Liberty Literature: Death by Government by R. J. Rummel

The second book on my recommended liberty list is Death by Government by R. J. Rummel. Sadly, unlike The Ethics of Liberty, this title isn’t available for free but can be purchased on Amazon (this isn’t an affiliate link by the way). R. J. Rummel is a retired professor from the University of Hawaii who has been studying what he defines as democide. Democide, as defined by Rummel, is “the murder of any person or people by a government, including genocide, politicide, and mass murder.”

This book, above all others I’ve read, makes the best case for liberty. The hypothesis Rummel has come to over his years of research is that the more authoritarian and tyrannical a government is the more people they murder. Death by Government demonstrates this fact by presenting the number of democide victims under many governments of this century. This book includes information on Cambodia, Soviet Russia, and even the United States.

If you’re a statist by the conclusion of this book you either have no ability to comprehend written material or are truly a sadistic bastard.