It’s true libertarians spend a lot of time talking about the state versus the individual. But I don’t think it’s true that libertarians slight the intermediate institutions [like church, neighborhood, employer]. The bulk of our life should be conducted in voluntary organizations. And a voluntary organization can have very strong powers of shame, praise, economic penalty, economic reward.
The reason that the state/individual relationship is concentrated upon is that the state has a monopoly on coercive force. Only the state is allowed to kill you. In the twentieth century, of the half billion or so people who have been killed outside of war, almost all have been killed by the state. Maybe 30 people have been killed by intermediate organizations. Labor unions got a couple. John Gotti got a couple. But basically it’s the state that endangers people.
P.J. O’Rourke, interviewed by Scott Walter, “The 60’s Return”, The American Enterprise, May/June 1997.
October 21, 2024
QotD: Libertarianism
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