Libertarians’ Next Big Possibility: Prime Law Capitalism
Anarcho-capitalism has never been tried, not because it lacks appeal, but because it lacks one thing: order. Without order, freedom dissolves into chaos. With government, freedom dissolves into rule of man. In this address, Mark Hamilton identifies the missing puzzle piece that resolves this centuries-old dilemma: the Prime Law, governance without government, order without higher authority, a self-governing civilization answerable to 111 words instead of billions of pages of law.
Quick answer
What Is Libertarians’ Next Big Possibility?
The next possibility is prime law capitalism, Hamilton’s advancement of anarcho-capitalism from incomplete theory into actionable practice. Anarcho-capitalism has never been tried because it cannot answer the question of order: how do you govern without government? How do you bring authority without higher authority? The Prime Law solves this. It is the natural law of protection, 111 words that forbid initiatory force, threat of force, and fraud, providing complete order without granting any person, group, or government higher authority over another. Every dispute is settled by the Prime Law. No rule of man grows. No corruption takes root. Freedom becomes eternal, not temporary.
- ✓Govern means “to rule over by right of authority”, external authority always leads to rule of man, the disease of mankind
- ✓Anarcho-capitalism is incomplete, it has never been tried because it cannot answer the question of order without higher authority
- ✓The Prime Law is the missing puzzle piece: governance without government, order without rule of man, self-governance under the natural law of protection
- ✓Hamilton advances the term from “anarcho-capitalism” to prime law capitalism, the practical, actionable form
- ✓America’s founding fathers came this close to the Prime Law but settled for the Bill of Rights, adding positives instead of removing the negative (initiatory force)
- ✓American law measures in billions of pages; the Prime Law is 111 words, complexity breeds corruption, simplicity preserves freedom
Govern: To Rule Over by Right of Authority
Hamilton opens by looking up the word govern. Dictionary.com defines it as “to rule over by right of authority.” Webster’s: “to exercise authority or power over others.” There it is, external authority. And external authority always leads to rule of man.
Rule of man, Hamilton argues, is the disease of mankind. Even laissez-faire capitalism plants the germ of rule of man, as America demonstrates. The system provides order, and yes, order is necessary, but the moment you grant any person or group higher authority to maintain that order, the disease begins to grow. Even Ayn Rand, Hamilton notes, accepted this tradeoff. You need order. But order through government means rule of man.
The disease of mankind. Any system in which a person, group, or government is granted higher authority over others. It always grows over time into massive bureaucracy, corruption, and suppression, as demonstrated by every laissez-faire capitalist nation in history, including America.
Why Anarcho-Capitalism Has Never Been Tried
Hamilton identifies the reason no country has ever tried anarcho-capitalism: it is incomplete. Anarcho-capitalism has no answer for order. Without order, the concept carries a very real fear of chaos and lawlessness, which is what the prefix anarcho suggests to most people.
The dilemma is precise: you need order, but how do you govern without government? How do you bring authority without higher authority? It seems contradictory. It seems like an impossibility. Hamilton calls it “a puzzle with a missing piece.”
Anarcho-capitalism is a puzzle with a missing piece. It describes a world without government but cannot explain how order is maintained. This is why it has remained theory for centuries, no civilization has dared to implement a system that cannot guarantee order.
The Missing Puzzle Piece: The Prime Law
Hamilton presents the Prime Law as the master puzzle piece that completes the equation. The Prime Law is the fundamental natural law of protection: No person, group of persons, or government may initiate force, threat of force, or fraud against any individual’s self or property. It provides complete order without granting any higher authority to man.
The key is self-governance under natural law. The Prime Law is not man-made law, it is natural law. Every dispute faces and is settled by the Prime Law. There is no higher authority to corrupt, no bureaucracy to expand, no rule of man to grow. There can be no chaos, no lawlessness, only order. Prime Law order.
Governance without government. Order without higher authority. Self-governance under the natural law of protection. The Prime Law, 111 words that make freedom eternal.
“Anarcho-capitalism could never and has never become part of society because it is incomplete without the Prime Law and the order it brings to society without government.”
From Anarcho-Capitalism to Prime Law Capitalism
Hamilton formally advances the term. It is no longer anarcho-capitalism, it is prime law capitalism. The prefix anarcho carries connotations of disorder and chaos. The prefix prime law carries the reality: natural law order that forbids initiatory force while granting no higher authority to any person or group.
