On Metafilter, a discussion of a fire department that charges property owners $75 a year, which they must pay of the fire department won't put out their fire.
http://www.metafilter.com/96324/The-Fire-Department-is-not-a-right-it-is-a-privilege
A very interesting comment:
This is an example of larger problem with straight libertarianism: the punishment for learning lessons is death, serious injury, or total bankruptcy. So, if life throws you a curveball, which it often does, there's no safety net to catch you, especially if you're low or lower middle class. For instance, we have excellent food safety regulations. Take away those regulations, and sure, the cost of doing business will go down. But when your kid dies from food poisoning, the "libertarian lesson" there is to not go to that restaurant again. If you lose your job and your health insurance, and then find out you have cancer and you die because you can't get coverage, the lesson there is don't lose your job and don't get cancer.
10/04/2010
