Anthony, you are so right. The pro-IP libertarians ought to hang their heads in shame. If they support this result, it’s unthinkably evil. If they oppose it–well, they really can’t, can they, since this is the result of having a state-run IP system–of having a state at all. Every IP advocate is a minarchist; you cannot have IP without state legislation. But once you have a state and empower it to “make” law artificially, you can’t complain about the law it does make–especially if it is IP law and you support IP. As Mises said, “No socialist author ever gave a thought to the possibility that the abstract entity which he wants to vest with unlimited power—whether it is called humanity, society, nation, state, or government—could act in a way of which he himself disapproves.”
Libertarians who favor IP–who want to continue to be able to honestly call themselves libertarians–should look in the mirror and think twice.
1:41 pm on June 19, 2009
