Libertarianism
I was thinking this morning about Libertarianism. I concluded that in its idealistic form it is “Wealth Makes Right.” People often frame it in terms of about personal liberties and that sounds great, but I see in terms of institutional liberty.
So the libertarian says we should get rid of governmental regulation because the government has no place telling me how to live my life. Which is great but that means there was no wrong doing in the Enron scandal (SEC regulations require honesty in financial reports), no wrong doing in dumping tons of toxic waste into rivers or bays (EPA regulations), nothing wrong with owning 100% of the media someone has access to (FCC regulations) and no wrong doing if a hospital decides not to treat a man with broken ribs if he can’t pay for it (I’m not actually sure who mandates this).
This is the part of libertarianism that scares me. One of the government’s functions (whether you think it does it well or not) is to be a check against large, well funded organizations whom it is very difficult to directly affect.