Is Libertarianism Utopian? - Zerowedgie essay
Is Libertarianism Utopian? https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-08/libertarianism-utopian Authored by Duncan Whitmore via The Mises Institute, Libertarianism – and any political position that leans towards a greater degree of freedom from the state – is opposed both ethically and economically on a number of substantive grounds. The proposition that without the state we would have inequality, destitution for the masses, rampant greed, and so on is a familiar charge which attempts to point out that libertarianism is undesirableand/or unjustifiable. A further point of opposition is that libertarianism and the drive towards it is simply utopian or idealistic, and that libertarians are hopeless day dreamers, lacking any awareness of how the world “really” works. In other words, that, regardless of whether it may be desirable, some combination of one or more of impossibility, improbability or the simple unwillingness of anyone to embrace the libertarian ideal renders libertarianism either wholly or primarily unachievable. It is this specific objection that we will address in this essay. Let us first of all recount the libertarian ethic of non-aggression, which states that no one may initiate any physical incursion against your body or your property without your consent. From this we can state that the goal of the libertarian project, broadly, is a world of minimised violence and aggression. Consequently, the questions we have to answer is whether a world of minimised violence and aggression is unachievable and, hence, utopian. …
On Monday, July 9, 2018, 4:30:14 AM PDT, Zenaan Harkness <zen@freedbms.net> wrote: Is Libertarianism Utopian? https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-07-08/libertarianism-utopian
Authored by Duncan Whitmore via The Mises Institute,
Libertarianism – and any political position that leans towards a greater degree of freedom from the state – is opposed both ethically and economically on a number of substantive grounds. The proposition that without the state we would have inequality, destitution for the masses, rampant greed, and so on is a familiar charge which attempts to point out that libertarianism is undesirableand/or unjustifiable.
I will read the full essay later today, when I have more time. I view this as a person who has a unique perspective, having invented the Assassination Politics idea, see at: https://cryptome.org/ap.htm In about 1975, when I first learned about libertarianism and the Libertarian Party, I knew I was already a lifetime libertarian, as I still am. I was a minarchist libertarian, not because I wanted to see some remnent of government survive, but instead because even then I realize that there would be a problem with a libertarian/anarchist government surviving against attack from outside, non-libertarian societies.. I was not aware of David Friedman, son of economist Milton Friedman, and I also was not aware of Friedman's "Hard Problem" from his 1973/1989/2014 book, The Machinery of Freedom. http://www.daviddfriedman.com/Machinery_3d_Edition/The%20Hard%20Problem%20II... I continued to be a minarchist Libertarian until January 1995. At that point, I hit upon an idea that I believed, and still believe, will inevitably usher in a libertarian AND anarchist society. And by "inevitably", I mean that quite literally. Once implemented, my AP idea will inexorably destroy and dissolve all other governments, leading to an anarchist and libertarian society. Jim Bell
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jim bell -
Zenaan Harkness