Iceland collapsed in the year 1262, 290 years after it was founded. Roderick Long points out that it only took 85 years for the United States to have its first civil war. That Iceland lasted so long is impressive.
The collapse did not occur until after almost three centuries of relatively peaceful living had gone by. Roderick T. Long states, "We should be cautious in labeling as a failure a political experiment that flourished longer than the United States has even existed." --- In LibertarianEnterprise@yahoogroups.com, "Dennis Lee Wilson" <dennisleewil...@...> wrote: > > > --- In LibertarianEnterprise@yahoogroups.com, "Zack Bass" zakbas@ > wrote: > > > [snip] > > > > It will exist longer than Anarchy can exist! The arrangement that > has been PROVEN over and over to be almost immediately unstable is > Anarchy! No condition of Anarchy has ever persisted for more than a > year without degenerating into Authoritarianism. > > > Medieval Iceland and the Absence of Government > > > by Thomas Whiston > > [Posted December 25, 2002] > > [0] > > Those who claim that government is the source of social order say that > in its absence there would be violence, chaos, and a low standard of > living. They cite civil wars in Africa, drug wars in South America, or > even Gengis Khan in Mongolia. They claim that these things, which are > actually examples of competing governments, are what life without > government will produce. > > Another common objection to stateless legal enforcement systems is to > ask for "just one example of where it has worked." > > Medieval Iceland illustrates an actual and well-documented historical > example of how a stateless legal order can work and it provides insights > as to how we might create a more just and efficient society today. > > continued here: > http://www.mises.org/fullstory.asp?control=1121 > <http://www.mises.org/fullstory.asp?control=1121> >
