"But the libertarian movement has seen a strong resurgence in recent years, and there’s a simple reason for that: money, and the personal interests of some people who have a lot of it. Once relegated to drug-fueled college-dorm bull sessions, political libertarianism suddenly had pretensions of legitimacy. This revival is Koch-fueled, not coke-fueled, and exists only because in political debate, as in so many other walks of life, cash is king."Its as if they make it sound like libertarianism is the only view with millionaires (which it is most assuredly not). If it was, then it would be much more prominent than it is now. It would be, I don't know, as big as the liberal/progressive ideas that Salon likes to vomit out. In fact, 2013 saw liberal and democrat interests take the monetary advantage from the billionaire bracket. So stop crying about the Koch Brothers Salon, your asinine progressive agenda is still in the lead for donations from billionaires.
"The non-aggression principle (also called the non-aggression axiom, or the anti-coercion or zero aggression principle or non-initiation of force) is an ethical stance which asserts that "aggression" is inherently illegitimate. "Aggression" is defined as the "initiation" of physical force against persons or property, the threat of such, or fraud upon persons or their property. In contrast to pacifism, the non-aggression principle does not preclude violent self-defense. The principle is a deontological (or rule-based) ethical stance."It's the idea of "mind your own business" and "you own yourself."
Are unions, political parties, elections, and social movements like Occupy examples of “spontaneous order”—and if not, why not?Unions are society self organizing. There is nothing against unions organizing and working together for their benefit. There is nothing wrong with, as a group, choosing not to work in order to make a point. What you don't have the right to do is keep others from working which is something Unions actively seek to do. If you are one strike because you don't like the pay, but someone is will to work for that pay, you have no right to use violence to keep them from working. This violates the central philosophical axiom of libertarianism. The Non-Aggression Principle.
Cato also trumpets what it calls “The Virtue of Production” without ever defining what production is. Economics defines the term, but libertarianism is looser with its terminology. That was easier to get away with in the Industrial Age, when “production” meant a car, or a shovel, or a widget.
Today nearly 50 percent of corporate profits come from the financial sector—that is, from the manipulation of money. It’s more difficult to define “production,” and even harder to find its “virtue,” when the creation of wealth no longer necessarily leads to the creation of jobs, or economic growth, or anything except the enrichment of a few.
Which seems to be the point. Cato says, “Modern libertarians defend the right of productive people to keep what they earn, against a new class of politicians and bureaucrats who would seize their earnings to transfer them to nonproducers.”Which gets us to our next test question: Is a libertarian willing to admit that production is the result of many forces, each of which should be recognized and rewarded?This writer must have received a lot of Fs in school for only using one resource like Cato. Cato is not the flagship of libertarian thought and certainly not the one for Anarchistic Libertarian thought since they are Ok with limited government (This voluntaryist is for no government).
Is our libertarian willing to acknowledge that workers who bargain for their services, individually and collectively, are also employing market forces?
Is our libertarian willing to admit that a “free market” needs regulation?I'm sorry but this is just willful ignorance. I wish to ask the author a question. How do you think these banks and rich elites are able to shaft us and get away with it? Is it because they buy off the biggest monopoly of all called government? The author is afraid of this sort of abuse so they advocate for something that makes the abuse possible, government, in order to keep the abuse from happening. What? How does that make any sense? That is just pure stupidity. "I don't like monopolies so lets make a monopoly called government in order to keep monopolies from happening." That is the gist of the argument the author is advocating for.
With this remark, Thiel let something slip that extreme libertarians prefer to keep quiet: A lot of them don’t like democracy very much. In their world, democracy is a poor substitute for the iron-fisted rule of wealth, administered by those who hold the most of it. Our next test, therefore, is: Does our libertarian believe in democracy? If yes, explain what’s wrong with governments that regulate.No read my article on democracy. It's funny that the author think that "iron-fisted rule of wealth" with in opposition to democracy when it's really behind it. As I pointed out, government is a monopoly, so what is to stop the super elites and rich, who "run" for office and rig the system, from using their wealth to manipulate it. Within a free market they have to compete with each other in offering the best services and the best prices. Hardly abusive. But with government, they can get a government granted monopoly (like power and water for instance) and just shaft the consumer because the government has their back and they send the elected officials kickbacks. Gee, I wonder which system is really "iron-fisted rule of wealth."
Does our libertarian use wealth that wouldn't exist without government in order to preach against the role of government?First of all, government doesn't create anything. Everything government "creates" was built and funded by someone else who was put at gun point. Since it is not governments money, they don't care how they spend it. This means they take risks with money that the private individual never would. These leads to massive wastes of capital. This is the typical statist fallacy of the seen vs. the unseen. The statist can only see what is in front of them and think that that is the only option. But if government had not stolen from one person to make a mal-investment else ware, think of all the good investments that were never made with the stolen money? So good try, but your logic is incredibly faulty.
Does our libertarian reject any and all government protection for his intellectual property?Intellectual property is a hilarious position from the statist point of view. This is because, in general, the statist loves government because they hate monopolies (which is ironic in and of itself since government is a monopoly). But intellectual property is itself an individual seeking a monopoly for an idea and using threat and force to keep other peaceful citizens from rearranging their property as they see fit. IP is actually a violation of property rights because it's one person defining what another can and can't do with their own property. Think of the fashion industry. What if someone patented pants. Well that would be terrible. We would only be able to buy paints from one person. This is a monopoly and it it's wrong. It also stifles innovation and slows down progress. What if one person, sees your idea and knows of a way to improve it. For an in-depth argument against IP, read this essay.
Why isn't a democratically elected government the ultimate demonstration of “spontaneous order”? Does our libertarian recognize that democracy is a form of marketplace?
Libertarians are right about one thing: Unchecked and undemocratic force is totalitarian. A totalitarian corporation, or a totalitarian government acting in concert with corporations, is at least as effective at suppressing the “spontaneous order” as a non-corporate totalitarian government. Does our libertarian recognize that large corporations are a threat to our freedoms?This is cute. Corporations are only a threat so long as government exist. They use government to pass regulations to stifle competition. and acquire wealth at the expense of the poor through taxation (Think of the military industrial complex. You pay for that!). If government did not exist, these corporations would have to compete with each other in order to offer the best products and services at the best prices. Once a monopoly on force that can be bought off comes into pay, then you have problems. The relationship to government is never voluntary so that means the only threat to freedoms are government itself.
Most libertarians prefer not to take their philosophy to its logical conclusions. While that may make them better human beings, it also shadows them with the taint of hypocrisy.Ayn Rand was an adamant opponent of good works, writing that “The man who attempts to live for others is a dependent. He is a parasite in motive and makes parasites of those he serves.” That raises another test for our libertarian: Does he think that Rand was off the mark on this one, or does he agree that historical figures like King and Gandhi were “parasites”?Ayne Rand was not truly a libertarian. She was for IP laws for instance. She really did get a lot of things wrong and a lot of things right. Libertarians just think that all interactions and relationships should be voluntary. This means being charitable is fine and encouraged. I know you think you can take one quote from one person, create a straw-man out of it, "refute" it feel good about yourself, but you won't get away with that here.
Libertarianism would have died out as a philosophy if it weren’t for the funding that’s been lavished on the movement by billionaires like Thiel and the Kochs and corporations like ExxonMobil. So our final question is: If you believe in the free market, why weren’t you willing to accept as final the judgment against libertarianism rendered decades ago in the free and unfettered marketplace of ideas?
Labels: anarchy, Austrian Economics, fallacy, free market, freedom, libertarian, liberty, salon, socialism, statism