorance of vital social, political and economic issues - suddenly made me realise what a great folly it has been all along to send all our best and brightest into medicine and engineering. In India, as of now and as always, the best and the brightest have only made it forward through extremely tough "entrance examinations" to get into medicine and engineering. The same applies to "management."

It seemed to me that this has surely been the deliberate policy of the educrats, to handpick the brightest - and shut their eyes to reality forever. They might know something about the human body, or even be able to perform brain surgery, but they can never understand the way the human mind works in the economic arena. Nor can they ever appreciate political ideals. After all, in school, where our The State controls the syllabus, their heads have been "drilled" with socialist nonsense - and the Constitution of India, of course.

This, while whatever Economics is being taught is of, for and by The State!

This is why manmohan is such a darling of the CONgress boss woman. He has been an educrat for long. He is actually an "intellectual bodyguard of the House of Nehru." Below is a photo of this socialist-Keynesian-welfarist-planner at his alma mater, Cambridge University, in the ceremonial uniforms of such types.




Why on earth should our best and brightest go in for medicine, engineering, or MBAs? If The Market is freed, there are numberless opportunities for callings, vocations and professions. One of the doctors confessed that he wouldn't mind running a hash cafe if he could! There is Palash Sen, of course, lead singer of the rock band Euphoria - who started off as a medical doctor.

As Ludwig von Mises pointed out:

The research activities of the experimental natural sciences are in themselves neutral with regard to any philosophical and political issue. But they can thrive and become beneficial for mankind only where there prevails a social philosophy of individualism and freedom."

All the alchemists of old were not looking for "fool's gold" in lead. The word "alchemy" is Arabic, and is the root of the modern word "chemistry." One great thing the Arab alchemists discovered is "alcohol" - also an Arabic word - via the process of distillation. Till then, there was only beer and wine. So I'll say "Cheers" for these alchemists. Last night I was driinking vodka. This drink came to East Europe when the Jews of Spain, where the Arab alchemists had discovered distillation, migrated there - taking this knowledge with them. The Seagram's company was founded by one of these Yiddish-speaking Jews of Eastern Europe - when he had to migrate to America.

Frankly, vodka is far, far better than gold. Nations which went about "conquering" the world for gold and silver - like the Portuguese and the Spaniards - never prospered. All that happened was inflation - and the export of inflation. There is an important lesson in this: The secret of economic prosperity does not lie in more money - not even gold. Rather, it lies in the production of all the various goods and services that will be exchanged for gold. Like vodka.

Song of the Day: "Philosopher's Stone" by Van Morrison.

The Indian Civilisation - And The West

A chance conversation over some terrible ganja brought out from me why I personally prefer India to the West - and that is, we in India are more naturally "anarchistic" than the West, which is rule-bound for only one reason: They simply love rules, and everything in their "democracies" is rigidified and regimented - they are "overgoverned" because they like things that way. They like making rules.

I gave the example of cricket - and its rules, which keep changing, and the game with it. But you can see this everywhere - in all "sports," which are almost entirely from the West. Our fellows play cricket without too many rules, with rubber balls and often without umpires. For the rest, they just watch cricket on TV - they never play. It is like the Roman Emperors diverting public attention from their misdeeds by giving the people games to enjoy at the circuses.

In India, wherever you go, unlettered people exhibit a "natural order" - and wherever this order is disturbed, as in Bastar today, it is our The State that is upsetting it, not the people. 

I also gave the example of the Hindu "religion" - which is completely anarchistic, with many gods and goddesses, many holy books - which the vast majority have never read, not knowing how to, but know all the tales. Among Hindus, priests are on The Market, temples compete for attention as well as donations. There is no Hindu Pope or Imam.

While there are many who hate the word "anarchy" because they confuse it with "chaos," let me point out at least one area where complete anarchy MUST prevail - and that is The Market. For this is what laissez faire means - that The State, with its force, must stay out of all business affairs. After all, policemen, judges, jailors and hangmen cannot run business affairs. Hence, competition must be completely free - and never forget Bastiat's golden words:

Competition is Liberty - and the Absence of Competition is Tyranny.

