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Why Liberals are Not Libertarians
By Ernest Partridge (about the author) Page 5 of 5 page(s)
Here's a modest, if familiar, proposal. Let the public in general establish an agent to act in its behalf, and as the guarantor of the commonly held values and aspirations of the polity. And then let that agent first determine and then enforce rules for the optimum sustainable use of the necessarily "common resources" (e.g. the atmosphere, the hydrological cycle, migrating wildlife, etc.). And if the public is not satisfied with how that agent is acting in its behalf, it then has the right to replace that agent with another.
Such a system is in fact in place: the "agent" is called "government," the rules are called "environmental law and regulation," and the system of checks against the abuse of power is called "democracy." In the United States Constitution, as well as the supreme law of numerous other liberal democracies, the freedom and integrity of the individual (i.e., one's rights to life, liberty and property) are protected, even from "the tyranny of the majority."
Admittedly, the liberal democracy and regulated capitalism that I would recommend is not perfect -- nor is any human institution under the sun. But an anecdotal inventory of the shortcomings of public regulation of the environment does not, by itself, constitute a repudiation of the existing system.. What is required is a clear and persuasive presentation of a better workable alternative. This the libertarians have not offered us. Nor can they, as long as anyone pays more than casual attention to human psychology, ecological necessities, and the lessons of history
Note: This essay is an abridged version of "Free Markets, Property Rights, and the Environment," presented to a conference on "Libertarianism and its Critics" at Chapman University, November 14, 2008. It includes portions of a published article, "With Liberty for Some", and several essays previously published in The Crisis Papers and The Online Gadfly, as indicated by the links.
http://www.crisispapers.org
The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author
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