Argument bin.

Fephisto — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 00:17:48 GMT

I just wanted to collect some fairly good libertarian arguments here. Here are some of the one's I frequently use.

1) TANSTAAFL:

No explanation needed.

Example:

"We need free healthcare!"

"TANSTAAFL."

2) Infallibility of the Bureaucrat Fallacy.

The idea that if we had agency X, that things would be so much better, and yet due to the centralization caused by appointing a single agency in charge, this isn't the case. Basically, there is an implicit assumption that the agency will do what it was charged to do, and that the people in charge of the agency are incorruptible individuals. I find this is most effective with anti-trust, since in arguing against collectivization, they've by definition collectivized it under one agency (just buy the copyright/buy a lawyer to get an anti-trust suit against you're competitor).

Examples:

-"But with private courts, the corporations could just bribe the courts!"

"The same could happen with the public court, notice the singular on the word 'court'."

-"The oil agencies get far too much profit, we need regulation to keep their excessive exuberance in check."

"That way an oil company only has to bribe one man to keep all his competitor's profits low."

-"The FCC-"

*laugh*

3) Pointing Out the Gun.

I first heard this from Francois Tremblay. Behind every government intervention, there is coercion, point it out to gain the moral high-ground.

Example:

-"We need to government to give humanitarian aid."

"So you're going to point a gun at someone to give 'humanitarian' aid..."

Newbies

Argument bin.