In a message dated 9/20/00 10:08:35 PM Eastern Daylight Time, JKSCHW at aol.com writes:
<< Yeah, who needs contract and property law? Or public goods like roads? For a
sketch of the CHICAGO gangland world this might involve, see the "historical"
sketch in Nozick's Anarchy State & Utopia, a world of "protective
associations" making you offers you can't refuse. --jks >>
I think we should stop sneering at Matt. Smart Libertarians make good and productive antagonists for socialists--we are the only sort who take the other's craziness seriously.
Matt, I have a paper critiquing one popular argument for libertarianism: Justin Schwartz, From Libertarianism to Egalitarianism, Social Theory & Practice 1992. Someone out it on line at one point and you might be able to find it with a search engine. I would like to get your thoughts on my arguments. The main target of the paper is the idea that the labor theory of property, accepted by Locke and Nozick, among others, leads to libertarianism: I argue that on the contrary, if you accept the LTP, you end up with a version of radical egalitariansim that embpdies the principle Marx thought govcerned the highest phase of communism, To Each According to His Needs. I hope in the paper I treated Libertariansim respectfully. I certainly tried tpo give its arguments the best run for their money, as it were, that I could.
--jks