From: M
Sent: Saturday, August 18, 2018 7:41 PM
To: wblock@loyno.edu
Subject: Question on Transitioning to a more Libertarian Society

Dear Dr. Block,

Sorry to bother you. I have been working on a scenario where a largely feudalistic society has the opportunity to convert to a Minarchist/Libertarian society. I’m hoping to use it as a teaching tool through role play.

Imagine if you will the French Revolution where you substitute the Jacobins with Libertarians.

We have a noble class which controls the means of production and a mob that has taken it away from them.

Now as the new leader of the mob how do we rebalance the scales?

My thought process lead to a scenario where the assets are auctioned to the populace with the fruits of production of said asset being leveraged as part of a mortgage (since presumably a feudalistic society where the rich noble class controls the majority of the wealth won’t have much to auction with.) to make up the disparity in value between what a commoner/merchant can pay and what the asset is worth.

As for the nobility, they would be allowed to live off their accumulated wealth, banned from raising mercenaries to retake their previous holdings and after a certain time period allowed to return to participate as equal if relatively wealthier members of society.

This seemed like the most Libertarian process, respecting Non-Aggression Principles and not overly punishing to a noble/royal class who have largely inherited a system that has been in place for centuries.

Is there any guidance you can provide to help me better adhere to Libertarian principles? I can’t build a Utopia in this scenario but any well reasoned input from the current Mr. Libertarian would be truly appreciated.

Warmest Regards, M

Dear M:

It is no “bother” at all to respond to your very important query!

Thanks for calling me “Mr. Libertarian.” However, in my opinion, there’s only one “Mr. Libertarian.” And that’s not me. I’ll give you one guess as to who it is? Yes, Murray Rothbard, my mentor, my teacher, my friend.

I don’t like “auctioning” since the government gets the money. Why not just give out these goodies to the proper owners, as determined by libertarian theory?

Why allow the nobles to keep all their property? Much of it was stolen from the rightful owners. Of course, possession is 9/10 of the law. The presumption is that all extant property titles, even that of the nobles, is legitimate. The burden of proof rests with those who want to uproot old property titles. In the case of the nobles, that ought to be pretty easy.

Below, see some of my publications on reparations:

Alston and Block, 2007; Block, 1993, 2001, 2002; Block and Yeatts, 1999-2000

Alston, Wilton D. and Walter E. Block. 2007. “Reparations, Once Again.” Human Rights Review, Vol. 9, No. 3, September, pp. 379-392; http://tinyurl.com/2b75fl

Block, Walter E. 1993. “Malcolm X,” Fraser Forum, January, pp. 18-19; http://mises.org/Community/forums/t/5361.aspx 

Block, Walter E. 2001. “The Moral Dimensions of Poverty, Entitlements and Theft,” The Journal of Markets and Morality, Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 83-93; http://www.acton.org/publicat/m_and_m/2001_spring/block.html; http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=922087; http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCcQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.marketsandmorality.com%2Findex.php%2Fmandm%2Farticle%2Fdownload%2F587%2F577&ei=lBn9UuLIOtDOkQe1toHwBw&usg=AFQjCNF2MZ5XoFKKMF5UcOfOT5Kv-HQgZA&sig2=VVYWZhyl0ZmAWRAKXtkxWw; Search for “Walter Block” under “Authors” here: http://www.marketsandmorality.com/index.php/mandm/search

Block, Walter E. 2002. “On Reparations to Blacks for Slavery,” Human Rights Review, Vol. 3, No. 4, July-September, pp. 53-73;

http://www.walterblock.com/wp-content/uploads/publications/reparations_slavery.pdf; https://link.springer.com/journal/12142/3/4/page/1; https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12142-002-1003-4

(David Horowitz, Randall Robinson)

Block, Walter E. and Guillermo Yeatts. 1999-2000. “The Economics and Ethics of Land Reform: A Critique of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace’s ‘Toward a Better Distribution of Land: The Challenge of Agrarian Reform,’” Journal of Natural Resources and Environmental Law, Vol. 15, No. 1, pp. 37-69; http://www.walterblock.com/publications/ethics_land_reform.pdf

The Best of Walter E. Block