To me, Kingfisher beer and Amul butter and cheese are tyrannies. And there are so many more. Free and open competition among all producers, including especially foreigners, is in our best interests as consumers. We can either have policies that favour producers, or those that favour consumers. Since our The State chose to favour producers, this is another instance of "misuse of force," which is nothing but Tyranny. To end this, we must unilaterally free international trade. No more Kamal D Nutts and their diplomats fooling around at the WTO - which they have deliberately wrecked.

In what other areas of our life do we need State-produced rules and regulations - especially if we do not want to be like the regimented and rule-bound West?

Functional zebra crossings, for one, which we do not have anywhere in this vast sub-continent, and all are forced to scamper dangerously around. Over 200,000 people, mainly pedestrians and cyclists, die on our anarchistic roads every year - many times more than get killed in a small war like Kargil. And these "representatives of the people" prefer spending on "national defence" - which is just another nationalistic myth.

What else do we need from the force of The State?

Zoning rules? Building bye-laws?

Actually, if torts are relied upon, everyone who constructs buildings for others will be doubly careful about the quality of his construction than any government bureau can ever be.

Sometimes, do travel around the countryside and see for yourself how much "natural order" prevails. So, don't fear the word "anarchy" or confuse it with "chaos." Anarchy means "no ruler"; it does NOT mean "no rules."

The FACT is that even all the unlettered are "rule-following" - and the basic rule they all follow is the Inviolability of Property. The goods arrayed before a vendor are always treated as his Property - and anyone who violates this is called a thief and roundly thrashed. 

And look at our The State - which violates Property every single day. This is not even a "right" in our sacred Constitution!

All the chaos that exists in our society is because of this Predatory State - and not the simple, rule-following people, who display both "natural honesty" as well as "natural religion."

I leave you with these words from Ludwig von Mises' Omnipotent Government to mull over:

The worship of the state is the worship of force. There is no more dangerous menace to civilization than a government of incompetent, corrupt, or vile men. The worst evils which mankind ever had to endure were inflicted by bad governments.

Solution? Why I provided you with that long ago: A New Magna Carta.

Fuck The Budget

In India, the annual budget of The State is hugely over-hyped - only because of the delusion that it is The State, with its taxation and spending, that makes private economies grow. Far from the truth.

I have not read much about this year's budget, but on that of the previous year, my post was titled "A Monster's Budget."

In that post, I had concluded sying that if The State was "minimal" (and not a monster) - low taxes, low spending and no borrowing - then this would be in the best interests of society, for the citizenry would have more of their own money to save and invest. Private saving and investment would spur the growth of all our independent, private economies.

Thus, instead of looking towards the Budget of our The State for economic "solutions," the citizenry had better look towards Economic Freedom and The Market - where all the good things lie.

For example, my last post was on free trade over the Open Sea.

Or about the Freedom to grow and sell ganja-charas - and, who knows, a Bhola Company could be floated, much bigger than ITC.

What about nightlife - so much talent, but cruelly repressed.

What about casinos?

What about micro-breweries everywhere, selling fresh draught beer to all, especially the poor?

What can the Budget accomplish compared to Liberty?

Weird Scenes On The Coast - due to "theory"

Its just another of our disappointing seaside towns. A film setting. A port, no ships. Lots and lots of shops - but very few bars. Lots of trade alright - but only from the land, on pygmy swadeshi trucks, on broken, rutted highways, while out there lies the OPEN SEA. No "infrastructure" required at all. No NHAI!

What's stopping you?

Economic theory?

Political rhetoric about "self-reliance"?

This seaside town is certainly not "self-sufficient" - and all the stuff in the bazaars is procured from outside, but only from the land.

Why not "let your ship come in"?

It's all about IMPORTING!

Here's Mises:

"Many people look upon tariff protection as if it were a privilege accorded to their nations wage earners, procuring them, for the full duration of its existence, a higher standard of living than they would enjoy under free trade."