Stefano - I wrote this before your post which seems to represent a different strain of libertarianism than the "think and grow rich" gimmicktry that the American version pushes. You appear to acknowledge the need for a system of global governance and representational democracy that might tread on values that americans take as god-given. Indeed, its closer to a version of working communism than the nationalist, greed is good credo favored by the Cult of Texas. Not that endorse your prescriptions but my response is directed to the homegrown american Nozick/Paul version which has been corrupted by a a particularly american emphasis on redemptive religiousity and rationalizations for dispensing with any social contract that involves you sacrificing shit for your fellow brothers and sisters.
No, this is being skeptical about a project that is both theoretically inconsistent and has the practical effect of removing the one tool that people have in countering the political hegemony of the plutocrats, namely an empowered government properly representing the needs and interests of its constituents. Everything else is just a blind, stupid game which usurps authority in its own name and then proceeds to promulgate self-inscribing rules which establishes a set of winners and losers irrespective of the human cost – something these days we call free-market capitalism.
Currently, the corporate masters of this game have coopted institutions like governments, NGOs and International organizations to by virtue of their associational and financial capital. But these are merely tools – if we manage to change the rules the rich will maintain their position so long as the system is based on capitalist dynamics. Today, wealth and power are fungible because of the dominance of a normative regime that accords political privilege to money – libertarians don’t do anything to change this. So long as everything can be reduced to its immediate market value, we are all commodities to be bought and sold to the benefit of those who control the game. Again, libertarianism doesn’t address the status of our slave-masters within a capitalist system.
Honestly, just in terms of theory, I feel that that the religious conservatives have a better grasp of the situation than the libertarians. The jesus-cons at least have a mechanism to make their fanciful political economic order work – God. Their deus ex machina explanations tell me that at least they understand the reality-based shortcomings of their system. Conversely, the libertarians are trying to sell me a faith-based scheme without even the courtesy of a divinely ordained eschatology. It’s like the Walmart or Multilevel Marketing version of the free-market con .
