Libertarians Who Tell You What to Think
Somehow I don't think Bryan Caplan understands what "liberty" is.
Noah Smith:
Noahpinion: The libertarian solution to inequality: Reviewing a book about happiness, George Mason University professor and Cato Institute blogger Bryan Caplan writes:
[The author] suggests that large differences in relative income can have a large influence on happiness...[but even if he] is right about the unhappy effects of income comparison, you shouldn't conclude that redistribution is the solution. Yes, you could fight inequality of income. But you could just as easily fight comparison of income. Instead of praising those who "raise awareness" about inequality, perhaps we should shame them, like the office gossip, for spreading envy and discontent.
So, the libertarian solution to the problem of inequality is to socially persecute anyone who talks about inequality?… Who wants to live in a society in which certain topics are verboten? Would we really be happier if the words "Gini coefficient" were NSFW? And, more fundamentally, when did restricting the free flow of information - by any means, governmental or social - increase our liberty?
Like I said, a very odd notion of what the word means….
The bottom line, libertarians, is that people care about what they care about. Telling them "No, do NOT care about that, care only about my arbitrary, rigid, and counterintuitive definition of liberty!" is not going to win your movement a lot of followers in the long term.
