Tuesday, October 14, 2003

"The Stateless Utopia of Toll-Booths"

Matt Welsh has taken Michael Totten up on a mountaintop to show him the libertarian kingdoms of the earth, and he is sore tempted. Michael is wavering, but I'm pretty firm, and Michael's phrase sums it up for me in a few pithy words. I can't imagine a good country without government, a good life without regulation, a good humanity without the nonexistent grace of God. That is to say, libertarian legalities cannot impose a peace; libertarian economics cannot address the commons, and libertarian moralities cannot reconcile individual interests.

Arbitration without coercion is, in the end, arbitrary.

Not all economic interests are atomized.

"An it harm none, do what thou will" will always be read as "Do what thou will" in the absence of coercion.

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