I also find it hard to understand Libertarianism. We end up arguing against "straw man" versions.
But the Board is fortunate to have a genuine Libertarian. @ Jason — I hope you have the grace to set us straight. What are the practical steps that Libertarians would take if suddenly given control of the country? What are the specific differences between the Mises Caucus and the Non-Caucus (or whatever it's called)?
Too subtle for you to hope to follow.
Sincere thanks for answering some of my questions.
BUT you are allowed to edit and delete any of the questions which are too difficult or too uncomfortable to answer.
What is the point of gratuitous insults? "Too subtle for you to hope to follow" translates to "I don't know the answer so will whine an insult instead."
Please be specific. Repeal of the Civil Rights Act is certainly high on the Libertarian agenda: businesses will be to free to discriminate based on race, religion or anything else they choose. Do Libertarians embrace this openly? Or do they leave the return to segregation buried inside platitudes about "Liberty ... liberty ... freedom ... liberty"? Do Libertarians ever ponder the contradiction between an innkeeper's liberty to choose his customers and a hungry family's liberty to buy dinner?
There is a myth that without government people would start acting racist, sexist, whatever-ist all over the place. I don't buy that myth. I don't think we need force of law to force people to do the right thing. If people were as overwhelmingly racist as you suppose, it would be easy to elect overwhelmingly racist politicians ... well, now I have to eat crow because we did that in Nov 2020. Maybe you have half a point.
Seriously, though, wouldn't you want to know which businesses are run by bigots so that you could avoid them?
Three major errors here.
(1) You seem unaware that racist segregation, especially (but not only) in the South, was common before Brown vs Board or the 1965 Act. Do you need cites for this?
(2) Your "run by bigots so that you could avoid them" suggests you believe consumers "with a conscience" have sufficient economic power to effect change. Wrong! Did Koch Industries, Union Carbide, Dow Chem, Wells Fargo Bank etc. go out of business when their crimes were exposed?
(3) More generally, Libertarians seem to think ALL people are inherently good and that almost all misbehavior would disappear if government would just get out of the way. In fact, most people will act in self-interest — just as a libertarian model suggests they would and should. Even if 98% of humans would behave well, a small minority of miscreants would spoil things for the rest without laws and policing.
What will be used for money? I realize the Magic of the Market will choose among gold, bitcoin and whatever — during transition, customers will seek accommodations that accept their particular variety of cryptocurrency — but if any government persists and collects tariffs what will it accept as legal tender? The FedRes will be abolished, right?
Yes, abolish the Federal Reserve. It is not only unnecessary it destroys the value of currency. Mankind has used money for over 4 millennia and never needed fiat. Since we've had it for over a century people actually have come to think the aberration is normal. You don't need it.
You answered only part of the question. Let me repeat it: If central bank money is abolished,
What will be used for money?
The standard Libertarian answer is "Let the Free Market decide. Bitcoin, Gold, Beanie Babies, Wampum, whatever the Free People want to use as money."
And, did you forget to answer "If any government persists and collects tariffs what will it accept as legal tender?"
We have several old threads — filled with misinformation from all quarters — on monetary policies and "money creation." Here I'll just ask if you're aware that Milton Friedman was an early strong advocate of "Quantitative Easing"?
Will there be any way to regulate, tax or pay for pollution? Child vaccines for pertussis, etc. will no longer be mandated, right?
Pollution will be treated as a property right. If you pollute my property you pay. Yes, the available vaccines won't be mandated. You will still be free to choose them.
If Koch Industries pollutes the atmosphere, whose property is that? Are you a big fan of class action lawsuits? Will it be easy to prove that Koch has cost my unborn grandchildren $10 of damage? Do you have great faith in 12 arbitrarily-selected jurors?
About vaccines: Are you aware that some children are allergic and depend on herd immunity? Is it OK for parents, through inaction, to risk the health of their children? (You didn't answer "When do children cease to be their parents' property?")
Please tell us how you feel about the worldwide eradication of smallpox.
The historic record of currency is reform the currency, debase the currency, reform the currency, debase the currency ad nauseum. The federal reserve helps avoid that. That if not dominated by Republicans works tolerably well. (Herbert Hoover, Greenspan) Avoiding the hyper inflation of Germany in the 20's for example. Do we really want monetary policy set by unelected oligarchs and robber barons?
Cite?
I think we agree that central-bank fiat money (at least in liberal prosperous democracies) has worked well so far, with the deliberate 2% inflation — decried by whingeing YouTube gold-bugs and morons — harmless
because it is ANTICIPATED. BUT the historic record of precious-metal money is that it DID retain its precious value (modulo metal availability!) Florence's fiorino d'oro, 3.5368 grams of fine gold, was Europe's standard of monetary value for centuries. A government which reduced its coins' precious metal content by 5% would soon find its money was worth 5% less.