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LEFTWARD_DRIFT

                                             April      8, 2010
                                             September 12, 2013

  It might be worth reviewing what's
  left of my tattered libertarian               LATE_SHIFT
  faith, rather than just mindlessly
  drifting leftward because the right
  has been so horrible.

                         In recent years.
                         Or is it decades?

  In outline:

  Problems with bureaucracies,
  bureaucratic mindset.

  Efficiency of markets.

  Moral arguments:
     contracts are better than laws;            While we might conceed that
     tax-based systems require coercion         taxation is an evil, it is
                                                not established that it's
  Reasons to sneer at "free markets":           the ultimate evil.

  Good ones:                                         RANDRHET
                                                                LATE_SHIFT
      definition of "free" is often shallow.

                                      Distinguishing between "free markets"
                                      as opposed to "government" isn't often
                                      useful, because a market purely based
                                      on "freedom" that isn't established by
                                      a government is largely hypothetical.

                                           (Many people impressed by
                                           anti-government rhetoric don't
                                           quite understand how extreme
                                           that stance is, or would be
                                           if taken seriously.)


                                           With "markets", there's
                                           willful ignorance of:
                                              roots in government authority
                                              government interference
                                                connections, class


  Weaker ones:

             Abuse of free market rhetoric by
             by people who don't believe in it.
             An excuse for "welfare for the rich".

  The financial industry "wants
  government off it's back", but      It does not necessarily
  still wants its hands in the        folllow from this that
  taxpayer's pocket.                  getting gov-off-back is    Sometimes,
                                      a bad idea.                the devil
                                                                 does quote
                                      On the other hand,         scriptures
                                      if a particular
                                      philosophy is always
                                      a disaster wherever
                                      an application is
                                      tried, that does
                                      indeed reflect on
                                      the philosophy.


  The old questions remain:

  What do you regulate, and why?
  What agencies do you trust?
  When exactly can you let "market efficiency"
  take over... if it really *is* efficient,
  why limit it to toys?


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