Though I announce it belatedly, Gary Chartier’s second and third posts at “Bleeding Heart Libertarians” have been up for a while: Bleeding Heart Libertarians for Redistribution and Poverty and the State.
Though I announce it belatedly, Gary Chartier’s second and third posts at “Bleeding Heart Libertarians” have been up for a while: Bleeding Heart Libertarians for Redistribution and Poverty and the State.
The responses were pretty frustrating. I think it is important to try to convince the left that all states, even secular social democracies, MUST abuse and humiliate innocent people. That even if a state is run entirely by “the right kind of people” in order to have the power necessary to pursue its aims it must engage in rituals of submission and humiliation against the population. Even a “good” state must behave like the abusive partner in a relationship. As long as they conflate the state with society, or think of it as society’s legitimate agent, they will think that the way to deal with the state is to reform it or tinker with policy.
It’s true that all states must necessarily abuse innocent people, but it’s not true that all states must necessarily abuse innocent people that leftoids care about.