James Buchanan was an illiberal masquerading as a liberal. His big idea was that government regulation of industry or of society is inevitably going to be captured by industry or by interest groups, so there's no point in any regulation. He was a Southerner who wanted to keep the South segregated. Basically a lot of educated segregationists like Buchanan and the Kochs fastened on to libertarianism as an intellectual way of opposing any of the substantive changes that the civil rights movement was calling for. No doubt industry does capture the regulatory framework, but it is not inevitable. But it's interesting how the Koch family, who owned the largest private oil company in the U.S. were bankrolling the re-publication of many classical libertarian tracts and it doesn't seem a coincidence that many libertarians of my aquaintance were also global-warming deniers. Rather than seeing government overreach as the problem here, it seems that certain industries, like the fossil fuel industry have succeeded in capturing a huge part of the American legislative branch, ie. the Republican party. Trump's exiting the global agreement on climate change was one of many egregious examples.
I actually studied Buchanan on my own steam when I majored in Economics in the seventies. I have an abiding interest in Public Choice Economics. I was a libertarian, an actual member of the Libertarian party, and was familiar with the writings of Hayek, Rothbard, Milton Friedman, Nozick, Ayn Rand, and others.
Continuing in this vein, I'd like to point out how another industry - the gun manufacturers - have also captured a big part of American legislative branch as well as the Supreme Court, again, through ownership of the Republican party. Note, the libertarian themes that keep coming up around the idea of Second Amendment rights. Now add the way White Christian Nationalism has also captured American legislatures by allying themselves with the Fossil Fuel industry, the gun industry, and right wing libertarians. The result of this government capture in the name of libertarian -type causes is that it is impossible for American society to do anything about mass gun violence through government action. Long before Trump, and January sixth came along an illiberal democracy had begun to establish itself. January sixth is the culmination of this trend. Note the Gadsden flags and the frequent appeals to liberty and the nations founding during that violent seige of the U.S. government, and the softening up of the Republican rank and file to simply believe Trump's lies about a stolen election. I call that government capture, and not in the way that Buchanan envisioned, but more like a slow-motion hostile take-over. Libertarian ideas provide the framing and justification, but they are simply the tools of power-hungry political entrepreneurs.
What speaks loudest-clearest to me from this (wonderfully) elevated discussion is the sense of loss. The loss of several things, of which the loss of common ground is the most painful, and perhaps the most difficult to compensate for. Or is there hope of such?
Finding common ground depends upon the nature of each side's demands. If it's about where to set marginal tax rates, that's one thing. If you're a trans person, however, and the other side is calling you an abomination who needs to be shunned, deprived of health care, and kept away from all children, or even mentioned to children, it's difficult to see where the compromise could be.
James Buchanan was an illiberal masquerading as a liberal. His big idea was that government regulation of industry or of society is inevitably going to be captured by industry or by interest groups, so there's no point in any regulation. He was a Southerner who wanted to keep the South segregated. Basically a lot of educated segregationists like Buchanan and the Kochs fastened on to libertarianism as an intellectual way of opposing any of the substantive changes that the civil rights movement was calling for. No doubt industry does capture the regulatory framework, but it is not inevitable. But it's interesting how the Koch family, who owned the largest private oil company in the U.S. were bankrolling the re-publication of many classical libertarian tracts and it doesn't seem a coincidence that many libertarians of my aquaintance were also global-warming deniers. Rather than seeing government overreach as the problem here, it seems that certain industries, like the fossil fuel industry have succeeded in capturing a huge part of the American legislative branch, ie. the Republican party. Trump's exiting the global agreement on climate change was one of many egregious examples.
I see you're an avid reader of Nancy MacLean.
I actually studied Buchanan on my own steam when I majored in Economics in the seventies. I have an abiding interest in Public Choice Economics. I was a libertarian, an actual member of the Libertarian party, and was familiar with the writings of Hayek, Rothbard, Milton Friedman, Nozick, Ayn Rand, and others.
Continuing in this vein, I'd like to point out how another industry - the gun manufacturers - have also captured a big part of American legislative branch as well as the Supreme Court, again, through ownership of the Republican party. Note, the libertarian themes that keep coming up around the idea of Second Amendment rights. Now add the way White Christian Nationalism has also captured American legislatures by allying themselves with the Fossil Fuel industry, the gun industry, and right wing libertarians. The result of this government capture in the name of libertarian -type causes is that it is impossible for American society to do anything about mass gun violence through government action. Long before Trump, and January sixth came along an illiberal democracy had begun to establish itself. January sixth is the culmination of this trend. Note the Gadsden flags and the frequent appeals to liberty and the nations founding during that violent seige of the U.S. government, and the softening up of the Republican rank and file to simply believe Trump's lies about a stolen election. I call that government capture, and not in the way that Buchanan envisioned, but more like a slow-motion hostile take-over. Libertarian ideas provide the framing and justification, but they are simply the tools of power-hungry political entrepreneurs.
What speaks loudest-clearest to me from this (wonderfully) elevated discussion is the sense of loss. The loss of several things, of which the loss of common ground is the most painful, and perhaps the most difficult to compensate for. Or is there hope of such?
(Thanks, Emily, from a former Beloit colleague.)
Finding common ground depends upon the nature of each side's demands. If it's about where to set marginal tax rates, that's one thing. If you're a trans person, however, and the other side is calling you an abomination who needs to be shunned, deprived of health care, and kept away from all children, or even mentioned to children, it's difficult to see where the compromise could be.