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It seems that in time of actual crisis, we're all libertarians.

by xyzzyz 7y ago

shigawire 7y ago
Only those who can afford medical care will receive it?
- chmod775 7y ago
  Only if you subscribe to the weird capitalist modern bastard child of libertarianism, which should really be called something else, given that actual libertarians would probably hate it with a passion.
srl 7y ago
Well, maybe we're (almost) all pragmatists. I have pretty libertarian impulses. I'm pretty pleased to see a lot of pointless (or point-light) regulations get kicked to the curb, although I certainly wish the circumstances weren't necessary. I also hate immigration restrictions of all sorts. But... okay, right now, travel restrictions make some sense. I'll take it (and then fight to undo them in 12 months). It turns out, some of the things I really really care about, my preferences would do harm in a pandemic. Maybe that's true outside of a pandemic, too -- but it's a lot easier to recognize when the magnitude of the effect is large! I think at the end of the day, that's part of what's driving all this pragmatism: the effect size of "getting policy right" is suddenly much larger than it usually is. Life is no longer close to being a zero-sum game, and everybody can see it. That's what "we're all in this together" means, and people are acting like they believe it.
jacobolus 7y ago
Personally I’m in favor of a (partially) centrally planned emergency economy manufacturing and distributing (and possibly rationing) medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, personal protective gear, antiseptics, etc. where needed around the country; paying for medical costs of anyone who catches COVID19; directly disbursing cash to residents who are quarantined, isolated, or lose their jobs during the crisis; banning evictions, doing whatever possible to delay personal/small business expenses like rent or loan payments; directly hiring large numbers of young people without dependents to do socially necessary jobs like distributing food to quarantined people or tracing contacts of anyone infected or manning phone hotlines to call people who don’t follow mass media and to screen patients before they talk to medical personnel; forcing media outlets to play regular publicly produced informational content and shutting down media outlets spreading misinformation; and so on.. I would hardly call that libertarian, but YMMV.

It seems that in time of actual crisis, we're all libertarians.

by xyzzyz 7y ago

It seems that in time of actual crisis, we're all libertarians.

shigawire 7y ago

Only those who can afford medical care will receive it?

chmod775 7y ago
Only if you subscribe to the weird capitalist modern bastard child of libertarianism, which should really be called something else, given that actual libertarians would probably hate it with a passion.

srl 7y ago

Well, maybe we're (almost) all pragmatists. I have pretty libertarian impulses. I'm pretty pleased to see a lot of pointless (or point-light) regulations get kicked to the curb, although I certainly wish the circumstances weren't necessary. I also hate immigration restrictions of all sorts. But... okay, right now, travel restrictions make some sense. I'll take it (and then fight to undo them in 12 months). It turns out, some of the things I really really care about, my preferences would do harm in a pandemic. Maybe that's true outside of a pandemic, too -- but it's a lot easier to recognize when the magnitude of the effect is large! I think at the end of the day, that's part of what's driving all this pragmatism: the effect size of "getting policy right" is suddenly much larger than it usually is. Life is no longer close to being a zero-sum game, and everybody can see it. That's what "we're all in this together" means, and people are acting like they believe it.

jacobolus 7y ago

Personally I’m in favor of a (partially) centrally planned emergency economy manufacturing and distributing (and possibly rationing) medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, personal protective gear, antiseptics, etc. where needed around the country; paying for medical costs of anyone who catches COVID19; directly disbursing cash to residents who are quarantined, isolated, or lose their jobs during the crisis; banning evictions, doing whatever possible to delay personal/small business expenses like rent or loan payments; directly hiring large numbers of young people without dependents to do socially necessary jobs like distributing food to quarantined people or tracing contacts of anyone infected or manning phone hotlines to call people who don’t follow mass media and to screen patients before they talk to medical personnel; forcing media outlets to play regular publicly produced informational content and shutting down media outlets spreading misinformation; and so on.. I would hardly call that libertarian, but YMMV.