Re: Were to put our money (was PHIL: The (im)moral state)
Anton Sherwood (dasher@netcom.com)
Sun, 29 Mar 1998 23:36:04 -0700
Arjen Kamphuis wrote:
> If most people (both poor and rich) make their decisions rationally and
> based on their long-term interests and those interests are best served by a
> libertarian style of governing then why aren't the libertarian parties huge?
>
> Two possibilities (AFAIKT):
>
> 1. Most people do not make al of their decisions rationally and don't
> always take their long-term interests into consideration. This would
> explain why there are still many people smoking cigarettes, climbing
> mountians and riding bikes without a helmet.
>
> 2. Libertarianism is not in the best interest of most people and they vote
> accordingly (for a minority group it is, or seems to be, in their best
> interests and they also vote accordingly).
>
> Personally I think it's a combination of both. ...
The two collapse into one:
(1,2). Libertarians assume a weaker time-preference than the median
voter in fact holds.
Consider also:
3. Certain key results in economic science, which make libertarianism
more persuasive, are not yet widely known. (*Why* they are not widely
known is left as an exercise ;) )
--
"How'd ya like to climb this high without no mountain?" --Porky Pine
Anton Sherwood *\\* +1 415 267 0685