If you’ve ever heard Hans-Hermann Hoppe mention the idea of Europe becoming 1,000 Liechtensteins - you need to read this #bookstr Prince Hans-Adam II is the retired regent of Liechtenstein, a micronation with basically the highest living standards on earth. He provides an extremely practical view, albeit from a Monarchical family which has held power for 300+ years, of how State’s ought operate in the modern world. I mention that because it’s “easy” to say what ought be when you have the power to enact it, which he did. It’s a fair critique I think, much easier to say this stuff when you don’t have to consider how you get from A (where we are) to B (where he thinks we should go). But to give the Prince his dues, this is the kind of guy who if you had to have a ruler, **you would actually want** to hold power. A rational, localist, intelligent guy who knows he can benefit not from parasitism but rather from enabling stability in law and free markets. And that is what I took away from the book - we aren’t headed to a world without rulers, that’s just not on the horizon for any of us alive today. So how do we get the best rulers in charge and the best systems to avoid their worst impulses whilst protecting the stability of life for peoples over time? The Prince explains what he thinks is destabilising and what needs a guiding hand, and that alone is worth your attention. It will challenge the anti-democracy views of ancaps which should be interesting in and of itself, and his draft Constitution at the end is something to ponder. Definitely a worthwhile read.