Libertarian Rhetorical Flourish [politics]
Posted by N8 in irked, N8, politics
Many of you may not know that I once would have called myself a Libertarian. That was largely before I met and discussed issues with actual card-carrying Libertarians. I still have a very good friend who is One Of Them and a smart One at that (which is why I enjoy the back-and-forth). I sometimes get emails from him such as this one this:
That’s right. No issue is too small for your Congress to handle. But seriously, judging from the comments so far on H.R. 6068, the Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite Act of 2008, people think bedbugs are a problem that Congress should address and that the federal government can help solve.
The bill would create a grant program in the Department of Commerce and authorize $50,000,000 in each of fiscal years 2009 through 2012 for giving these grants to states. It may be that taxpayers should worry more about the bite put on their wallets, but if people want Congress to do something about bedbugs, they want Congress to do something about bedbugs.
http://www.washingtonwatch.comFROM BED BUGS!!! $50 mn per year...wow...
Aside from the obvious question "is this really what Congress should prioritize," I also don't like subsidies of to hotels masquerading as public health statutes (arguably what this is). The cost of cleaning sheets in the hotel industry is best borne by the hotels, who can either absorb the cost or pass it along to consumers in the form of higher prices which in-turn reflect the true value of the service being provided. Ok, I'm with you on that.
But when I get emails like this one from the Libertarian corner where the subtext is "SEE, GOVERNMENT IS USELESS!" I have to pause and resist that conclusion. Observe how the argument often runs:
Stock Libertarian Rhetorical Flourish #89: Find something absurd that government does or pays for to illustrate that all government action and spending is absurd. Insist that private parties would pay for every public service if government did not exist. Return to amassing individual wealth (which you don't plan to share). Hope the unwashed and uneducated masses will not recognize the logical fallacy in between shifts at Denny's and eventually decide to turn the country over to you. Dream of amassing even more individual wealth under such a system. Decide you might actually share some under such a system. Feel like a virtuous person. Return to amassing individual wealth in the present (which you don't plan to share).
