Achieving maximum public utility requires knowing what that result is. As
Friedrich Hayek points out, that knowledge problem can't be solved by people
trying to govern the economy, because they can't acquire enough information
to make the right decisions. Only the sum of everyone's individual choices,
as facilitated by markets, can maximize economic benefit.
That the rule of law can be sustained without government is well argued by
Murray Rothbard in Man, Economy, and the State. (But this is to move from
libertarianism to anarchism - most libertarians would accept the need for
government enforcement of a rule of law.)
But even if the Hayekian point were wrong, the libertarian argument that
government depends on the initiation of force, and the initiation of force
is morally wrong, would still deny the right of government to impose its
will on private free markets.
Sam Treynor
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
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Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2008 4:34 PM
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Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Ft Monroe & public funds
Mr. South is a principled libertarian, which is an intellectually consistent
position. Like most modern libertarians, he advocates allocation of
resources by the private free market, with minimal resources committed to or
controlled by public agencies.
Such a program is predicated on an optimistic view of human nature.
Maximize people's capacity to make their own choices in pursuit of their own
utility, and we maximize the total good, public and private. Free market
liberals presume that average people possess the wisdom to make the best
choices, and that the maximal public utility is congruent with the maximum
private utility.
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