LIBERTARIANISM, FREE MARKETS AND GOVERNMENT? In response to a criticism of the f

LIBERTARIANISM, FREE MARKETS AND GOVERNMENT?

In response to a criticism of the free market, under the question: “Libertarianism: What reservations do you have about libertarian principles?”

First (a) the free market described by libertarians of all stripes includes prohibitions on Violence, theft, fraud and monopoly (Because monopolies can only be created by governments.) (b) governments prohibit you and I from suing companies and controlling their behavior both by court and market, so the problem is government, not corporations. (c) environmental problems are caused by the government grant of companies special privileges and the elimination of the common law right to sue for pollution and misuse. Again, this is caused by government. (d) None of (the common) criticisms are examples of free market activity – they are examples of corporatist activity that was created by the government.

GOVERNMENT IS THE CAUSE OF PROBLEMS YOU STATE.

Property rights, the common law, rule of law, and the courts are our protection against negatives, and boycotts in the market are our protection against poor behavior. THere is a difference between poor behavior, and corporatism, fraud, theft, and violence.

THE GOVERNMENT in practice (always has) CREATED CORPORATIONS and given them PRIVILEGES. This was done BY DESIGN, in order to eliminate the right that the common man had under the common law to use the courts to control organizations and powerful individuals. The governments took away our rights, and left us the market (boycotts) as a control in order to decrease unemployement and increase tax revenue. (Yes, this is history. Government did this.)

I will venture that there is NOTHING YOU CAN THINK OF that causes CORPORATISM (which is what you’re arguing against) that was not caused by government. The courts and the market must equally bear responsibility for controlling both the government and companies. The common law is our only defense against government abuses via social groups (SOCIALISM) or corporate groups (CORPORATISM). And the common law can only function if private property is articulated in law, and the state cannot override private property in theory or in practice. And when the courts administer the law by the common law, and the common law alone.

ON GOVERNMENT

The NECESSARY properties of of a government are

1) provide a means of resolving differences without the use of violence (ie: to create a monopoly of violence within a geography.)

2) To provide a means of resolving differences requires a definition of property rights.

3) To prohibit alternative definitions of property rights from being imposed by force, theft or fraud, (or immigration.)

4) To provide a means of investing in commons (human and physical infrastructure) by prohibiting free-riding, privatization, and competition when investing in commons.

These are the minimum properties of a government.

In addition to these properties, it may also be possible for a group of people to afford to also have government engage in the following:

5) To provide a means of cooperation between classes where privatization, free riding, rent seeking and competition prevent cooperation between classes.

6) To reduce both transaction costs and fraud by implementing weights, measures and currency.

7) To perform as an insurer of last resort against catastrophes.

These are advantageous properties of government.

In addition to these properties, it may be possible for a group of people to afford to also have the government engage in the following LUXURIES:

8) Redistribution of all kinds, both in services, and in direct payments.

9) Inter-temporal redistribution from young to old, rather than saving and lending from old to young. (But this is very fragile.)

These are LUXURIES that can be provided by some governments under rare circumstances in exceptional periods of time, where malthusian and group selection problems have been temporarily held at bay by technological innovation.

HOPEFULLY THIS HELPED YOU SOMEWHAT

The government is not the source of the good things. The courts under the common law of property rights is the source of good things. The government has destroyed the common law, the rule of law, and crated both corporatism and socialism. And we now suffer between two factions that try to control the government for corporatist or socialist means.