Comments on: Democracy and Markets in Government

By: CatoTheYounger

CatoTheYounger — Tue, 12 May 2009 05:16:22 +0000

Under the law, extending the voting franchise was women was the Constitutional and “correct” thing to do. That doesn't at all preclude the notion that extending those rights lead to worse democratic decisions, which it clearly does. I am not a member of a “privileged” class and even I can see this. Just because an ideal of good government is Equal Protection doesn't mean that its practical implementation effectively propagates that ideal. You champion democracy because it appeals to your intuition, all the while steadfastly refusing to engage the empirical data which shows that many “marginalized” groups tend to have worse ideas on legions of political issues from economics to the environment to schooling. That's not going go away no matter how much Wilkinson thinks he can armchair reason to an effective libertarianism from first principles. I don't think sea steading is a good answer to the predatory state, but pretending that political agitprop is capable of overcoming our genetic biases (which vary amongst demographics) is just as quixotic and stupid as statist-liberal “activism”.

By: » Freedom of assembly Robert Smith (broadcaster)

» Freedom of assembly Robert Smith (broadcaster) — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:27:59 +0000

[...] Democracy and Markets in Government [...]

By: CatoTheYounger

CatoTheYounger — Mon, 11 May 2009 22:16:22 +0000

By: LarryM

LarryM — Sun, 10 May 2009 12:35:15 +0000

Okay, read the origiinal piece, which i guess I should have first. What utter nonsense on any number of levels. And he doesn't reveal his starting point preference, which I think is pretty telling.

By: LarryM

LarryM — Sat, 09 May 2009 05:13:37 +0000

I'm curious – does Patri give away the game at any point and reveal his preferred alternative to democracy? Or does he just hide behind his “the market will decide” rhetoric? Afterall, these seasteads are going to have to start from some form of government (or lack thereof). What's his preferred starting point of his experiement?

By: LarryM

LarryM — Sat, 09 May 2009 05:10:41 +0000

"But this is just because democracy is a pretty good tool (compared to the alternatives) for bringing about those other ends. Not because democracy, in and of itself, is a good thing."

Well ... considering what the alternatives are, I'd say that Democracy ends up being a little bit more than just a good tool, assuming one takes libertarian principles such as self ownership at all seriously. That's from a minarchist position, of course; one could certainly argue that anarchy is really the only form of government entirely consistant with libertarian principles, but that extreme is rejected by most libertarians for consequentialist reasons.

Or maybe Patri thinks that his "competitive market for government" will spontaneously create some wonderful new form of government never seen before? Markets are indeed pretty powerful, but I think that such a proposition is extremely dubious.

(Obviously ideal minarchy, from a libertarian perspective, would have powerful constraints upon just what powers even a democratic majority could confer on the government, but a constrained democracy would still be a democracy.)

By: uknowbetter

uknowbetter — Fri, 08 May 2009 05:39:51 +0000

Being smart is something alphie knows little about.

By: IWantCookieNow

IWantCookieNow — Thu, 07 May 2009 21:01:14 +0000

What does “新しいコメント入力” mean?

By: Paul_G_Brown

Paul_G_Brown — Thu, 07 May 2009 18:18:30 +0000

I vote for his logorrhea.

By: William

William — Thu, 07 May 2009 15:14:15 +0000

Great post. Thanks for the link.

By: GilM

GilM — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:52:03 +0000

I take him seriously because he's smart and has interesting insights.

I wish that were more common.

By: DMonteith

DMonteith — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:12:31 +0000

And so when Peter Thiel says that when women got their nanoslice [of political power], the competence of this gigantic committee [i.e. democracy] deteriorated...he is making a factual statement.

Perhaps you're aware that the average IQ is 100. Have you ever collaborated with, employed, or otherwise befriended anyone with an IQ of 100? If not, it's never too late to moonlight in "food prep" at your local Hardee's...But 100 is just for average white people! Alas, as you may know, not everyone is white.

This Moldbug guy is so charming! I can't decide whether it's his misogyny, his racism, or his self aggrandizement that's more appealing.

He actually quotes fucking *Robert Heinlein* in that post. I thought that only happened in parodies of libertarians. Amazing.

By: TGGP

TGGP — Thu, 07 May 2009 12:01:16 +0000

Mencius Moldbug responds to Will and gives his assessment of Seasteading here.

By: Jamakama

Jamakama — Thu, 07 May 2009 06:23:22 +0000

It's funny you guys bring up Dubai as an example.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentato…

By: Miscellaneous Links and Clips « Brad Taylor’s Blog

Miscellaneous Links and Clips « Brad Taylor’s Blog — Thu, 07 May 2009 02:23:01 +0000

[...] The debate on libertarianism and democracy continues: Patri Friedman here and here, Will Wilkinson here. [...]