It is bad enough if you -- like Matt Ridley -- are a libertarian heading an institution (even if it was only in a non-executive capacity) that needs to be bailed out by government. It gets even more painful when George Monbiot gets on your case.
If you are of libertarian persuasion, don't read this stuff:
I doubt that Ridley would be able to sustain his beliefs in a place where the state has broken down. Unless taxpayers' money and public services are available to repair the destruction it causes, libertarianism destroys people's savings, wrecks their lives and trashes their environment. It is the belief system of the free-rider, who is perpetually subsidised by responsible citizens. As biologists we both know what this means. Self-serving as governments might be, the true social parasites are those who demand their dissolution.
Ouch!
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Thanks to Swarup for the pointer.
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This case reminds me of of "Anarchy, State, and Rent Control" involving Robert Nozick.
1 Comments:
Au contraire, this should be made required reading for the libertarians . Its fun when they have their tail between their legs begging for govt bailouts.
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