Comments on: Libertarian Democraphobia http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2009/05/04/libertarian-democraphobia/ The Sweet Release of Reason Sat, 13 Mar 2010 16:33:26 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: terry_freeman http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2009/05/04/libertarian-democraphobia/comment-page-3/#comment-590800 terry_freeman Tue, 26 May 2009 00:12:21 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=3378#comment-590800 If a modern rational liberal must support democracy, one must at least acknowledge the "public choice" research which shows that democracy is not very good at delivering what people really want. One need not be very libertarian to believe that the government is too big, too intrusive, and too inefficient - and that's the way democracy tends to work; it tends to reward "rent seekers" and to punish those who just want to be left alone.<br><br>We should admit that democracy is not a perfect ideal; it was merely the best effort to replace the previous "best practice" form of government, which was monarchy.<br><br>We should be extremely wary of "public choice" arguments for government to usurp goods and services which can be and have been provided by voluntary arrangements. The interests of the government are seldom coincident with the interests of the individual. If a modern rational liberal must support democracy, one must at least acknowledge the “public choice” research which shows that democracy is not very good at delivering what people really want. One need not be very libertarian to believe that the government is too big, too intrusive, and too inefficient – and that's the way democracy tends to work; it tends to reward “rent seekers” and to punish those who just want to be left alone.

We should admit that democracy is not a perfect ideal; it was merely the best effort to replace the previous “best practice” form of government, which was monarchy.

We should be extremely wary of “public choice” arguments for government to usurp goods and services which can be and have been provided by voluntary arrangements. The interests of the government are seldom coincident with the interests of the individual.

]]> By: 2009 Citrix Pingback Netscaler | World News http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2009/05/04/libertarian-democraphobia/comment-page-3/#comment-590673 2009 Citrix Pingback Netscaler | World News Thu, 14 May 2009 20:54:12 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=3378#comment-590673 [...] like me, you like democracy just fine. This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the [...]Citrix Systems » Blogosphere May 6, 2009 ... PingBack from [...] [...] like me, you like democracy just fine. This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the [...]Citrix Systems » Blogosphere May 6, 2009 … PingBack from [...]

]]> By: 2009 Citrix | World News http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2009/05/04/libertarian-democraphobia/comment-page-3/#comment-590668 2009 Citrix | World News Thu, 14 May 2009 06:00:58 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=3378#comment-590668 [...] like me, you like democracy just fine. This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the [...]Citrix Systems » Blogosphere May 6, 2009 ... PingBack from [...] [...] like me, you like democracy just fine. This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the [...]Citrix Systems » Blogosphere May 6, 2009 … PingBack from [...]

]]> By: 2009 Future Media News | World News http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2009/05/04/libertarian-democraphobia/comment-page-3/#comment-590646 2009 Future Media News | World News Wed, 13 May 2009 19:17:28 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=3378#comment-590646 [...] like me, you like democracy just fine. This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the [...] Niche Mag Publisher Future Launches Dozens Of News Aggregator ... The future of media is [...] [...] like me, you like democracy just fine. This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the [...] Niche Mag Publisher Future Launches Dozens Of News Aggregator … The future of media is [...]

]]> By: 2009 Future Goats Techcrunch | World News http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2009/05/04/libertarian-democraphobia/comment-page-3/#comment-590643 2009 Future Goats Techcrunch | World News Wed, 13 May 2009 15:18:56 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=3378#comment-590643 [...] like me, you like democracy just fine. This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the [...]Niche Mag Publisher Future Launches Dozens Of News Aggregator ... The future of media is [...] [...] like me, you like democracy just fine. This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the [...]Niche Mag Publisher Future Launches Dozens Of News Aggregator … The future of media is [...]

]]> By: 2009 Media Future Goats | World News http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2009/05/04/libertarian-democraphobia/comment-page-3/#comment-590635 2009 Media Future Goats | World News Wed, 13 May 2009 05:52:12 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=3378#comment-590635 [...] like me, you like democracy just fine. This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the [...]Niche Mag Publisher Future Launches Dozens Of News Aggregator ... The future of media is [...] [...] like me, you like democracy just fine. This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the [...]Niche Mag Publisher Future Launches Dozens Of News Aggregator … The future of media is [...]

]]> By: 2009 Future Search Real-time | World News http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2009/05/04/libertarian-democraphobia/comment-page-3/#comment-590626 2009 Future Search Real-time | World News Tue, 12 May 2009 20:16:30 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=3378#comment-590626 [...] like me, you like democracy just fine. This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the [...]Niche Mag Publisher Future Launches Dozens Of News Aggregator ... The future of media is [...] [...] like me, you like democracy just fine. This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the [...]Niche Mag Publisher Future Launches Dozens Of News Aggregator … The future of media is [...]

