As a conscious, de jure Libertarian; and antiauthoritarian to the very core of my being — I have more than once observed that in terms of outcomes — the greatest individual Liberty for the greatest number — Canada is a FAR more Libertarian country than the United States.
You see — and you will find this point made in core libertarian writings — liberty requires social infrastructure in order to ensure basic, common wants; otherwise those wants and needs can be and WILL be used by the minority against the majority to reduce them to a state of permanent serfdom.
Unless you can afford to say “take this job and shove it,” you are not free. Arguably, it should not be a trivial step, without consequence, but it absolutely MUST be possible — or you are not living in a free society.
Likewise, there must be robust regulations and vigilant guardians watching over the markets and the commons, so that — well, so that what is happening in economic terms in the US and Europe, does not happen. And in Canada, that is the case. Canada has not abandoned regulatory oversight of critical industries in order to pander to would be Madoffs and Enrons and the result is more — not less — economic opportunity and practical liberty for more people.
But US Libertarians are of the opinion that Liberty is the same as License. It is a movement of the self-indulgent, those who cry that “I have mine, and you are a luser who deserves nothing from me.”
Bob King, “Basement Bunker Libertarians”, Graphictruth, 2009-04-30
April 9, 2011
QotD: “In terms of outcomes — the greatest individual Liberty for the greatest number — Canada is a FAR more Libertarian country than the United States”
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While I agree that Canada is more Libertarian than the U.S., it’s not for the reasons King lays out.
I don’t agree with King’s implied definition of Libertarianism, or much else that he says in this excerpt.
For example, King has completely missed the lessons of Enron and Madoff.
Both of these scams, and many others, happened under the watchful eyes of government’s best and brightest regulators, in one of the most regulated industries in the world. If Enron and Madoff weren’t operating under the imprimatur of a regulated industry, investors would have used common sense, done their own homework, and realized that the promised returns were impossible. Those who lost money in these scams outsourced their personal responsibility to government bureaucrats who had no skin in the game. This scenario is the very antithesis of Libertarianism.
Your thoughts?
Comment by Tom Kelley — April 9, 2011 @ 01:28
He’s using an odd definition, if the examples he states are part of his version. He’s not close to being a classical minarchist (the “night-watchman state”), so we need to coin yet another new subdivision of quasi-libertarianism to include him. “Midarchists”?
He probably used those examples to fend off critics from the pro-regulation side. You’re right that these are excellent examples of the failure of government, not the failure of the markets.
Much the same as yours, I think. I posted this as a QotD entry more because of the rather outrageous claim in the title than the actual quality of the explanation. I was hoping to get a few of my other commenters’ heads to explode a bit . . . spark up a lively discussion in the comments, anyway.
Comment by Nicholas — April 9, 2011 @ 10:46
I was hoping to get a few of my other commenters’ heads to explode a bit . . . spark up a lively discussion in the comments, anyway.
lol, I did read the headline, snorted, and then read the commentary and moved on. I thought that if someone thinks that nanny regulators are a requirement for a Libertarian philosophy then somehow they lost their mind. 🙂 When I think Libertarian I think Robert Heinlien and this quote:
A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.
That human being is a Libertarian 🙂 I am not quite there. I have changed a diaper, balanced accounts, comforted the dying, taken orders, given orders, cooperated, acted alone, solved equations, analyzed a new problem, programmed a computer, cooked a tasty meal, fought efficiently. I could try my hand at planning an invasion, conning a ship (I have steered), writing a sonnet, building a wall, setting a bone, and pitching manure. I don’t think I could butcher a hog or design a building, for that I would need some training. 🙂
Comment by Dwayne — April 9, 2011 @ 17:07
Tom Kelley wrote —
While I agree that Canada is more Libertarian than the U.S., it’s not for the reasons King lays out
In your opinion, for what reasons is Canada more Libertarian than the U.S.?
Comment by Lickmuffin — April 11, 2011 @ 09:31