Prime law capitalism moves the concept from theory into practice. Hamilton identifies the Immortalis free economic zone as the first implementation, a self-governing civilization with complete order under the Prime Law constitution. No government. No small government. No group or person granted higher authority. The disease of mankind, rule of man, never grows, never destroys civilization.
Hamilton’s advancement of anarcho-capitalism from incomplete theory into actionable practice. A self-governing civilization under the Prime Law constitution, the natural law of protection that forbids initiatory force while granting no higher authority to any person, group, or government. Order without rule of man.
What the Founding Fathers Almost Got Right
Hamilton returns to the founding of America. The founding fathers were heavily influenced by John Locke and natural law. Hamilton finds natural law throughout the founding documents. America came closer than any civilization in history to the Prime Law, which is why it became the most prosperous, freest country on Earth.
But the founders were under enormous pressure. The country was in debt. The Articles of Confederation could no longer hold the colonies together. Federalists and Anti-Federalists fought over centralized versus state power. They didn’t have the time to let ideas evolve and mature. So they settled for the Bill of Rights, a document every founder was skeptical of. Thomas Jefferson called it “better to have half a loaf than no loaf at all.”
The critical miss: instead of adding the positives (the Bill of Rights, with its expanding system of “rights” that Hamilton argues is now destroying America), they could have removed the negative, removed all forms of initiatory force. That one deeper integration from Locke’s natural law to the Prime Law would have given America the business civilization 240 years ago.
With rights comes rule of man. Rights for this group, rights for that group, an expanding system that requires government to adjudicate, enforce, and ultimately control. The Prime Law takes the opposite approach: instead of adding positives, it removes the one negative, initiatory force. 111 words. No expansion possible.
111 Words vs. Billions of Pages
Hamilton delivers the contrast in stark terms. American government, its laws, regulations, and litigation, measures in the billions of pages. Even if Immortalis grew to the size of America, it would always answer to 111 words. That is the entire constitution. Nothing more.
He invokes Thomas Paine: complexity leads to corruption. We witness this today in the massive fraud, abuse, and waste exposed by oversight efforts. The more complex the system, the more room for manipulation, the more rule of man grows. Simplicity leads to and preserves freedom. The Prime Law is the ultimate simplicity, the natural law of protection in 111 words, making freedom eternal rather than temporary.
“Complexity leads to corruption. Simplicity leads to and preserves freedom.”
111 words. No government. No rule of man. No corruption. Freedom that cannot be eroded, only preserved.
Frequently asked questions
Related: Land-based Immortalis, Grand experiment of our time, Prime Law, Immortalis.
What is prime law capitalism?
Hamilton’s advancement of anarcho-capitalism from incomplete theory into actionable practice. A self-governing civilization under the Prime Law, the natural law of protection that forbids initiatory force while granting no higher authority to any person, group, or government. It provides order without rule of man.
Why has anarcho-capitalism never been tried?
Because it is incomplete. Anarcho-capitalism describes a world without government but cannot explain how order is maintained. Without order, the concept carries a real fear of chaos, which is what the prefix “anarcho” suggests. The Prime Law is the missing puzzle piece that brings order without higher authority.
What is the Prime Law?
The fundamental natural law of protection: No person, group of persons, or government may initiate force, threat of force, or fraud against any individual’s self or property. It is 111 words that provide complete governance without government, every dispute is settled by the Prime Law, and no higher authority is granted to man.
How does the Prime Law differ from the Bill of Rights?
The Bill of Rights adds positives, enumerated rights that require government to adjudicate and enforce. This creates an expanding system of rule of man. The Prime Law removes the one negative, initiatory force. It cannot expand, cannot be manipulated, and makes freedom permanent rather than temporary.
What did Hamilton mean by “rule of man is the disease of mankind”?
Any system that grants a person, group, or government higher authority over others inevitably grows into bureaucracy, corruption, and suppression. Every laissez-faire capitalist nation in history, including America, demonstrates this. The Prime Law prevents it by never granting higher authority to begin with.
What is Immortalis?
The first implementation of prime law capitalism, a free economic zone governed entirely by the Prime Law constitution. A self-governing civilization with complete order under natural law, no government, and no rule of man. Hamilton describes it as an entirely new dimension of civilization.