When internecine battles of state-level tapeworms arose, I admit I used to root for the side obstensively fighting for lower taxes, less regulations, what have you. Then I read Block and everything changed.
In Ohio, the tapeworms have turned on each other. The newly-elected Republican governor is fighting a pitched battle against the various unions of government employees. The governor’s rhetoric is all about control. But he doesn’t mean returning control to the people, so to speak. No, he means returning control to the governor’s office. The people be damned.
Just a quick review of his State of the State speech shows that he is not leading a revolution in the classical liberal tradition. He is simply looking to benefit benefactors while slyly aquiring more power.
So, like Block, I’m rooting for a long, bloody war. For the battle at hand, I am with the unions. But if the balance of power changes, so does my support.
As long as the tapeworms eat their own, they are leaving my intestines be. And I am better off. Ohio is better off.
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yesh, may be you are right.
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I’m not a big fan of these “root for the lesser of two evils and when the equation changes change sides” arguments.
They may make temporary tactical sense, but in the long run they don’t achieve the goal: we’re aiming at educating about 10% of the American population in basic Austrian economics, after which real change can occur naturally. These shifting in the wind short-term allegiances only confuse those we’re trying to educate.
Better to take the Ron Paul route: always speak the truth, even if you’re a vox clamantis in deserto for 35 years. We’re seeing the fruits of that now. Let’s keep telling it like it is.
Can i get an Amen?
We just need 22%. That’s all it takes to win an election and begin dismantling government.
I think sometimes libertarian academics get lost in their academic world. I do find Dr. Block’s theory a bit muddle but will pass on that. They don’t realize that we plebeians enjoy real world, concrete results. If collective bargaining is removed, perhaps my tax burden will be decreased. I have great respect for Dr. Block, Mr. Rockwell and the Mises Institute but Governor Walker, for all his flaws, will have done more to lessen my tax burden than they have. If I find the state grows more powerful as a result of Walker’s victory, I will be surprised, stand corrected, and will support any effort to lessen their power. Save the theorizing and to paraphrase Al Davis, “Just cut spending, baby.”
All this talk of taking away collective bargaining rights misses the point. The debate should be about taking away the power of coercion, but neither side can argue that. In the absence of any honest debate, I supporting reducing the size and therefore the power of both government and unions, so I’m on the side of the governor.
I just have to say that I love the term tapeworms; it’s much more graphic than parasite. BTW, the first post by momo123 is spam.
I generally agree with Dr. Block’s take on the Wisconsin kerfuffle, but I still want to see the unions crushed by the government in this instance. Because it could be the only way people in this country learn what happens when you believe that the Gang of Thieves will perpetually represent your interests at the expense of others.
And this right here is the difference between Librertarians and folks who live in reality. You’d think the hatred of governmental institutions would mean that Libertarians would know more than they seem to about them, instead of assuming that government goes completely unchecked (if that were actually the case, we’d be in far, far more trouble than we are now). At the very least, it should be clear that shifting power to an electable official is far more beneficial to Ohio (and indeed the remainder of the nation) than keeping it in the hands of union bosses, who are wholly unaccountable for their actions. At least elected officials can be taken to task through the ballot.
The “long, bloody war” line always confused me. Clearly, it’s in nobody’s best interest to declare war on the government of the United States or any of the state or local governments, especially when what relatively little government interference Americans deal with on a daily basis took almost two centuries to get to the point it’s at now. The notion that a violent uprising is necessary here is childish. That, and much like every other revolution the world has ever seen, if the people do declare war on a government, they wind up with a regime ten times worse than the one they opposed in the first place.
Libertarians and the like really need to learn a lesson in tactical compromise, patience and thinking for the long-haul. The concept of individual liberty took ten thousand or more years of civilized human society to even begin to sprout; change doesn’t happen overnight, and the sooner everyone realizes that, the better off we’ll all be and the less obnoxious Libertarians will act.
it’s not about whose side you are on, because neither side is libertarian. all that matters is using the issue to explain the libertarian position.
i’m not interested in saving 1-3% from tax reductions. i want the immorality of statism abolished.
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