Power of choice
Jan. 5th, 2012 12:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pktechgirlbackupMy feelings on the Civil Rights Act: Not to trivialize it, but it some ways it's a lot like the anti-smoking legislation. I think it's anti-libertarian, which doesn't just mean it's violating some abstract principle but that it ratchets up the amount of control we're ceeding to the government in worrisome ways. But I also recognize that I've always lived in a world where the traditions these laws were aimed at had already had their back broken. Creating and then repealing them would probably have a very different path than if they'd never existed.
I frequently call Ta-Nehisi Coates brilliant, but this post exploring the psychological need that both Ron Paul and Louis Farrakhan filled is especially so. I'm not even going to touch the main subject matter, because I can't improve on it. But one thing I noticed in the comments was the belief that letting black people suffer at the hands of the unequal treatment they were given in southern states is antiliberty. Which of course it is, the question is whether it is sufficiently antiliberty to justify a violation of federalism, which may not be antiliberty at the time, but encourages a creep of federal power that could just as easily be applied to something bad.*
But they have a legitimate point- what's the use of being protected from the federal government if the state government's official policy is against you? This feels glib, but is it possible we could fix the problem by helping people move to different states? It's not ideal, of course, but since so much of libertarianism is premised on letting people vote with their feet, making sure they have feet seems worthwhile. Plus, I already like it as an anti-poverty measure.
*Such as, as I'm always quick to point out, the Fugitive Slave Act. I fully admit that many-if-not-most people claiming libertarianism are doing so for this one specific case, and will switch back when it benefits them, like the pro-lifers and Terri Schiavo. But some of us are legitimately thinking "if we make abortion a federal issue, what happens when the anti-choicers get five guys on the Supreme Court? Or create a really good PR campaign against a particular act?" It's not always the noble federal government versus the yokel state governments.
I frequently call Ta-Nehisi Coates brilliant, but this post exploring the psychological need that both Ron Paul and Louis Farrakhan filled is especially so. I'm not even going to touch the main subject matter, because I can't improve on it. But one thing I noticed in the comments was the belief that letting black people suffer at the hands of the unequal treatment they were given in southern states is antiliberty. Which of course it is, the question is whether it is sufficiently antiliberty to justify a violation of federalism, which may not be antiliberty at the time, but encourages a creep of federal power that could just as easily be applied to something bad.*
But they have a legitimate point- what's the use of being protected from the federal government if the state government's official policy is against you? This feels glib, but is it possible we could fix the problem by helping people move to different states? It's not ideal, of course, but since so much of libertarianism is premised on letting people vote with their feet, making sure they have feet seems worthwhile. Plus, I already like it as an anti-poverty measure.
*Such as, as I'm always quick to point out, the Fugitive Slave Act. I fully admit that many-if-not-most people claiming libertarianism are doing so for this one specific case, and will switch back when it benefits them, like the pro-lifers and Terri Schiavo. But some of us are legitimately thinking "if we make abortion a federal issue, what happens when the anti-choicers get five guys on the Supreme Court? Or create a really good PR campaign against a particular act?" It's not always the noble federal government versus the yokel state governments.
