From: caliban@cybernet.cse.fau.edu (James)
Newsgroups: alt.politics.libertarian,comp.org.eff.talk,soc.culture.usa,alt.activism
Subject: Re: Libertarians/programmers was [misc.acti...]
Date: 13 Jan 93 02:13:19 GMT
Organization: Cybernet BBS, Boca Raton, Florida

ARCHER@utkvm1.utk.edu (T. Archer) writes:
> 
> Perhaps you can help me with something:  I am a practicing civil libertarian 
> and generally support libertarian ideals, but there seems to be something 
> missing.
> 
> The basic tenet of libertarianism is that there should be no coercion of the 
> individual to act in a manner he does not desire to act in.  This is further 
> defined out as the initiation of physical force or "mental force", fraud.  
> These are two abuses of power that are covered.  Formal libertarian doctrine 
> does not seem to address the abuse of economic power. The problem that most 
> contemporary liberals have with libertarianism is that is fails in this area.
> 
> Here is a grossly simplifed example:  Joe Richguy wants my land, and I 
> refuse to sell.  So joe buys all of the land around my land and forbids me 
> to trespass unless I sell.  Thus, _I_ am forced to sell my land or live in 
> isolation.
> 
> How does libertarianism address this?  I can't seem to puzzle it through.
> 
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
> Vote Dempublican, it's easier than thinking.
> =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

There is a relevant passage in David Friedman's _The Machinery
of Freedom_.  In Chapter 1, "in defense of property," he
discusses why "the proportional nature of market 'victory'
would make it virtually impossible for any rich man or group 
of rich men to buy the entire broadcast spectrum and use it
for sinister propagandistic purpose."  In Chapter 34, "national
defense: the hard problem," he discusses the difficulty of
getting every farmer in a valley to agree to pay his share
of a dam that will protect them all.  

I'll also offer a few thoughts of my own.  Even before Joe
Richguy buys up all the land around yours, your neighbors
could get together and conspire against you ("Don't want none
of them paranoids 'round here!") by not letting you leave your
land.  The obvious answer to this is to make sure your land
has an egress onto some public -- sorry, "common" -- highway.
That way there's nothing they can do to you.  And even if he were
to buy up every parcel of land but yours, and you were blocking
his entire development, he would either keep increasing his
offer until you decided to take it, or else he would give up
in disgust, sell off the parcels, and go elsewhere.  (More
likely, he would only have bought the options to buy the rest
of the valley, in order to avoid committing himself; also, he
would have an incentive to bargain with you, offering you non-
monetary benefits: if sentimental value was stopping you from
selling, he might offer to have your entire home moved on a
wide-load semi-trailer so that nothing was damaged; or he might
just build around you.  "There's a black man, with a black cat,
livin' in my neighborhood/with an interstate running through
his front yard . . . ")
      
I hope this answers your question.
Newsgroups: alt.politics.libertarian