Noah Smith led off his recent “apology” to libertarians with a truncated list of things he’s long disagreed with libertarians about. For instance, he claims (without evidence) that a society defined by a lack of public goods would be poorer (would be” is operative since no such society exists).
Addressing the poorer angle first, one supposes Smith would agree that the central production and allocation of resources would be impoverishing, which at least raises the question why he thinks what’s impoverishing in total is wealth-enhancing if utilized in limited fashion. As for government itself, Smith pretends that libertarians are reflexively anti-government. No, libertarians disdain excessive centralized government. Libertarians are about choice, and think government should be largely local (and taxation largely local) so that free individuals can choose the kind of government they want, along with its cost.
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