The Bionic Mosquito on Left Libertarianism
June 21, 2015
The Bionic Mosquito has in a recent post made a characteristically acute point about left libertarianism. Adherents of this position rightly wish to keep government from interfering with business, even when business interests favor such interference. The Mosquito notes, however, that this is not a distinctively left libertarian point; to the contrary, even the “thinnest” libertarians must agree. Unfortunately, though, many left libertarians support government action to ensure that everyone has a minimum income, to curtail racism, and to aid various social causes that they embrace. Left libertarians “have no answer to the question: when my property and your social cause butt heads, who wins? For left-libertarian theory to hold any water requires the initiation of force (aka ‘government’ as it is commonly known today). But then this would expose left-libertarian theory as not holding any water.” Libertarians ought to oppose all violations of the non-aggression principle, not just violations that help business.
Alfred W. McCoy on Academic Court Historians and the State