Coercion vs. consent: a reason debate on how to think about liberty

Reason, March, 2004 by Richard A. Epstein, Randy Barnett, David Friedman, James P. Pinkerton

By comparison, the issues Epstein wants to grapple with fall mostly within the realm of economics, including the minimum wage, anti-discrimination rules, collective bargaining statutes, mandatory pensions, insurance regulations, price and rent controls, and tariffs. Opposition to all these statist measures is firmly in the libertarian tradition; as Epstein says, it's all part of his plan to "reduce if not eliminate much of the welfare state."

Yet while it's fine to pound away on any and all of these issues one more time, I wonder what the ROII--Return on Intellectual Investment-will be. Most people, certainly most economists, accept the general proposition that markets work, and so the fight of the future is over applying Smithian wisdom ha specific cases. The Institute for Justice, for example, recently filed suit against the Louisiana Horticulture Commission, which cartelizes florists. Such market-freeing cases are important, and Epsteinian thinking can help. But for the most part, the national agenda has shifted away from economics to other issues that seem more pressing. Indeed, the U.S. seems to have settled into a complacent Clinton-Bush consensus that accepts the idea that if the economy is booming, federal revenues ought to be spent--and then some. Today prospects for reducing, let alone eliminating, the welfare state seem poor.

At the same time, prospects for expanding the warfare state--which will, in turn, further expand the welfare state--seem excellent. In today's America, the spending of blood and treasure for foreign wars--even those, such as Iraq, that violate international law and are based on government deception--is practically unquestioned. A government arrogant enough to lie, big time, will never be a modest government. And then, of course, having made more enemies around the world through offensive wars, Washington must spend more on "defense," including homeland defense. Finally, after pledging a welfare state for Iraq (Washington is now a gold rush for lobbyists and contractors brandishing newfound expertise in anything "Middle Eastern"), it will be impossible not to keep and expand the welfare state here at home. Just days after the 1918 armistice that ended World War I, British Prime Minister David Lloyd-George promised "a fit country for heroes to live in." Britain's subsequent socialist bender proved that it's possible for a country to win the war and then lose the peace, and thus betray its heroes.

In today's America, war veterans will so on be granted larger benefits, but such expenditures will only be an overture to the lawsuits some of them are already filing against anyone with a deep pocket. When's the last time President Bush made a real push against the trial lawyers? He can't deal with tort reform or any domestic issue because he's too busy vindicating his foreign policy.

In addition, a government that's "strong" enough to rearrange the domestic affairs of other nations likely will feel equally confident about continuing to meddle in matters that should be private here at home, be they sexual, medical, or pharmacological. Randolph Bourne was so right: "War is the health of the state."