Difference between revisions of "Libertarians Misunderstand Coercion"
From Critiques Of Libertarianism
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Coercion is one of the basic abilities of ordinary humans. Two others are production and reproduction. | Coercion is one of the basic abilities of ordinary humans. Two others are production and reproduction. | ||
| − | Coercion of everyone is one solution to almost any collective action problem, and in a large subset of them everyone would prefer to be coerced rather than to have autonomy because other potential solutions are not working. | + | Coercion of everyone is one solution to almost any [[collective action problem]], and in a large subset of them everyone would prefer to be coerced rather than to have autonomy because other potential solutions are not working. |
If a problem is worse than the coercion needed to solve it (even after non-coercive attempts at solutions), coercion is the logical choice. Even minimalist government libertarians come to this conclusion, requiring coercion to provide for defense. | If a problem is worse than the coercion needed to solve it (even after non-coercive attempts at solutions), coercion is the logical choice. Even minimalist government libertarians come to this conclusion, requiring coercion to provide for defense. | ||
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Hayek (Const.OL p. 21) switches to ought when he has individuals creating their own private spheres. But really cannot prevent government from having rules about taxation and redistribution. He also has government mold the environment of rules in which the spontaneous order is to occur: but government is a rationalist order. | Hayek (Const.OL p. 21) switches to ought when he has individuals creating their own private spheres. But really cannot prevent government from having rules about taxation and redistribution. He also has government mold the environment of rules in which the spontaneous order is to occur: but government is a rationalist order. | ||
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| + | Markets are not non-coercive solutions to [[collective action problems]]: they rely on the problem being solved already by the coercive creation of property and rights. Even simple strategies such as tit-for-tat and shunning rely on that same coercive background to protect the players. | ||
