Friday, April 27, 2012

Because nothing scares libertarians like modern infrastructure...

Posted by dkuehn at 7:32 PM
...seen on facebook.


I'm honestly not sure who this is supposed to make look ridiculous.

15 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 27, 2012 at 7:37 PM

    "I'm honestly not sure who this is supposed to make look ridiculous"

    Well, you posted it, so... You.

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  2. AnonymousApril 27, 2012 at 9:08 PM

    P.S. I'm pretty sure that Bob posted it to be ridiculous.

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    1. DanielApril 27, 2012 at 9:52 PM

      I'm pretty sure Bob posted it because he loves his zombie persona and references to it. Bob is a sharp guy. I'm not so sure that whoever made it initially realizes it makes libertarians look pretty ridiculous too.

      Ooooooh... scary public spending on infrastructure!!!!

      I did "like" it, btw.

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    2. AnonymousApril 28, 2012 at 4:05 PM

      I'll be honest, I think a lot of those pictures are made just to make those that repost it look ridiculous. I mean, if I were the trolling type, I would make them for that purpose. I have a friend that runs a website that has a "fact of the week", except the fact is completely erroneous. My friend does this for his own amusement, because he knows that a bunch of his FB friends will repost it as if it is an actual fact. Facebook is the perfect medium for trolling of this type.

      Delete
  3. WatooshApril 28, 2012 at 5:39 AM

    I believe it's a reference to the inability of most statists to think of alternative ways to provide the public goods and services that the government is currently providing. "But absent the state, who would build the roads?", "What would stop private road companies from becoming glorified highwaymen?" etc.

    Btw, I'm not saying market anarchism and private roads would necessarily be an optimal solution in the Real World(tm) (with its unpredictable and irrational people, asymmetric information, problematic externalities and all that), only that regular statists aren't really thinking things through when they say the state is the only entity that could ever provide roads.

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    1. Daniel KuehnApril 28, 2012 at 8:08 AM

      I am positive there are people who advocate public provision of roads out there who talk like this.

      What I'm always amazed by is that I've never come across one of those people. The argument I always hear is that roads would be underprovided by the market because of externalities - not that they would never be provided or that the roads that would be provided by the market would be bad roads.

      Maybe libertarians come across people who say dumb things like "who would build the roads" - but they all must scatter when I come around.

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  4. Bob RoddisApril 28, 2012 at 6:33 PM

    Everyone knows that government roads cause sprawl and global warming. The horror.

    I confess. I used to build government freeways and was a member of the Laborers Union. It paid very well.

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/bob_roddis/3518487963/in/set-72157600948975202

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  5. Bob MurphyApril 28, 2012 at 6:44 PM

    GUYS: I had nothing to do with that poster. Someone threw it up on FB, and "tagged" me in it, so for a brief window it was appearing on my wall and in my set of photos. I'm not saying I have a problem with it; just clarifying that I had nothing to do with it.

    Daniel: You are surprised that nobody has ever said to you, "How can you advocate no government?! Under anarchy, who would build the roads?!" If you walked around advocating anarchy, you would probably encounter such people.

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    1. Daniel KuehnApril 29, 2012 at 8:20 AM

      I knew you didn't make the poster.... I did think you shared it. It was funny, I wouldn't have blamed you for sharing it! You've gotta keep up the zombie motif too. But now the record is settled :) I still like it.

      On your second point - that is a good point. I still think people exaggerate this response. I've had more than enough people assume that I'm saying no one else would build roads when I get talking about public infrastructure, that I'm sure they make that assumption for lots and lots of other people when it isn't true. For example, if we were in a discussion and I just brought up "well what about all the public infrastructure that government provides", you couldn't infer from that statement that I thought no one else could provide public infrastructure.

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  6. Bob RoddisApril 28, 2012 at 7:40 PM

    How else would we get nasty invasive fish species into the Great Lakes but for the government-built St. Lawrence Seaway and a lack of enforceable property rights in the fishery?

    http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/49302737.html

    Somewhere, I have a photo I took of Queen Elizabeth's yacht passing Belle Isle in Detroit celebrating the seaway opening in 1959. Now, she's eating sea lamprey pie.

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  7. Bob RoddisApril 28, 2012 at 7:43 PM

    Only 10% of Great Lakes traffic is ocean-going vessels but they bring in the nasty critters. That's a fact and other stubborn thing. Who benefits?

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  8. Bob MurphyApril 28, 2012 at 8:22 PM

    The other irony here, Daniel--but perhaps you did it intentionally--is that your post title is *exactly* the mindset that this poster is ridiculing. So Joseph was right when he said you are the target of this poster.

    I.e., the libertarian anarchist loves modern infrastructure, and that's why s/he opposes gov't meddling in the road business. We have antiquated death-trap roads under government, compared to what we'd have with market-provided roads.

    And yet, when you advocate such a position, people will often just assume you don't like roads, because after all the government is needed to provide good roads. (You know, like you did in the post title here.)

    But again, I realize you "get" most of this and were making a joke.

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    1. AnonymousApril 28, 2012 at 8:53 PM

      Bob, it was actually the title of this post that influenced me to respond the way that I did. Very perceptive of you. In fact, that was my first instinct, but I also realize that that may have actually been the intent of the poster to begin with. So, your reasoning applies, but it was really a twofer.

      Also, sorry for saying that you posted it (my fault). Strangely, about a week or so ago I accidentally tagged you, and it was dealing with zombies. Hey, what can I say? You're the "zombie" guy...

      Delete
    2. Daniel KuehnApril 29, 2012 at 8:24 AM

      I honestly don't know who was the intended target of this poster. I could see it going both ways. I did know that was a possibility.

      re: "(You know, like you did in the post title here.)"

      Well, my point with the title is that of all the things government does that libertarians could associate with a horror movie, it's pretty funny that they picked infrastructure of all things!! You'd think they'd pick the military or something like that? Whats so scary about wanting to build roads with the government? Maybe you think it's better done privately, but it doesn't seem especially scary. But I suppose I get how you guys took it too.

      re: "We have antiquated death-trap roads under government, compared to what we'd have with market-provided roads."

      Now you're sounding like those "crumbling infrastructure" types!!!

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  9. Daniel KuehnApril 29, 2012 at 8:26 AM

    I love all this falling over each other to say that we know each other were in on the joke and we know each other aren't as dumb as those other guys.

    Let's all remember one thing: at the heart of it all, I just wanted to post a zombie picture :)

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