No problem Nemo, I also apologize for what I realize in retrospect was a somewhat curt reply.
And I really like the word “curt.”
Most Libertarians believe in the following roles for government:
- A military, to protect the country from external coercion.
- A police force, to protect citizens from coercion within the country.
- Courts of law, to settle disputes among the citizenry.
So you’d still have the cops, still have the military, and still have a justice system. You’d still have laws against fraud, extortion, false advertising, pollution, etc. The laws would be stripped down to only those laws that prevent one person from coercing another.
But the various legal and judicial systems would be the least changed in libertaria. What would really change would be an end to government programs that manipulate society. That means no taxation for the purposes of redistributing income (although taxes to pay for necessary government services are fine). Government agencies like the FDA and OSHA would be greatly scaled back. Regulatory burdens throughout society would be eased dramatically. Government would get out of education, health care, interstate commerce, etc. You would be free to make and sell products where and when you saw fit, as long as you didn’t lie to people. If your product hurts someone, you could still be sued. If it turned out you were grossly negligent, you could still be charged with a crime.
And there would still be laws against things like speeding and drunk driving and other forms of reckless endangerment.
What? He never said anything about his mother neglecting him and needing attention.
My understanding is that Oliver Twist would feel right at home in a society run by Libertarians. So would Ebenezer Scrooge.
Perhaps you’d like to elaborate on the reasons behind that understanding?
I’m not a Libertarian, so I’m not going to attempt to defend it BTW.
I don’t know if this would be done in Libertaria, but I’ve had extremely good success with flipping the breaker of noisy neighbors. Instant silence and they assume they caused it.
I wouldn’t have access to their breaker as it is inside their house (I suppose I could break the door down to get to it; they probably wouldn’t notice the noise - when I knock on the door to complain, I have to wait until a pause between tracks).
My understanding is that this type of comment would feel right at home over in Great Debates.
Fewer courts, more arbitration?
I’m quite happy, now that my question has been adequately answered, for this thread to be moved to GD so that people can expand on some of the cryptic comments they have made here.
(Or should they start another thread directly in GD?)