Consider the federalism debate. Most libertarians are decentralists; virtually all lefties and many conservatives are centralists. If I had to pick one or the other, I’d side with the decentralist side of this debate. Other things equal, best to go to the smalles jurisdictional version.  Village government is better than city government; city government is better than state government; state government is better than national government;  national government is better than world government;  break  up this vicious institution into the smallest pieces possible.

But, I don’t have to pick either side of the centralism decentralism debate. There’s a third side: pure libertarianism. When the centralists are correct (Reagan was gonna kick NYC butt, financially, to compel them to get rid of rent control), I support centralism. When the decentralists are correct (many states have legalized marijuana, the federales have not) I support localism.

This is yet one more reason I am widely know as Walter Moderate Block (at least in my own mind). I also take moderate positions on abortion (evictionism); on immigration (open borders until privatization of all property, in which case all uninvited immigrants are trespassers); and on left versus right libertarianism (I’m a thin libertarian, and reject both versions of thickism)

The Best of Walter E. Block