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Essential vs. Non-Essential

[Updates below.]

Joe, it is possible that Mr. Olivia cares more -in this instance- about the protection of certain values from cultural erosion. It's the same rage I feel when I hear interventionism advocated by someone claiming the title of free market defender. These days, words are at best used to obscure meaning. With increasing frequency, they are used in direct contradiction of their clear meaning. When we're talking about people's lives and property, it is worth getting upset now and then.
That's me, commenting on the von Mises blog. Anger gets ugly, especially when it is justified. I don't know who attends, teaches, or has been honored by George Mason University, so I certainly can't claim the individuals populating whole departments or campuses are rotten. Mr. Olivia is out of line here.

But, Mr. Cowen's statement is not defensible on free market grounds. Obama is a typical statist with atypical persuasive skills. Press him hard enough and he will attempt to protect and preserve government power. He's awful on economics and that's because he's awful in other aspects of his philosophy. He thinks collective coercion is routine, unquestionable on pragmatic grounds.

This isn't some mean pox I'm trying to cast on him. This is something probably supported by 98% of the world.

And I'm under no illusions about where the direction of things points. While being nice and polite has it's place and should be used when one has specific tasks, that formality has value because not everyone deserves it. GMU has a public reputation for being libertarian. Not everyone there rejects collective coercion against the peaceful affairs of individuals using and exchanging legitimate private property. Press me hard enough and that's my standard before I'll accept someone as a market fundamentalist. I get the sense Mr. Olivia shares a similar minimum qualification.

People who call interventionists defenders of free markets, radical capitalists, or extreme libertarians should be called out on it.

Interventionists should be honest enough to reject the titles.

UPDATED 5/12/2009 8:55am
Someone pulled the blog post from the von Mises site but you can see the Twitter post that brought it to my attention here:

Tyler Cowen, Resign!: Tyler Cowen: "I do not agree with Obama on all points but he understands economic policy b.. http://tinyurl.com/o5yv7s

Posted by drizzten on May 12, 2009 02:04 AM |

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