Well, my ideal politico-economico philosophy/practice, is something like What-if-J.S.MIlls-lived-on-Sesame-Street?, so I am actually simultaneously in agreement with you, and Harry Browne, and the Moneyless Man. How possible???!!!Riggerjack wrote:I couldn't disagree more. While I am certain The Moneyless Man would agree with your assessment, in my experience, the more eagerly someone espouses these ideas, the more they expect favor trading to come out in their favor.
Here's my take. Liberal or libertarian philosophy or politics has to do with how adults interact with other adults. In extreme libertarian context, as in "Ragged Dick" or "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch" or any realm absent compulsory education and child labor law, perhaps adulthood would be granted to any individual who had achieved bare competence to offer self for service/sale on the market. Still, there would be a phase of infancy in which the brute forces of the market would esteem any human as not yet of value (except in manner once suggested by Mr. Swift.)
If I was creating a model of a system that was only concerned with contracts between free human adults, I would default to liberal/libertarian. Since I am creating a model of a system that also includes "stuff and bother" like rainfall, oxygen, rare writings, and theoretical grand-babies, that are not wholly comprised of or enclosed by contracts between free human adults, I must also acknowledge the need for some flow of functions commonly known as "caring" and "sharing." IOW, there is a difference between that which is weak and that which is vulnerable, and entrusting that which is vulnerable to pure libertarian practice would be like hiring a punk teenager who wants to spend her summer hitchhiking around Asia to be your nanny. The drive towards freedom or liberty is fueled by "juvenile masculine" energy. That's why some early critics wrote off Harry Browne as a "playboy" going through a mid-life crisis.
I have observed that most reasonably competent people tend towards either being balanced juvenile-masculine/adult-feminine or juvenile-feminine/adult-masculine in their energies. The most self-aware, highly functioning people are able to fluidly engage in all 4 quadrants. So, my 5 cents Lucy-in-her-lemonade/psychotherapy stand diagnosis of your complete rejection of the Moneyless Man philosophy would be that you, Riggerjack, like many men in our culture, are not in touch with your inner juvenile feminine energy. So, I want you to perform a brief exercise this afternoon which involves lying down in the grass, shirtless and pretending like you are a rabbit with your belly exposed and there are wolves hiding in the trees around you, then relax, relax, relax...
BTW: Bravo on your cemetery preserve plan! Clever and bold at once and a fine piece of stewardship.