Libertarian Philosophy in the Real World: The Politics of Natural Rights PDF
Preview Libertarian Philosophy in the Real World: The Politics of Natural Rights
Libertarian Philosophy in the Real World Also AvAilAble from bloomsbury Critical Theory and Libertarian Socialism, Charles Masquelier Libertarian Anarchy, Gerard Casey Nozick’s Libertarian Project, Mark D. Friedman Libertarian Philosophy in the Real World The Politics of Natural Rights mArK D. frieDmAN LONDON • NEW DELHI • NEW YORK • SYDNEY Bloomsbury Academic An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square 1385 Broadway London New York WC1B 3DP NY 10018 UK USA www.bloomsbury.com BLOOMSBURY and the Diana logo are registered trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published 2015 © Mark D. Friedman, 2015 Mark D. Friedman has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the Author of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. eISBN: 978-1-47257-341-4 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Typeset by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India To My Three Great Loves: Aracelly, Judah, and Asher “Liberty and good government do not exclude each other; and there are excellent reasons why they should go together. Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end. It is not for the sake of a good public administration that it is required, but for security in the pursuit of the highest objects of civil society, and of private life. Increase of freedom in the State may sometimes promote mediocrity, and give vitality to prejudice; it may even retard useful legislation, diminish the capacity for war, and restrict the boundaries of Empire. LORD ACTON, The History of Freedom in Antiquity [1877] CoNTeNTs Preface viii Introduction 1 1 Natural rights, the minimal state, and its legitimate functions 13 2 Property rights, eminent domain, regulatory takings, and zoning 33 3 Rights of expression and association 49 4 Paternalism 63 5 The regulatory state 77 6 The federal income tax and the federal reserve system 93 7 Corporate welfare and the welfare state 111 8 Public education 125 9 Health care 135 10 Political issues for which there is no doctrinaire libertarian position 151 11 What is to be done? 169 Notes 179 List of useful internet resources 249 Bibliography 253 Index 275 PrefACe This study is a natural outgrowth of my previous work, Nozick’s Libertarian Project: An Elaboration and Defense, Continuum International, 2011. There, I argued for the continuing vitality of Nozick’s rights-based defense of the (no more than) minimal state. Having completed this task, it seemed worthwhile to explore the public policy implications of his libertarianism, an important question that has received little attention in the literature. I wish to express my heartfelt appreciation to a number of people in connection with this project. First and foremost, I thank my wife Aracelly for her unwavering understanding and patience, which made this study possible. For their helpful comments on portions of earlier drafts of my manuscript, I wish to thank Tevi Troy, Steve Horwitz, Tom Palmer, Aaron Gordon, Steve Karavitis, and Fernando Téson. I owe a special debt to Danny Frederick, whose penetrating criticisms deepened my understanding of Nozick’s theory of rights, enabling me to make here what I hope is a more cogent and persuasive presentation of this important subject. Of course, the remaining errors and omissions are entirely my own responsibility. Introduction By any standard, we live in interesting political times. In just the past several years, our policymakers have undertaken an unusual if not unprecedented series of deep and momentous economic interventions that have affected virtually every American. These include costly bailouts of our banking and automotive industries; huge, debt-fueled federal spending programs intended to “stimulate” growth; the reorganization of our health care system in a way that greatly expands the role of the state; the Federal Reserve’s massive, ongoing campaign of quantitative easing; and the comprehensive reregulation of our financial services industry. Yet in the face of this epic display of governmental activism, libertarianism has never been more popular, perhaps at least in part as a response to such policies. Evidence of this trend is seen in the more than 1.2 million votes garnered by Gary Johnson, the Libertarian Party’s candidate in the 2012 United States presidential election; the emergence and influence of the “Tea Party” movement; the mass media exposure given to such self-identified libertarians as John Stossel, Neil Boortz, and Judge Andrew Napolitano; and the continuing strong sales of Ayn Rand’s two major novels, The Fountainhead [1943] and Atlas Shrugged [1957]. Moreover, while only a small percentage of Americans will spontaneously identify themselves as “libertarians,” there is persuasive evidence that a much larger number of persons actually hold views consonant with this philosophy. A January 2010 survey of the US electorate reveals that 14 percent are libertarians, based on the respondents’ answers to three key, ideologically loaded questions.1 Other polls indicate that a substantially higher portion of the electorate hold views that are at least somewhat sympathetic to this worldview.
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