misutip-deactivated20101021-dea asked: Your links are very interesting, and are very persuasive that I might have to rethink some of my progressive ideologies.
But I'm still wary of the extent privatization could have. But thank you.
Here's a question: do you think libertarianism, fundamentally, means profits over people, and if not, could you, perhaps, explain?
You’re welcome :)
As for your second question, I wouldn’t set up profits and people as adversaries. instead, I’d say that libertarianism is about benefiting people, and profits play a big role in that. Here’s a quote from Calvin Coolidge which expresses the idea fairly well:
I favor the policy of economy, not because I wish to save money, but because I wish to save people. The men and women of this country who toil are the ones who bear the cost of the Government. Every dollar that we carelessly waste means that their life will be so much the more meager. Every dollar that we prudently save means that their life will be so much the more abundant. Economy is idealism in its most practical form.
This applies not only to government spending, but also to all other forms of unjust government involvement in the private sphere. Libertarianism advocates minimal government precisely because this will be better for people…and profits, too.
Side note: It’s important to recall that libertarianism is not corporatism — far from it. It does not advocate government support of business big or small with subsidies, regulations, and other creators of moral hazard. In short, unlike many factions of the right, libertarianism does not support corporate welfare while criticizing social welfare. That would indeed be profits over people. And while I’d argue that’s just as bad as the progressive support of social welfare over corporate, it’s even more emotionally repulsive.
