Libertarian Mind Flashcards
What are some government infringements of liberty?
Government takes as much as half the money we earn. It tells us where to send our children to school and how to save for retirement. It tells us what we may eat, drink, smoke, use, do, and buy. It tells us whether we may marry the person we love. It tells us who we may sell to and buy from.
What is Libertarianism according to David Boaz?
Libertarianism is the view that each person has the right to live his life in any way he chooses so long as he respects the equal rights of others.
How are human relationships viewed by libertarians (Boaz)?
In the libertarian view, all human relationships should be voluntary.
When do governments become rights violators? How does this limit them?
The same way any other person or group of people do. When governments use force against people who have not violated the rights of others, the governments themselves become rights violators. Thus government actions such as censorship, the draft, price controls, confiscation of property, and intrusion into our personal and economic lives should not be allowed.
What is Lord Acton’s Dictum?
“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
According to John Locke, what is the role of the government? How does he describe rights? When are the people justified in revolting against their government?
The role of the government is to protect individual’s rights, which he describes in terms of property rights. He adds that if government exceeds that role, people are justified in revolting.
What happens to prejudices when you allow people to trade freely?
The prejudices take second place to self-interest
What is the quote about benevolence and the free market? Explain it.
“it is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest.” This is because, in order to sell something for money, a person must figure out what others would like to have.
What is the theory of spontaneous order?
That if individuals are allowed to interact freely with each other, with their rights to liberty and property protected, then order will emerge without central direction.
Why do people form governments?
To protect the rights they already possess (life and property)
Why is it not true that the “right to life” means that everyone has a fundamental right to the necessities of life: food, clothing, shelter, medical care, maybe even an eight-hour day and two weeks vacation.
Because if the right to life means that, then it means that one person has a right to force other people to give him things, violating their equal rights.
What does the right to life really mean?
The right to life means that each person has the right to do whatever they want with their life, and to do whatever they need to do to improve it, preserve it, and protect it, as long as what they do does not infringe on the rights of anyone who is not actively attacking or legitimately threatening to attack them.
What is the car robbery attack on democracy? Does this mean we should do away with democracy?
If a robber “votes” to steal your care is it right? If two robbers “vote” to steal your care is it right? ten? 100 and you get to vote as well? 1000 and they plan on selling it to buy everyone their own bicycle? At what number does robbery turn into the democratic right of the majority? The answer, never. Does this mean we should do away with democracy? Of course not, it just proves that democracy is not enough to justify any form of wealth redistribution no matter how small or how beneficial.
When is it ok for welfare and redistribution of wealth to take place.
When it is entirely voluntary. The best example of this being charity.
Why can’t housing or education be a universal right?
Because their is a limited amount of housing and education to go around. For the government to give it one additional person must mean to take it (or something else) away from someone else.
What is property according to Boaz?
Property is anything that people can use, control, or dispose of. A property right means the freedom to use, control, of an object or entity.
Why are property rights important?
To feed ourselves, or provide shelter for our families, or open a business, we must make use of property. And for people to be willing to save and invest, we need to be confident that our property rights are legally secure, that someone else can’t come and confiscate the wealth we’ve created.
What are property rights based in?
Our self-ownership, and from it the fact that when we mix our labor with something unowned, untouched and unused it becomes ours, and our right to engage in voluntary trades (including gift giving) with anyone who wants to trade with us.
How may a person dispose of property?
Any way they want, as long as it doesn’t infringe on anyone else’s life or property rights.
What does Nozick believe is required to prevent inequality in wealth?
You would have to forbid capitalist acts (free trade and any other behavior in which all actors consent) between consenting adults.
What is the non-aggression principle?
No one (including anyone in the government) has the right to initiate aggression against the person or property of anyone else, except for when it is done to prevent injury
In other words, what does the non-aggression principle state?
It is wrong to violate (or threaten to violate) the rights of another person who has not themself used or threatened force.
What is conscription? What does no group of people have the right to force others to do?
Temporary slavery. No group of people has the right to force another group to give up a year or two of their lives–and possibly life itself–without their consent.
When will people voluntarily defend a country?
People will voluntarily defend a country if it is worth defending. If a person does not believe the country is worth dying for, they will not fight and it will cease to exist. If a person does believe their country is worth dying for, then it will survive.
