22 Nov 2008
Whip Conflation Now

Backwards ClockThis is an excellent essay by Roderick Long on the perceived "message" that libertarians often project in the political marketplace, and it's effect on the ideology as whole. It is very heartening to see the Cato Institute lend it's forum to this view, if only as a sort of op-ed, as I've considered it since it's founding to be the main font of what is referred to as "vulgar libertarianism".

Left libertarians, who are in my not so humble opinion the carriers of the purest form of the ideals of the Enlightenment, recognize the contradiction inherent in the very idea of the corporation. A corporation is wholly a creation of the State: no truly free market would ever recognize the limits on liability it confers on "owners" (shareholders). Corporations are chartered and controlled by the State. No sane person would recognize and treat an organization as a "person" - people are people, companies are companies (however organized) and the one is not the same as the other. The only thing that makes these fantasies possible is the force of law (read: guns of the State) behind them...

Defenders of the free market are often accused of being apologists for big business and shills for the corporate elite. Is this a fair charge?

(link) [Cato Institute: Unbound]

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