Sun, 26 Mar 2006

How Could a Libertarian Support French Job Protesters?

On the surface, it seems pretty cut and dried that the current move toward employment reform in France is a move towards freedom: after all, an employer should have an unequivocal right to fire employees, shouldn't he?

Follow the links to learn why perceptions can be wrong, and why the ordering of incremental moves toward liberty is so important.

What the current protests in France are about, at least inter alia, is the French government's proposal to allow employers to fire their workers -- a right they're currently not allowed. It might seem clear which side a libertarian has to be on in this dispute: of course libertarians favour freedom of association, which includes the freedom of either party to exit an employment contract. Thus the new proposal apparently represents a move in the direction of a free market: the government is right, and the protesters are wrong. But things aren't quite so simple ....

(link) [Austro-Athenian Empire]

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