(I think this has been discussed in a variety of ways, but let’s do it again!)
I know libertarianism is not anarchy- I know that law enforcement and the military would still exist.
But I have a few other questions: Who builds and maintains the bridges? Who builds the hydro-electric dams? Who builds and maintains the roads? Rail lines? Subway systems? How about huge projects like the Chunnel under the English Channel? Or the Panama Canal? Who maintains/runs the traffic lights? Who directs air traffic into and out of airports? Who monitors volcanoes/earthquakes? Who looks out for hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes? Who regulates what radio channels can be used, by whom, and which ones are off limits (for police, military, airplanes, emergency, etc.)? Who prevents agricultural parasites, disease-causing agents, etc, from crossing our borders? Who regulates nuclear power plants- and how do they ensure the ZERO TOLERANCE for accidents necessary for a nuclear power system (I worked in nuclear engineering in the Navy)? Who charts near-earth asteroids? In the off chance an asteroid/comet threatens extinction, who creates and executes a plan to deflect it?
From long Straight Dope experience, I think this thread will go nowhere fast, so I want to slip in with the Complete And Correct Answer to the OP, which is that **Sick Ate **here is on the money. For any set of current government responsibilities, any particular libertarian will divide them into two groups:
(1) Not properly the responsibility of the government, and not performed by the government in Libertopia;
(2) Properly the responsibility of the government, and performed by the government in Libertopia.
Given a sufficiently large set of current government responsibilities, no two libertarians will produce exactly the same division.
I think we should poll thousands of libertarians on each of those issues and create statistical models detailing the spectrum of libertarian views. Then we can run the data through machine learning algorithms to predict how libertarians feel about all issues. Then use that to create a libertarian AI, which we can consult whenever these topics come up.
There’s no reason a private company or voluntary association couldn’t do the things the OP wrings his hands over. Many do already. Whether that is the best way to do things is another debate.
But by that standard, everyone’s a libertarian, since it just defines “libertarian” as someone who believes that the government should do what the government should do, and that it shouldn’t do what it shouldn’t do. I mean, if I consider (say) health coverage to be something that’s properly the responsibility of the government, and something the government would perform in Libertopia, does that mean that I’m still a perfectly valid libertarian, just one who has drawn the line in a different place than most?
I, for example, think most of the things in the OP should generally be done by governments, or by private contractors under supervision of the government. And yet, I’m still very much a libertarian.
Giving the OP a break for a minute, perhaps we can re-frame what his question really is: without governments doing them, how would very large (and presumably beneficial) projects get done?
Here are a few examples:
Hydroelectric dams - the obvious answer is one or more utility companies. But (environmentalists be aware) they would have to get permission from or buy out all the property owners that would be affected by damming a river. Eminent domain would not be an issue.
Panama Canal - the opportunity for private enterprise is obvious. Put together a huge consortium, buy the propety in Panama, dig the canal, charge ships for using it, Profit!
Roads, streets, highways, and the maintenance thereof - there are already models for toll roads, if you want to see how these would work on a large scale, go to Japan (of course, there it’s the government doing it, so they have the power to force people to give up their property). For local streets and roads, neighborhood associations could be set up where, when you buy a house, you agree to pay some amount every year to maintain the local roads. This will keep up the local property values.
And so on. Sometimes all it takes is a little imagination, and having the government get out of the way (and to stop collecting money for things they are no longer providing). Where money can be made, someone will figure out how to do it. Murray Rothbard published a book maybe 30 years ago or so explaining how we might transition from current conditions to a (more) libertarian society. At least I think it was him, I’m not at home right now.
Roddy
My guess is the government, though perhaps they simply manage the contracts for the public trust and out source the contracts to the private sector. :eek: Yeah, just like now. Why do you think that would change if there was a libertarian government in charge when you acknowledge that it’s not anarchy and the government would still be doing things in the name of the public?
Considering that no one can build one today I’d say it’s a moot point. Though in a libertarian system maybe we could build hydro-electric dams and nuclear power plants.
Etc…all of the answers to your questions are ‘the government does, same as now’, though perhaps with less regulation. As you say in your OP, ‘libertarian society’ does not equal anarchy, and there is nothing in libertarianism that says the government couldn’t or even shouldn’t do all those things. What it would really depend on is if we continued with the current representational democracy or if we went to a more direct democracy as to what public projects get done and how they get prioritized. Assuming we would still be collecting taxes though, stuff would still be getting done, though.
I was going to start a very similar thread. I’m so glad I didn’t.
But the replies do bring me to another question. If a libertarian is just somebody who calls themselves a libertarian and there are no common issues on which a majority of libertarians agree, doesn’t it make the word meaningless?
The trouble doesn’t seem to be that libertarians don’t agree with each other, it seems to be between libertarian-esque posters and folks who dislike or don’t understand libertarianism trying to patiently explain to libertarian types what they are supposed to believe.
The problem is that a lot of libertarians seem to have the attitude of “our system is exactly like yours except ours is better than yours in every possible way”.
Googling the difference between libertarians and Libertarians brought up various points of view, but it appears that it’s the Libertarians who believe in some legitimate government functions, but libertarians believe in no coercion which would seem to rule out taxes which seems to mean everything is privatized.
Though in a libertarian system maybe we could build hydro-electric dams and nuclear power plants.