]]> By: 2009 Real-time Search Future | World News http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2009/05/04/libertarian-democraphobia/comment-page-3/#comment-590622 2009 Real-time Search Future | World News Tue, 12 May 2009 17:33:00 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=3378#comment-590622 [...] like me, you like democracy just fine. This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the [...]Niche Mag Publisher Future Launches Dozens Of News Aggregator ... The future of media is [...] [...] like me, you like democracy just fine. This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the [...]Niche Mag Publisher Future Launches Dozens Of News Aggregator … The future of media is [...]

]]> By: CatoTheYounger http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2009/05/04/libertarian-democraphobia/comment-page-3/#comment-590620 CatoTheYounger Tue, 12 May 2009 10:31:07 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=3378#comment-590620 Good lord, Mencius owned you badly. Good lord, Mencius owned you badly.

]]> By: Nicole Tedesco http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2009/05/04/libertarian-democraphobia/comment-page-3/#comment-590615 Nicole Tedesco Mon, 11 May 2009 21:03:14 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=3378#comment-590615 A "disaster?" How do you tease out the "bad" effects of women's suffrage from the fact that, on the whole, our individual lives just keep on improving decade after decade as a function of health, avoidance of need, and general self-reported happiness?<br><br>Don't get me wrong, I am a Rand-leaning libertarian/skeptic at heart and always have been but I would like to know that I am being as honest as possible about my conclusions A “disaster?” How do you tease out the “bad” effects of women's suffrage from the fact that, on the whole, our individual lives just keep on improving decade after decade as a function of health, avoidance of need, and general self-reported happiness?

Don't get me wrong, I am a Rand-leaning libertarian/skeptic at heart and always have been but I would like to know that I am being as honest as possible about my conclusions

]]> By: News Future 2009 Million | World News http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2009/05/04/libertarian-democraphobia/comment-page-3/#comment-590603 News Future 2009 Million | World News Mon, 11 May 2009 09:32:51 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=3378#comment-590603 [...] like me, you like democracy just fine. This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the [...]Niche Mag Publisher Future Launches Dozens Of News Aggregator ... The future of media is [...] [...] like me, you like democracy just fine. This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the [...]Niche Mag Publisher Future Launches Dozens Of News Aggregator … The future of media is [...]

]]> By: Google Future News Goats | World News http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2009/05/04/libertarian-democraphobia/comment-page-3/#comment-590594 Google Future News Goats | World News Sun, 10 May 2009 12:16:34 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=3378#comment-590594 [...] like me, you like democracy just fine. This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the [...] Niche Mag Publisher Future Launches Dozens Of News Aggregator ... The future of media is [...] [...] like me, you like democracy just fine. This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the [...] Niche Mag Publisher Future Launches Dozens Of News Aggregator … The future of media is [...]

]]> By: Future Media Netscaler Twitter | World News http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2009/05/04/libertarian-democraphobia/comment-page-3/#comment-590593 Future Media Netscaler Twitter | World News Sun, 10 May 2009 04:16:41 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=3378#comment-590593 [...] like me, you like democracy just fine. This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the [...] Niche Mag Publisher Future Launches Dozens Of News Aggregator ... The future of media is [...] [...] like me, you like democracy just fine. This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the [...] Niche Mag Publisher Future Launches Dozens Of News Aggregator … The future of media is [...]

]]> By: Future Million Techcrunch News | World News http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2009/05/04/libertarian-democraphobia/comment-page-3/#comment-590589 Future Million Techcrunch News | World News Sat, 09 May 2009 17:33:25 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=3378#comment-590589 [...] like me, you like democracy just fine. This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the [...] Niche Mag Publisher Future Launches Dozens Of News Aggregator ... The future of media is [...] [...] like me, you like democracy just fine. This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the [...] Niche Mag Publisher Future Launches Dozens Of News Aggregator … The future of media is [...]

]]> By: Twitter Million Iphone Funding | World News http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/2009/05/04/libertarian-democraphobia/comment-page-3/#comment-590583 Twitter Million Iphone Funding | World News Sat, 09 May 2009 10:34:15 +0000 http://www.willwilkinson.net/flybottle/?p=3378#comment-590583 [...] like me, you like democracy just fine. This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the [...]DocuSign Raises $5 Million For E-Signature Software DocuSign, an e-signature service, closed $5 [...] [...] like me, you like democracy just fine. This puts you somewhere between (a) modern liberals in the [...]DocuSign Raises $5 Million For E-Signature Software DocuSign, an e-signature service, closed $5 [...]

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