Who is The One Who Advocates for a Utopia?
Editor’s Pick. Written by Rollo McFloogle.
One of the recurring criticisms I hear regarding libertarianism is this: “What you’re describing is utopia.”
Is it?
To me, this dismissal demonstrates a basic lack of understanding of liberty, economics, and praxeology. Then there’s also the irony that those who feel this way and advocate for some degree of central planning are themselves the actual promoters of utopia.
Just listen to the questions about how a free society would function. How do you prevent murders? How do you prevent corporations from exploiting their workers? How do you deal with racism and bigotry? How do you make sure there are no poor?
Libertarians don’t claim that they can solve these issues once and for all. And most libertarians will include in their answers to these questions with “Well, how well has government done with those issues?” To make up for this, many will rephrase their questions (or simply begin their line of questioning this way). You want murders? You think it’s good for corporations to exploit their workers? You like racism and want minorities to suffer? You think that the poor should stay poor?
In reality, based on the track record of government, the libertarian should be the one asking those questions to the statist.